Friday, February 10
Boulder, Colo.
7:00 PM
Colorado
19-5,9-3Pac-12
71
vs
68
Washington State
16-8,6-7Pac-12
1
2
3
4
F
Washington St.
16
17
19
16
68
Colorado
16
17
10
28
71
Team Stats
WSU
CU
FG%
.464
.510
3FG%
.429
.353
FT%
.875
.813
RB
30
27
TO
15
14
STL
8
12
Game Leaders
Scoring
Pts
27
FGM
10
3FGM
1
FTM
6
Pts
14
FGM
5
3FGM
4
FTM
0
Pts
10
FGM
3
3FGM
0
FTM
4
Pts
8
FGM
4
3FGM
0
FTM
0
Players Mentioned
G
/ Women's Basketball
G
/ Women's BasketballC
/ Women's BasketballG
/ Women's BasketballC
/ Women's Basketball
G
/ Women's BasketballPhoto by: CUBuffs.com
Sherrod's Career Night Leads Colorado in Comeback Effort
February 10, 2023 | Women's Basketball
BOULDER – A 27-point effort from Jaylyn Sherrod helped erase an 11-point second-half deficit and Colorado held on in the final seconds for a thrilling 71-68 win over Washington State at the CU Event Center on Friday.
The win in front of a crowd of 2,055 gave the Buffaloes their first season sweep of the Cougars in program history.
"I'm so proud of our team," head coach JR Payne exclaimed after the win. "I freaking love my team. We play hard, we have fun, we don't wilt. We're tough. When things get crazy we dig in and stay together. This is just such a fun team to coach. I'm incredibly proud of how we played and how we executed when we needed to. That was all guts, we just were tough enough to win the game so super proud."
Sherrod scored 15 of her 27 points in the fourth quarter to match her career-best effort. Colorado (19-5, 10-3 Pac-12) trailed 52-41 late in the third quarter and entered the final quarter down by nine. The Buffs exploded for 28 points in the final 10 minutes to complete their largest comeback of the season.
"I think coming out of halftime, I felt like we started to get a little flat and I took that personally because I know my role on this team is to bring a lot of energy and tenacity," Sherrod noted. "I think my mentality was [that the game was] 0-0 coming out of halftime. I just wanted to push my team in whatever way and normally it's with defense but tonight we were scoring."
Frida Formann and Quay Miller also contributed double figures on the night. Formann finished the evening with 14 points, going 4-for-7 from the 3-point line. Miller put in 10 points and led the team with seven rebounds in 34 minutes of playing time.
Colorado, who lost its last game at home against USC in disappointing fashion, was inclined not to have a repeat performance on Friday.
"I think in one timeout coach T [Toriano Towns] said 'This feels like the USC game,'" Formann explained. "We all felt like we can't let that happen again. I think it's just learning from last time. Jaylyn did a great job of just leading by example, having high energy and going and getting the job done. I think we all did a good job of following [Sherrod's example]. Even though we were close and then they scored again and then we were up and they scored again – we never really let that get us down in any way. I think it was just a huge difference in how we responded."
Washington State (16-8, 6-7 Pac-12) was led by Charlisse Leger-Walker and her 17 points. Leger-Walker, who missed the first game of the series in Pullman, played all 40 minutes and picked up 10 rebounds.
How It Happened
The Buffs and Cougars started the second half even at 33 apiece, but WSU got the early jump on the Buffs with an 11-2 run in the first five minutes to claim a 44-35 advantage and the largest lead of the game to that point.
Colorado called a timeout to regroup and Miller put an end to the run with a second-chance putback. WSU's lead continued to hover around nine points when Sherrod cut the score back to seven, 48-41. The Cougars answered with four straight points from Jessica Clarke to take the largest lead of the night, 51-42, with 2:10 left in the third quarter.
Sherrod set the tone for the finish in the final quarter. She totaled nine points in the first five minutes, helping Colorado open on a 14-3 run and slingshot the Buffs to a 57-55 lead. She finished the quarter a perfect 5-for-5 from the field and had 15 of her 27 points in the closing frame.
Consecutive WSU 3's put the Cougars back ahead 61-57 and slowed the Buffs for the moment. Tayanna Jones scored all of her four points in the following 48 seconds to get the Buffs back to even at 63-63.
A WSU miss and a CU turnover ran the clock down to inside two minutes before Leger-Walker put the Cougars ahead, 65-63. Formann pulled up in the paint on the trip down the court and tied the game back up at 65-65 and WSU was called for a foul after undeath the basket, sending Miller to the line for two more free throws, resulting in a four-point play to take a 67-65 lead.
WSU's Johanna Teder converted a 3-pointer with just over 60 seconds to go, putting the Cougars back in by one. But that would be the final basket of the night for the Cougars. The Buffs noticeably shifted to a predominantly zone defense in the final frame, which forced WSU into six of its 15 turnovers for the night – but none bigger than the three that came inside the final minute.
"Coach Towns made that call because he runs our defense, and I thought it was a great decision," Payne added. "I think it was disruptive of flow, we were able to force a couple of turnovers and just sort of changed the overall flow of their offense. I think that helped, and it created some windows where we could be a little bit more aggressive in spots and it ended up really helping us when we needed it."
Fittingly, it was Sherrod who closed out the win going 4-for-4 at the line and helping CU finish the quarter perfect 11-of-11 from the line in the quarter.
Key Moment
WSU's Clarke fumbled the ball out of bounds under the Cougar basket, trying to get out on the fast break. Sherrod and Miller were both on her heels and the turnover gave the Buffs the ball back trailing 68-67 with 32.3 seconds on to play.
Leger-Walker got tangled up with Sherrod as the Buffs crossed midcourt on the following possession and got whistled for the foul, which gave CU the go-ahead free throws.
Both Miller and Formann recorded steals in the final five seconds, negating any last-second shot by the Cougars.
"Coming out of the timeout we said, 'You have to go over everything, even if they get a wide-open layup that's fine [with CU leading by three],'" Payne recalled. "Nothing from 3. I think Frida was on high alert for something over the top."
Notes
Colorado has at least 19 wins in back-to-back seasons for the first time since the 2012-13 (25-7) and the 2013-14 (19-15) seasons…CU improves to 10-1 at home, reaching double-digit wins at the CUEC for the second consecutive season…CU's 10 conference wins are the most since going 11-5 in the Big 12 during the 2003-04 season…Sherrod's 10 FGM was her most since 11 in the NCAA Tournament last season against Creighton…Colorado was outrebounded 30-27 but held a 17-16 advantage in second-chance points…Leger-Walker started the game 3-for-3 from 3 but finished 0-for-6.
Quotes
Head coach JR Payne
On the offense in the fourth quarter - "We switched up what we were running and made some different substitutions at times that stretched the defense a little and created some gaps where people could attack, which I think ended up really helping us. It just kind of felt like our energy wasn't there, especially in the third quarter. A couple of empty possessions early and they scored a couple early, so it was a pretty quick 5-0 run. Against these teams that are so good you just can't afford to do that. You can't have multiple empty possessions offensively while you're giving up points multiple times in a row. It's hard to come back from that."
On Charlisse Leger-Walker - "Charlisse Leger-Walker is always a threat to go 3-for-3 and 6-for-6 but 0-for-6 was obviously great. We were probably guarding her a little tighter than we were early."
On the importance of the win - "This was huge for us. Washington State is always one of the most dangerous teams because they're so well-coached. Charlisse Leger-Walker is one of the better players in the country. She can make herself really successful, she also can make everybody else good. They're always a very dangerous team to me, and sometimes kind of a weird matchup in the stuff that they run and things like that. I just thought our team really did a great job of knowing the scout, executing the scout, making big plays, and having poise down the stretch. Tayanna Jones comes in with an offensive rebound putback. Kindyll Wetta's five assists, no turnovers. Aaronette Vonleh goes 4-for-4 from the field. There are so many things you can pull from this game. Across the board, people did what they needed to do to win."
Jaylyn Sherrod
On Washington Upcoming - "We're on high alert about everybody, to be honest. I mean, the Pac-12 is so unpredictable and it could be anybody's night. I think we learned that a couple of weeks ago. I think Stanford learned that last week. So, you just got to be ready for a dogfight. You can't underestimate anybody no matter what their standards are, no matter who is on your team because I mean it's just the Pac-12 and just the conference of champions for a reason so you just got to be ready."
The win in front of a crowd of 2,055 gave the Buffaloes their first season sweep of the Cougars in program history.
"I'm so proud of our team," head coach JR Payne exclaimed after the win. "I freaking love my team. We play hard, we have fun, we don't wilt. We're tough. When things get crazy we dig in and stay together. This is just such a fun team to coach. I'm incredibly proud of how we played and how we executed when we needed to. That was all guts, we just were tough enough to win the game so super proud."
Sherrod scored 15 of her 27 points in the fourth quarter to match her career-best effort. Colorado (19-5, 10-3 Pac-12) trailed 52-41 late in the third quarter and entered the final quarter down by nine. The Buffs exploded for 28 points in the final 10 minutes to complete their largest comeback of the season.
"I think coming out of halftime, I felt like we started to get a little flat and I took that personally because I know my role on this team is to bring a lot of energy and tenacity," Sherrod noted. "I think my mentality was [that the game was] 0-0 coming out of halftime. I just wanted to push my team in whatever way and normally it's with defense but tonight we were scoring."
Frida Formann and Quay Miller also contributed double figures on the night. Formann finished the evening with 14 points, going 4-for-7 from the 3-point line. Miller put in 10 points and led the team with seven rebounds in 34 minutes of playing time.
Colorado, who lost its last game at home against USC in disappointing fashion, was inclined not to have a repeat performance on Friday.
"I think in one timeout coach T [Toriano Towns] said 'This feels like the USC game,'" Formann explained. "We all felt like we can't let that happen again. I think it's just learning from last time. Jaylyn did a great job of just leading by example, having high energy and going and getting the job done. I think we all did a good job of following [Sherrod's example]. Even though we were close and then they scored again and then we were up and they scored again – we never really let that get us down in any way. I think it was just a huge difference in how we responded."
Washington State (16-8, 6-7 Pac-12) was led by Charlisse Leger-Walker and her 17 points. Leger-Walker, who missed the first game of the series in Pullman, played all 40 minutes and picked up 10 rebounds.
How It Happened
The Buffs and Cougars started the second half even at 33 apiece, but WSU got the early jump on the Buffs with an 11-2 run in the first five minutes to claim a 44-35 advantage and the largest lead of the game to that point.
Colorado called a timeout to regroup and Miller put an end to the run with a second-chance putback. WSU's lead continued to hover around nine points when Sherrod cut the score back to seven, 48-41. The Cougars answered with four straight points from Jessica Clarke to take the largest lead of the night, 51-42, with 2:10 left in the third quarter.
Sherrod set the tone for the finish in the final quarter. She totaled nine points in the first five minutes, helping Colorado open on a 14-3 run and slingshot the Buffs to a 57-55 lead. She finished the quarter a perfect 5-for-5 from the field and had 15 of her 27 points in the closing frame.
Consecutive WSU 3's put the Cougars back ahead 61-57 and slowed the Buffs for the moment. Tayanna Jones scored all of her four points in the following 48 seconds to get the Buffs back to even at 63-63.
A WSU miss and a CU turnover ran the clock down to inside two minutes before Leger-Walker put the Cougars ahead, 65-63. Formann pulled up in the paint on the trip down the court and tied the game back up at 65-65 and WSU was called for a foul after undeath the basket, sending Miller to the line for two more free throws, resulting in a four-point play to take a 67-65 lead.
WSU's Johanna Teder converted a 3-pointer with just over 60 seconds to go, putting the Cougars back in by one. But that would be the final basket of the night for the Cougars. The Buffs noticeably shifted to a predominantly zone defense in the final frame, which forced WSU into six of its 15 turnovers for the night – but none bigger than the three that came inside the final minute.
"Coach Towns made that call because he runs our defense, and I thought it was a great decision," Payne added. "I think it was disruptive of flow, we were able to force a couple of turnovers and just sort of changed the overall flow of their offense. I think that helped, and it created some windows where we could be a little bit more aggressive in spots and it ended up really helping us when we needed it."
Fittingly, it was Sherrod who closed out the win going 4-for-4 at the line and helping CU finish the quarter perfect 11-of-11 from the line in the quarter.
Key Moment
WSU's Clarke fumbled the ball out of bounds under the Cougar basket, trying to get out on the fast break. Sherrod and Miller were both on her heels and the turnover gave the Buffs the ball back trailing 68-67 with 32.3 seconds on to play.
Leger-Walker got tangled up with Sherrod as the Buffs crossed midcourt on the following possession and got whistled for the foul, which gave CU the go-ahead free throws.
Both Miller and Formann recorded steals in the final five seconds, negating any last-second shot by the Cougars.
"Coming out of the timeout we said, 'You have to go over everything, even if they get a wide-open layup that's fine [with CU leading by three],'" Payne recalled. "Nothing from 3. I think Frida was on high alert for something over the top."
Notes
Colorado has at least 19 wins in back-to-back seasons for the first time since the 2012-13 (25-7) and the 2013-14 (19-15) seasons…CU improves to 10-1 at home, reaching double-digit wins at the CUEC for the second consecutive season…CU's 10 conference wins are the most since going 11-5 in the Big 12 during the 2003-04 season…Sherrod's 10 FGM was her most since 11 in the NCAA Tournament last season against Creighton…Colorado was outrebounded 30-27 but held a 17-16 advantage in second-chance points…Leger-Walker started the game 3-for-3 from 3 but finished 0-for-6.
Quotes
Head coach JR Payne
On the offense in the fourth quarter - "We switched up what we were running and made some different substitutions at times that stretched the defense a little and created some gaps where people could attack, which I think ended up really helping us. It just kind of felt like our energy wasn't there, especially in the third quarter. A couple of empty possessions early and they scored a couple early, so it was a pretty quick 5-0 run. Against these teams that are so good you just can't afford to do that. You can't have multiple empty possessions offensively while you're giving up points multiple times in a row. It's hard to come back from that."
On Charlisse Leger-Walker - "Charlisse Leger-Walker is always a threat to go 3-for-3 and 6-for-6 but 0-for-6 was obviously great. We were probably guarding her a little tighter than we were early."
On the importance of the win - "This was huge for us. Washington State is always one of the most dangerous teams because they're so well-coached. Charlisse Leger-Walker is one of the better players in the country. She can make herself really successful, she also can make everybody else good. They're always a very dangerous team to me, and sometimes kind of a weird matchup in the stuff that they run and things like that. I just thought our team really did a great job of knowing the scout, executing the scout, making big plays, and having poise down the stretch. Tayanna Jones comes in with an offensive rebound putback. Kindyll Wetta's five assists, no turnovers. Aaronette Vonleh goes 4-for-4 from the field. There are so many things you can pull from this game. Across the board, people did what they needed to do to win."
Jaylyn Sherrod
On Washington Upcoming - "We're on high alert about everybody, to be honest. I mean, the Pac-12 is so unpredictable and it could be anybody's night. I think we learned that a couple of weeks ago. I think Stanford learned that last week. So, you just got to be ready for a dogfight. You can't underestimate anybody no matter what their standards are, no matter who is on your team because I mean it's just the Pac-12 and just the conference of champions for a reason so you just got to be ready."
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