Colorado Dominant In Win Over Le Moyne

BOULDER – After its huge win on Monday over No. 1 and defending champion LSU, any fears that the Colorado women's basketball would come out flat were quickly put to rest, as the Buffs defeated Le Moyne 97-38 here Wednesday night at the CU Events Center.

The Buffaloes (2-0) dominated from start to finish against the Dolphins (0-2) who are competing in their first season at the Division I level. Colorado recorded a whopping 42 points off of 25 turnovers while holding Le Moyne to just 14 field goals. The offense also dished out 29 assists, which is the most in a game since December 2, 2001. The 59-point victory tied the 11th largest margin of victory in program history.

"I don't think anyone could impose any higher expectations on us than we levy on ourselves," head coach JR Payne stated after the win. "Every single day we really are trying to be excellent in everything we do. We hold each other to a really high standard, collectively we do that. I don't even really have to say that much, if we're ranked higher, awesome. If we're not, it doesn't really matter to us. We know that we're really good, we know that we can compete with anybody on our schedule so we train and compete like that every single day."

Maddie Nolan was on fire from three-point range, scoring all 15 of her points from behind the arc on 5-7 shooting. Frida Formann and Aaronette Vonleh joined Nolan in leading the offense as they combined for 28 points on the night. Vonleh recorded a double-double with 13 points and 11 rebounds, four of which were offensive boards, and Forman added 15 points of her own.

Although the offense was firing on all cylinders, the defense is what stood out. The Buffs had nine different players record a steal while the team recorded 17 total steals. Colorado held the Dolphins to a 29.8 field goal percentage and 15.8 three-point field goal percentage.

"Defense is always our focus," Payne said. "We take a lot of pride in defending and we get frustrated when people score on us. We want to be awesome on defense, we want to be stingy on defense, get stops, create turnovers. I thought our inside presence was great tonight, every shot was contested, they hit shots, that's gonna happen, but as long as we're doing our thing and contesting shots, we're happy."

The Buffs look to keep things rolling at the CU Events Center on Sunday when they take on Oklahoma State at 4 p.m.

HOW IT HAPPENED
Colorado started the game on an 8-0 run, forcing an early Le Moyne timeout. Later in the quarter, Maddie Nolan knocked down two three-pointers to put the Buffs up 22-3. CU out-shot the Dolphins 45.5% to 28.6% from the field in the first quarter and held a 26-6 lead.

Early into the second quarter, Colorado scored seven unanswered points to go up 35-8 which resulted in another Le Moyne timeout. The Buffs continued to dominate throughout the quarter and had a 52-21 lead at the half using a late 12-2 run to put the Buffs up 31 at half.

At the break, Colorado had outrebounded Le Moyne 24-10. The Buffs shot 52.5% from the field and 33.3% from behind the arc in the first half.

Nolan, Smith and Vonleh fueled the offense for the Buffs in the third quarter, each scoring six points. Nolan and Smith accounted for three of Colorado's four three-pointers in the quarter. For a 5:39 stretch, CU went on a 19-3 scoring run and extending its lead to almost 50, up 79-30 heading into the fourth.

The final quarter was the lowest scoring quarter of the game for the Buffs, but the great defense continued and the Buffs won the quarter 18-8 for the 97-38 final.

KEY MOMENT
After the Buffs had built a comfortable lead, they added on to it with 19 unanswered points in the third quarter.

NOTES
Colorado is now 1-0 all-time against Le Moyne…CU is now 488-185 at the CU Events Center… this was the highest attendance at the CU Events Center for a non-conference women's basketball game since December 21, 2016 against Wyoming...CU had the most assists in a game since 29 against Iowa on December 2, 2001... The 59-point victory ties the 11th-largest margin of victory in program history...CU led by more than 30 points at the half for the first time since December 21, 2017 against Westminster where the Buffs led by 49... CU allowed fewer than 10 points in the first quarter with just six, the last time under 10 being seven points against Duke in last year's NCAA tournament ... This is the first time CU has had 90 points in back-to-back games since the 2000-01 season against Oklahoma (93) March 8, 2001 and then against Sienna (98) on March 17, 2001.

UP NEXT
The Buffs will stay home to take on Oklahoma State in Boulder on Sunday, Nov. 12 at 4 p.m. MT.

QUOTES
Head Coach JR Payne

Opening Statement
"That was a great game, good in lots of ways. I knew that we would be really focused and not have a hangover from the previous game. I knew that, but it's really great to just see everyone locked in and really focused on this game. It's great to have so many people play and so many people contribute, even playing some different positions and a totally different type of team than the team the other night, schematically and what they were running and so I loved how we responded and gave great effort."

On Having 29 Assists And Sharing The Ball
"I love that for multiple reasons. One, I keep telling people how unselfish our team is, truly no one cares who gets the shots or who scores some points or who gets the shine, which is really fun to play in that system. It's also fun to have that type of efficiency. I think the last game we had a lot of assists as well. And so I think it just speaks to the unselfish play and the fact that we have lots of different players that can do a lot of different things."

On Avoiding A Hangover After Beating LSU
"It's a very mature group that recognizes the importance of what we're doing every single day. They know that, in our quest to compete every day, win every game, win a championship, compete for a championship, we have to be that. That doesn't mean we'll play perfectly every night or make all of our shots every night but our effort and our focus are totally in our control. Our team knows that. That's something we must do every day."

On Charlotte Whittaker

"Having Charlotte is not just a help, it's a need. This program needs someone like Charlotte to be that person that can come in and provide stability. And be someone that can be totally rock solid, contribute on the glass, contribute defensively, she always knows her assignment. She always knows our coverage of what we're supposed to be doing. She's a great communicator when things aren't correct, she's able to fix it for other people. That's on the court and off the court. She's a glue for our team. She's someone that every single person in our program will go to for support or encouragement or advice and she's just. I tell people, she's just one of the finest people I've ever known."

On Having A Balanced team
"Well, I think we have a core, most of our team is back from last year's group. We have a lot of people that have played a lot of minutes, and then we added some players that also have played a lot of minutes at a very high level and have seen a lot of success at this level. So, people like Maddie (Nolan) and Sara (-Rose Smith) who were new are able to just slide right in. They also really fit who we are culturally - they want to be around great teammates and they want to celebrate each other, and they want to share the ball and things like that. That's been a really seamless transition, and then just so many people back we're just determined to pick up where we left off and try to be great from the jump."

On Mikayla Johnson and Jadyn Atchison
"I thought they both did really, really well. Their first real live minutes outside of the exhibition game. I thought they showed composure, which sometimes in your first collegiate game is difficult to do. They both scored the ball, they both defended, rebounded. I think they both really contributed and for us, it's just do your job. We don't need anybody to be heroic or do anything outside of themselves, we have so many pieces that if everyone just does their job really well, collectively we're a great team. So I appreciated that they came in and just kept it simple and did what they were supposed to do - that's huge for freshmen."

On The Team's Depth
"I think it's one of our biggest strengths that we have legitimate depth, people that can come in and really contribute, not just stem the tide, but can actually really come in and play good minutes and contribute. Again, do their job, keep it simple, and that is good for us."

Charlotte Whittaker
On watching the team mature
"When I was recruited and then obviously committed back in 2019. I came here, JR and Toriano pretty much came to me and said that this is still a work in progress. We're building and we want you to be a part of it. And so to see the growth and honestly like their promise through the years and how they've continued to recruit amazing players, and we've made an effort as a team to, grow and commit to building relationships and being determined and driven every day to be better, and move towards a specific goal we all have. So to have that come to fruition is exciting. And I'm so proud of all these girls. I'm so proud of the coaching staff. And I just think we continue to do more one strike from here and show everybody what we're made of, so I'm excited."

On coming back from injuries
"I think it was good obviously, coming back off five hip surgeries, it was a lot for me and I think last year was hugely a building year for me and me trusting myself again with that, but I mean, my teammates and the coaching staff have been so supportive with that and pretty much holding my hand through the whole process. It is really fun to see now it go through the hoop. We just love it when everybody else succeeds, and no matter what kind of night everybody else has, we will celebrate everybody in this success through that night, but yeah, very good and happy."

Maddie Nolan
On unfinished business from last season
"I think that's part of why I chose to come here watching them in that sweet 16. And then with my past experience, having gone to a sweet 16 and Elite Eight, I knew that they would have that hunger, and even on my visit talking to them about that and wanting to take it a step further and bring another PAC 12 championship here and to get to a Final Four. I think we see that in practice each and every day. We come ready to work as hard as we can each day. So I would say there is definitely unfinished business."

On game performance
"It was nice to score my first points as a Buff. Finally shoot the ball well, with my new team, and it's really lovely to play on a team with multiple people that can score in so many different ways and multiple people that can find you in different positions. We had 29 assists and it is just an amazing stat with people who want to see other people succeed. So it was nice."

Next Event

Team Stats

Frida Formann

Maddie Nolan

Aaronette Vonleh

Sara-Rose Smith

Players Mentioned

Jadyn Atchison

Frida Formann

Mikayla Johnson

Maddie Nolan

Aaronette Vonleh

Charlotte Whittaker

Players Mentioned

Jadyn Atchison

Frida Formann

Mikayla Johnson

Maddie Nolan

Aaronette Vonleh

Charlotte Whittaker