Colorado University Athletics
Colorado
23-8,12-5Pac-12
Washington State
22-10,9-9Pac-12
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | F |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Washington St. | 14 | 13 | 11 | 23 | 61 |
| Colorado | 6 | 10 | 22 | 11 | 49 |
Buffs Fall to Seventh-Seeded Washington State in Pac-12 Semifinals
March 03, 2023 | Women's Basketball
Colorado awaits Selection Sunday
LAS VEGAS—Missed opportunities. Third-seeded Colorado saw its Pac-12 tournament run come to an end late Friday night with a semifinal loss to the seventh-seeded Washington State Cougars, 61-49.
After an ice-cold first half during which the Buffs scored just 16 points and trailed by as many as 16, CU used a 12-0 run to end the third quarter by tying the game at 38-38. Washington State then used a 12-2 run to open up a 10-point lead in the fourth quarter and that proved too much for the Buffaloes to overcome.
The Buffs fall to 23-8 and will now wait until a week from Sunday evening to see where they will be selected in the NCAA Tournament. Washington State will now advance to the Pac-12 Championship game against fifth-seeded UCLA, as each of the top four seeds failed to advance to the title game.
"I would just start with saying congratulations to Washington state who played an incredible game tonight," head coach JR Payne expressed after the loss. 'They're a really well-coached, really tough, gritty team. I thought they execute a game plan and as always so congratulations to them. I'm proud of our team for our fight which I think was clearly on display for a large part of the second half. We're disappointed with the outcome, disappointed with some things that we could have executed more effectively, things that we really felt like we needed to do to win the game but this time of the year, every team can beat every team and I think we know that and unfortunately learned it firsthand today. I'm proud of the season we've had so far and very excited for the season that will continue in a couple of weeks."
Aaronette Vonleh led the way for the Buffs, scoring 18 points off of a 9-of-11 shooting performance. The rest of the team managed to hit just 10-of-38 from the field.
Jaylyn Sherrod, who scored her 1,000th career point, had a solid game for the Buffs with 13 points and added six assists, six steals and five rebounds.
Frida Formann hit three 3-pointers and two late free throws to score 11 points as those three scored all but seven points for CU on the night, and were the only Buffs to score in the first two-and-a-half quarters.
The Buffs swept the regular season series against WSU this season, but WSU's Charlisse Leger-Walker put in 15 points on Friday to deny Colorado a third win over the Cougars.
"When you play a team three times you know each other pretty well and strengths and weaknesses and things like that," Payne added. I thought they did a great job of identifying that and making it difficult for us. I also thought we got pretty good looks early in the game and shots that normally fall, weren't, whether it's lay-ups or open 3s. When that happens early sometimes you don't want to but sometimes you get a little bit tighter or you force a little bit more."
How It Happened
Washington State got off to a fast start, hitting 4-of-5 shots out of the gate and finished the first quarter shooting 9-of-14 from the field, building a 14-6 lead. The Buffs, meanwhile, hit just 3-of-16 shots to open the game which saw a seven-minute scoring drought to end the first quarter and open the second, at which point the Buffs were down 14 points at 20-6.
The Buffs then began to shoot better, hitting 4-of-6 shots the remainder of the first half, but were still outscored 13-10 in the second quarter and trailed 27-16. Vonleh hit 5-of-7 shots in the first half and had 10 of the Buffs' 16 points, but the rest of the team hit just 2-of-15 from the field with 11 turnovers.
The Buffs remained cold shooting through the first six minutes of the third quarter before finally waking up and outscoring the Cougars 12-0 to close the third quarter and tie the game at 38-38. Sherrod had six points in the run, while Formann and Kindyll Wetta both hit 3-pointers to complete the comeback. The Buffs' run helped double up WSU 22-11 in the quarter and CU's defense stood tall keeping the Courgars scoreless for the final five minutes of the third quarter.
Wazzu hit a 3-pointer to open the final quarter on the first possession and CU responded with a Tameiya Sadler layup and Sherrod hit 1-of-2 from the field to tie the game at 41-41. But the Buffs could not take the lead. Washington State scored nine straight in a 12-2 run that took less than three minutes of game clock to take a 53-43 lead with 3:22 left in the game.
"I feel like you just learn from it," Sherrod noted. "There's nothing we can do to change the outcome right now. All we can do is learn from it, learn from our mistakes, see how we can be better, and move on. There's always an opportunity in any game you play. So it sucks, the outcome, but we just got to learn from it."
Key Moment
After an impressive third-quarter comeback that culminated with a tied game at 38-38, the Buffs could not take a lead and Wazzu responded with a 9-0 run of their own to put the game away.
Notes
The Buffs fall in the semifinals of the Pac-12 Tournament for the second straight season after not advanced out of the first round the previous three seasons … CU is now 9-12 all-time in the Pac-12 Tournament … Vonleh scored 18 points, her 22nd game in double figures this season … Sherrod's six steals were one off her career-high and she compiled five rebounds, steals and assists in a game for the second time this season … Quay Miller shot 0-of-16 in the Pac-12 Tournament ...
Quotes
JR Payne
On Quay Miller
"I mean Quay has proven time and time again over 30 games that she's one of the best players in this conference, which speaks to her consistency. She definitely had a tough weekend. But I appreciate she kept talking and kept encouraging kept playing hard. She was on the glass and then she had five rebounds tonight you know, so I wouldn't expect this to continue to last but definitely want to get her feeling well. You know, I'd be ready to rock next week."
