Colorado
2-1
Arkansas State
1-2
Balanced Attack Gives Colorado Win Over Red Wolves
November 22, 2014 | Women's Basketball
BOULDER - Colorado used a balanced attack across the board to defeat Arkansas State 80-69 in a Preseason WNIT consolation game Saturday night at the Coors Events Center.
Sophomore Haley Smith scored a career-high 16 points to headline a Buffaloes effort that saw four players score in double-digits, four with at least seven rebounds and five with multiple assists.
Junior forward Jamee Swan matched Smith's 16 points while filling out the box score nicely with eight rebounds, four assists, two blocks and two steals.
Not to be outdone, senior Jen Reese notched her second consecutive double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds. Lexy Kresl finished with 10 points ? all in the second half.
Colorado (2-1) has plenty to work on; 20 turnovers led to 25 Arkansas State points and 33 attempts from the foul line for the Red Wolves are too much. But the ball movement in the offense was there. The taller Buffaloes succeeded early in dumping the ball to the post for some easy buckets. And when Arkansas State (1-2) began to collapse on the blocks, Colorado's posts found open players on the outside.
"I thought all of our players understood the shot that we wanted...and they did a nice job of putting each other in position to be able to hit shots and take great shots," head coach Linda Lappe said. "We recognized when we had a mismatch, we went at it and did a nice job of converting. We were very balanced."
Sophomore forward Zoe Beard-Fails started off Colorado's campaign to score on the blocks scoring seven early points to give Colorado an early 14-9 lead.
Arkansas State, led by Aundrea Gamble who finished with a game-high 30 points, stayed close by getting in the paint themselves. The Red Wolves, who scored 22 first half points near the basket tied the game at 15-15 with a short jumper by Gamble.
At times Colorado played the inside-out game extremely well, and that ability to find the open player led to Buffs' first big run of the game, an 11-0 sprint created by the teamwork the coaching staff had been preaching.
Zoe Correal scored her first career bucket on a put-back and Swan added another to put Colorado up 19-15. Then, with Swan attacking the block again, she swung it out to a wide open Lauren Huggins who drilled a 3-pointer for a 22-15 lead.
Reese and Smith added jumpers as Colorado put its lead over double digits at 26-15.
Arkansas State closed the gap to 10, but Swan again found the open player, this time Jasmine Sborov with a 3-pointer and Colorado's largest lead at 32-19.
Arkansas State, the preseason Sun Belt Conference favorite, countered, by getting to the line and taking advantage of Colorado turnovers. Gamble scored seven points during a 15-4 run at the end of the first half and Khadi Brown-Haywood hit a 3-pointer at the halftime buzzer as CU's lead dwindled to 36-34.
"I thought our turnovers really hurt us in the first half," Lappe said. "We were on the verge of really blowing the game open and turned the ball over too many times in succession; too many times in transition."
A turnover right out of halftime allowed the Red Wolves to tie the game, but the Buffaloes never panicked. Smith scored two more open jumpers as Colorado slowly, but surely put some space between them and the Red Wolves.
"I have to credit my teammates for finding me open," Smith said. "It seemed like every time I got the ball, it was a good opportunity to score. I was open with nobody on me so they were easy shots."
Smith made 7-of-9 from the field on her career night and also pulled down eight rebounds.
Arkansas State stayed within two possessions for the first six minutes of the second period, but Reese scored four points during a 6-0 run that pushed the Buffs lead out to eight at 52-44.
Amanda Lawson scored four straight for the Red Wolves to cut the lead in half. Following a pair of Swan free throws, Gamble converted a conventional 3-point play to pull ASU to within 55-52 with 10:26 remaining.
After Reese and ASU's Jasmine Hunt traded a pair of points, the Buffaloes did the one thing that has eluded them at times ? finish strong.
Swan hit a pair of free throws that put Colorado up 59-54, then after another Hunt free-throw, Swan connected again with Huggins who hit a 3-pointer in a nearly carbon copy play from the first half.
"Our movement on the floor was really good," Swan said. "At one point I was under the rim and I knew that Lauren would be where I needed her to be and I just threw it there. I hate to admit that I didn't look but I trusted she would be there and she was there."
Swan's free throws and Huggins' 3-pointer sparked a 14-3 run that put the game away. The Buffaloes finished it off at the free throw line calmly hitting 17-of-21 in the second half alone.
"I'm really proud of how we finished," Lappe said. "I feel like we've gotten a lot better. I thought we finished the game on a really strong note, and that should give us a lot of confidence moving forward."
Colorado returns to action with its first road game of the season, Tuesday, Nov. 25, at 7 p.m. at Denver. The game will be televised by ROOT Sports Rocky Mountain.
