Colorado
7-6, 0-2Pac-12
California
10-3, 2-0Pac-12
Cal's Inside Game Too Much For Colorado
January 06, 2015 | Women's Basketball
BERKELEY, Calif. – California's inside game was too much to handle as the Golden Bears defeated Colorado 75-59 in a Pac-12 Conference game Monday evening at Haas Pavilion in Berkeley.
California scored 52 points inside the paint, mostly to the benefit of leading scorer Rashanda Gray who had 17 points and 10 rebounds.
Jamee Swan led Colorado with 21 points and five rebounds. Jen Reese pitched in 15 points on 6-of-12 shooting with eight rebounds.
The Golden Bears also took advantage of 23 Colorado turnovers, accounting for 21 points.
Cal's Brittany Boyd had 19 points, 14 rebounds, seven steals and six assists.
California continually pounded the ball inside to the 6-foot, 3-inch Gray, and despite her low field goal numbers – she made just 4-of-12 from the field – it was effective as she continually made it to the foul line, hitting 9-of-16.
When Colorado could get stops, they struggled to score. The Buffaloes shot just 37 percent and fell victim to California's ability to run off a defensive rebound, resulting in 20 fast break points. Boyd controlled that tempo as she was just three steals and four assists shy of a quadruple double.
"(Especially in the second half) they pounded it inside and we didn't have an answer," CU coach Linda Lappe said. "We didn't have an answer down low; we didn't have an answer for their layups in transition. We'll regroup and get back into it."
California never trailed. After Reese hit her first two shots to tie the game at 4-4, Cal scored the next eight. Jasmine Sborov got aggressive for the Buffaloes, darting to the rim on consecutive layups to slice the Bears lead in half.
Following a Boyd jumper, Reese connected on her third 3-pointer of the season and Swan scored on a fast break bucket to pull the Buffaloes within one (14-13), with 10:54 remaining.
California responded with three straight buckets in the paint and led 20-13. The Buffaloes fought back to make it a 1-point game again as a 6-0 run ending with a Haley Smith field goal made it a 20-19 game at the 7:36 mark.
While Swan and Reese accounted for most of Colorado's points, Boyd was able to get everyone involved. Penina Davidson drilled a 3-pointer, Gabby Green and Justine Hartman added points as a 13-2 run late in the first allowed the Bears a 10-point halftime lead (33-23).
"We did some good things in the first half," Lappe said. "But it went down from there. We have to be ready to play."
Swan and Reese started the second half with layups and Brecca Thomas hit a 3-pointer to cut the Cal lead to 37-30, four minutes in. But the Buffs missed their next five shots which allowed Cal a 6-0 run over 2:13 to take a 43-30 advantage.
Gray made four straight free throws and Boyd scored on a runner in the lane to put Cal up 49-35. Swan scored consecutive baskets on nice post moves to bring the deficit to 10 one more time.
Mikayla Cowling scored four straight points and Boyd pitched in the next five as Cal went on an 11-2 run to put the game out of reach.
"(Cal) made us turn over the ball more than we wanted to," Reese said. "We didn't play together for a 40 minutes. We had spurts where we did, but spurts where we didn't and we can't do that."
Colorado returns home for a weekend series with the Los Angeles schools. The Buffaloes will host USC on Friday, Jan 9, at 8 p.m. On Sunday CU will host UCLA on Sunday, Jan. 11, at 2 p.m. Both games will air live on the Pac-12 Networks.
