Colorado University Athletics
Swan's Board Work Against Utah Will Mean More Minutes
After struggling with rebounding on both ends of the court during last Sunday's loss to California, the Buffaloes needed someone to step up - and Swan did just that.
The 6-2 forward helped the Buffs to their first Pac-12 Conference win with a career-high 11 rebounds, just one less than senior Chucky Jeffery's game high in CU's 67-57 win.
While some who haven't seen Swan often on the court were surprised, CU head coach Linda Lappe said she's known the freshman's potential from the start.
"Jamee can do that," Lappe said. "Jamee is strong, she's really athletic, she can jump. She's kind of a mix of all of our post players together, and tonight she kept us in the game for a lot of the first half. She sparked us definitely in the first half, and again in the second half . . . she played like an upperclassman (Tuesday)."
As for Swan, contributing what she could with the time she had on the floor, a total of 22 minutes, was all that mattered.
"My role on the team is to run the floor and rebound, and for me I just felt like I needed to get my work done for my team," Swan said. "I didn't want to go out and just do nothing, I wanted to be in there to do something to help the team."
Senior teammate Jeffery said having such a promising freshman on the team would be critical for the Buffs later this season.
"They called Jamee's number and she came in, and she knew what she had to do," Jeffery said. "She knew her job was to rebound and get stops on defense, and she came in and did an outstanding job."
Lappe plans to increase Swan's playing time as the freshman continues to "learn the system." The first chance for her to do so will come in a rematch against Utah this Sunday in Salt Lake City.