Sunday, January 15
Boulder, Colo.
2:00 PM
Colorado
11-6, 1-5Pac-12
70
vs
84
Stanford
15-3, 5-1Pac-12
1
2
3
4
F
Stanford
20
21
28
15
84
Colorado
23
19
18
10
70
Guard Kennedy Leonard led CU with 22 points Sunday.
Photo by: CUBuffs.com
Cardinal Overpowers Buffs In Second Half For 84-70 Pac-12 Win
January 15, 2017 | Women's Basketball, B.G. Brooks
No. 13 Cardinal hands Buffs sixth loss in last seven games
BOULDER – No. 13 Stanford steadily pulled away from the Colorado women's basketball team in the second half Sunday afternoon, defeating the Buffaloes 84-70 at the Coors Events Center.
CU, which led 42-41 at halftime, lost for the 11th consecutive time to Stanford, dropped its third straight game to a ranked Pac-12 Conference opponent this season and lost for the sixth time in the last seven games.
The Buffs have never defeated a ranked Pac-12 team in the regular season since joining the league in 2011.
CU (11-6 overall, 1-5 Pac-12) had three players in double figures: Kennedy Leonard (22), Alexis Robinson (13) and Zoe Beard-Fails (11).
Stanford (15-3, 5-1) got 20 points from Karlie Samuelson, 18 from Brittany McPhee, and 12 from Erica McCall.
The Buffs' 70 points marked the first time this season the Cardinal has allowed that many in regulation play.
HOW IT HAPPENED: Hitting four of their five 3-point attempts, the Buffs owned a 23-20 lead after one quarter. Robinson hit two of the four treys, Makenzie Ellis and Haley Smith the other two. The Cardinal also made four long-range baskets, but had two more attempts.
CU didn't have a first-quarter turnover while Stanford committed six that led to six Buffs points in a period that saw two ties and three lead changes. CU's largest lead was five points, Stanford's three.
Opening the second quarter with a 9-2 run, the Cardinal took a 29-25 lead before the Buffs answered with a Robinson trey and a short Smith jumper to regain the lead (30-29).
They increased it to five points (39-34) on a pair of treys and one of two free throws by Leonard. Undaunted, the Cardinal responded with a 5-0 run to tie the score at 39-39, prompting a Buffs timeout with 47 seconds before halftime.
Coming out of that timeout, Leonard drained a trey from the right wing – her third of the period and the Buffs' eighth of the half – to send CU up 42-39. Brittany McPhee's runner 2 seconds before the halftime horn pulled the Cardinal to within 42-41.
The Buffs finished the half hitting 8-of-13 from beyond the arc and 50 percent (15-of-30) from the field. Leonard led them with 14 points while Robinson added 11. And the Buffs committed only three first-half turnovers – all in the second quarter.
But CU needed a third-quarter start that didn't resemble Friday night's against Cal, when the Buffs were outscored 19-1 to begin the period and ultimately lost 65-53.
It wasn't that devastating Sunday afternoon, but it was costly enough. The Buffs scored the quarter's first two points on two free throws by Zoe Correal, then were broadsided by a pair of Samuelson 3-pointers and three of four free throws that put the Cardinal up 50-44.
A pair of Quinessa Caylao-Do foul shots pulled CU to 50-46, but Samuelson answered with another trey, giving Stanford a 53-46 advantage. It grew to double digits – 58-48 – on three Samuelson free throws.
The Buffs closed the gap to four (58-54) on back-to-back treys by Leonard and Zoe Beard-Fails but the Cardinal – with McPhee scoring her team's final 11 points of the period – pushed ahead 69-60 with one quarter remaining.
Scoring the first five points of the fourth period on a trey by Briana Roberson and two more Samuelson free throws, Stanford opened a 14-point lead (74-60) and put CU in catch-up mode for the rest of the afternoon.
The Buffs never cut their deficit to single digits thereafter.
TURNING POINT: Trailing 42-41 at halftime, the Cardinal outscored the Buffs 9-2 to open the third quarter, took a 50-44 lead and never trailed again. Stanford opened a 14-point lead early in the fourth quarter.
CU STANDOUTS: Leonard hit 5-of-11 from beyond the arc, 6-of-19 overall, and made 5-of-6 free throws. She also had a game-best 7 assists . . . . Robinson made half of her six 3-point attempts, accounting for 9 of her 13 points . . . . Beard-Fails came off the bench to score her 11 points and added 3 rebounds and 2 assists . . . . Correal had a team-high 5 rebounds with 4 points . . . . Smith finished with 9 points, 4 rebounds and 2 assists.
KEY STATISTICS: CU shot 36 percent from the field (22-of-61) while Stanford shot 54 percent (28-of-52) . . . . After hitting 8-of-13 3-pointers in the first half, the Buffs finished at 11-of-25 from beyond the arc . . . . The Cardinal 11-of-20 from long range . . . . Stanford out-rebounded CU 37-27 . . . . The Buffs had only 8 turnovers – none in the first quarter.
WHAT IT MEANS: The Buffs continue to battle, but they're facing big and talented Pac-12 teams. Unlike Friday night against Cal, they were better for 40 full minutes on Sunday afternoon. But even 40 minutes of above-average basketball might not have been enough to upset powerful Stanford.
NOTEWORTHY: Colorado's 23 points was the most points allowed by Stanford in the first quarter all season . . . . After only two CU players reached the free-throw line in its last game against California, five players attempted free-throws in Sunday's game against Stanford – shooting 15-of-17 (88.2 percent) . . . . The Buffs' 57.1 percent from the field in the first quarter was the highest percentage they have shot in the first quarter since the first game of the season against Northern Colorado (60 percent) . . . . CU's four 3-pointers in the first quarter doubled its total in the entire game against Stanford in the two team's last meeting (2) . . . . The Buffs' 4-of-5 3's in the first quarter were their best since hitting 4-of-5 against SMU in November . . . . Beard-Fails is 4-for-4 on 3-point field goals this season . . . . Stanford's 81.8 (9-11) field goal percentage in the third quarter was the highest ever against CU . . . . Stanford's 53.8 final field goal percentage was the highest against CU since .556 (25-45) at UCLA, 2/1/13 . . . . Leonard recorded her 12th career 20+ point game.
QUOTEWORTHY
Colorado Coach JR Payne
General
"That is a dang good team and I think that we have a dang good team too. I am really proud of the way that we played. I am extremely proud of our rebounding effort in the second half. There are so many great things you can pull from this stat sheet. The point total is where the disappointment comes. But our effort, our rebounding effort, taking care of the basketball the way that we do, we shot the ball well – there is just a lot of really great things. I know I always say this but it is the truth – I am really proud of the way our team battled."
On the difference in playing such a talented team like Stanford
"They have so many weapons. Like I said the other night, they have post players that can score, they have players that can shoot, they have athletes that can get out and defend. They have everything you want in a great team. They have depth - people that come in and can knock down shots. Their non-shooters shot the heck out of it tonight. We had people double their 3-point output for their entire season tonight. So you play the percentages, you come with a game plan, you execute the game plan, and really try to win the fifty-fifties and the hustle stats - and let the chips fall. But they are very, very well coached obviously – and really good."
On the satisfaction of the shots the players had taken
"Against a defense like that, absolutely, I thought we got a lot of good shots. At times, we need to try and get to the rim more. But they are No. 23 in the country in defense – so they are one of the best. Their help-side is excellent. But for the most part, I thought we took good shots tonight. It would be nice to get the ball inside more. But other than that, I was happy with our offensive production."
On Stanford's effort to keep Colorado away from the rim in the second half
"That's what they do. But I don't know the last time that they gave up 70 points except in their double overtime game a couple weeks ago. We scored the ball. It was the rebounding that I thought was a big difference. Second chance opportunities for them, I thought were really important. But I was happy with our offensive production tonight."
On the play of Stanford's McCall and Samuelson
"Samuelson is one of the top shooters in the country – shoots 50% from three. I think she is the best shooter in our league. She had too many looks - some were contested, some were not. We have to be able to control the ones that weren't contested and do a better job there. McPhee, we needed to make an adjustment on earlier. She kept rejecting the screen, going baseline, getting all the way to the rim with no help-side. That was something that we needed to fix after the first time that she did it. But she is a tremendous athlete, she's experienced, and it showed tonight."
Colorado Players
Kennedy Leonard, So., G
On Playing Ranked Teams over the Weekend
"I think first and foremost we learned that a game is 40 minutes and not just 40 minutes. I think Friday taught us that pretty well but obviously coming into today knowing that we had to play the full 40 minutes. We had a little lapse in the third quarter, but continuing to push through showed us that we are listening to our coaches enough to know that the game is going to be 40 minutes. I think a huge thing that we realized is that we can play with anybody, Stanford's ranked 13th, or whatever they are ranked, rankings do not really matter, and if we can play with them, we can play with anyone as long as we have each other's back and keep working hard. I think that's the biggest takeaway."
On Preparation this Week for Road Games
"Obviously tomorrow is an off-day, then we start up school, so just being able to concentrate again on basketball and school I think is a big thing, just knowing that it is a business trip. Oregon and Oregon State are good teams. It is a tough road trip. We are just getting after it this week, knowing everything we need to work on, scouts and stuff like that and getting better at things that we know we need to work on."
Zoe Beard-Fails, Sr., F
On Playing Off the Bench
"I think, especially when we play against a team like Stanford, in general you try to bring everything you got, but something happens when you play these kinds of teams, especially after Cal which was such a close game for us, and we felt that we hadn't played for 40 minutes. So we came into this game knowing that we had to do the extra stuff, kind of focus on doing the extra effort, diving on the floor, getting those extra rebounds. I just told myself I need to focus on that and everything else will fall where it may."
Stanford Coach Tara VanDerveer
On contributing factors to coming from being down at half to winning the game
"It was a great win today. I thought we played much better defense in the second half. We had some people get going offensively and we took care of the ball better. I believe we had eight or nine turnovers in the first half but continued to take care of the ball which led to a win. Different peeople stepped up for us and that is what we need"
On Brittany McPhee
"She was a great contribute to today's win. She got it going in the second half. We count on her for days like these and she came up very big. That's who she is and anything else, she can't be."
On preparation for the games next weekend against Arizona & Arizona State
"It's kind of nice in a way that we have played them already but kind of bad in a way that we are playing them already so fast. It gives you a little bit of a breather and that you don't have to do all this thinking about what you are going to do or who the new players are. I think that we can work really hard on getting a successful result that we want and maintain our position at top of the standings."
NEXT UP: The Buffs take a Northwest trip this week, playing at Oregon on Friday (7 p.m. MST, Pac-12 Networks) and at Oregon State on Sunday (4 p.m. MST, Pac-12 Networks).
Contact: BG.Brooks@Colorado.EDU
CU, which led 42-41 at halftime, lost for the 11th consecutive time to Stanford, dropped its third straight game to a ranked Pac-12 Conference opponent this season and lost for the sixth time in the last seven games.
The Buffs have never defeated a ranked Pac-12 team in the regular season since joining the league in 2011.
CU (11-6 overall, 1-5 Pac-12) had three players in double figures: Kennedy Leonard (22), Alexis Robinson (13) and Zoe Beard-Fails (11).
Stanford (15-3, 5-1) got 20 points from Karlie Samuelson, 18 from Brittany McPhee, and 12 from Erica McCall.
The Buffs' 70 points marked the first time this season the Cardinal has allowed that many in regulation play.
HOW IT HAPPENED: Hitting four of their five 3-point attempts, the Buffs owned a 23-20 lead after one quarter. Robinson hit two of the four treys, Makenzie Ellis and Haley Smith the other two. The Cardinal also made four long-range baskets, but had two more attempts.
CU didn't have a first-quarter turnover while Stanford committed six that led to six Buffs points in a period that saw two ties and three lead changes. CU's largest lead was five points, Stanford's three.
Opening the second quarter with a 9-2 run, the Cardinal took a 29-25 lead before the Buffs answered with a Robinson trey and a short Smith jumper to regain the lead (30-29).
They increased it to five points (39-34) on a pair of treys and one of two free throws by Leonard. Undaunted, the Cardinal responded with a 5-0 run to tie the score at 39-39, prompting a Buffs timeout with 47 seconds before halftime.
Coming out of that timeout, Leonard drained a trey from the right wing – her third of the period and the Buffs' eighth of the half – to send CU up 42-39. Brittany McPhee's runner 2 seconds before the halftime horn pulled the Cardinal to within 42-41.
The Buffs finished the half hitting 8-of-13 from beyond the arc and 50 percent (15-of-30) from the field. Leonard led them with 14 points while Robinson added 11. And the Buffs committed only three first-half turnovers – all in the second quarter.
But CU needed a third-quarter start that didn't resemble Friday night's against Cal, when the Buffs were outscored 19-1 to begin the period and ultimately lost 65-53.
It wasn't that devastating Sunday afternoon, but it was costly enough. The Buffs scored the quarter's first two points on two free throws by Zoe Correal, then were broadsided by a pair of Samuelson 3-pointers and three of four free throws that put the Cardinal up 50-44.
A pair of Quinessa Caylao-Do foul shots pulled CU to 50-46, but Samuelson answered with another trey, giving Stanford a 53-46 advantage. It grew to double digits – 58-48 – on three Samuelson free throws.
The Buffs closed the gap to four (58-54) on back-to-back treys by Leonard and Zoe Beard-Fails but the Cardinal – with McPhee scoring her team's final 11 points of the period – pushed ahead 69-60 with one quarter remaining.
Scoring the first five points of the fourth period on a trey by Briana Roberson and two more Samuelson free throws, Stanford opened a 14-point lead (74-60) and put CU in catch-up mode for the rest of the afternoon.
The Buffs never cut their deficit to single digits thereafter.
TURNING POINT: Trailing 42-41 at halftime, the Cardinal outscored the Buffs 9-2 to open the third quarter, took a 50-44 lead and never trailed again. Stanford opened a 14-point lead early in the fourth quarter.
CU STANDOUTS: Leonard hit 5-of-11 from beyond the arc, 6-of-19 overall, and made 5-of-6 free throws. She also had a game-best 7 assists . . . . Robinson made half of her six 3-point attempts, accounting for 9 of her 13 points . . . . Beard-Fails came off the bench to score her 11 points and added 3 rebounds and 2 assists . . . . Correal had a team-high 5 rebounds with 4 points . . . . Smith finished with 9 points, 4 rebounds and 2 assists.
KEY STATISTICS: CU shot 36 percent from the field (22-of-61) while Stanford shot 54 percent (28-of-52) . . . . After hitting 8-of-13 3-pointers in the first half, the Buffs finished at 11-of-25 from beyond the arc . . . . The Cardinal 11-of-20 from long range . . . . Stanford out-rebounded CU 37-27 . . . . The Buffs had only 8 turnovers – none in the first quarter.
WHAT IT MEANS: The Buffs continue to battle, but they're facing big and talented Pac-12 teams. Unlike Friday night against Cal, they were better for 40 full minutes on Sunday afternoon. But even 40 minutes of above-average basketball might not have been enough to upset powerful Stanford.
NOTEWORTHY: Colorado's 23 points was the most points allowed by Stanford in the first quarter all season . . . . After only two CU players reached the free-throw line in its last game against California, five players attempted free-throws in Sunday's game against Stanford – shooting 15-of-17 (88.2 percent) . . . . The Buffs' 57.1 percent from the field in the first quarter was the highest percentage they have shot in the first quarter since the first game of the season against Northern Colorado (60 percent) . . . . CU's four 3-pointers in the first quarter doubled its total in the entire game against Stanford in the two team's last meeting (2) . . . . The Buffs' 4-of-5 3's in the first quarter were their best since hitting 4-of-5 against SMU in November . . . . Beard-Fails is 4-for-4 on 3-point field goals this season . . . . Stanford's 81.8 (9-11) field goal percentage in the third quarter was the highest ever against CU . . . . Stanford's 53.8 final field goal percentage was the highest against CU since .556 (25-45) at UCLA, 2/1/13 . . . . Leonard recorded her 12th career 20+ point game.
QUOTEWORTHY
Colorado Coach JR Payne
General
"That is a dang good team and I think that we have a dang good team too. I am really proud of the way that we played. I am extremely proud of our rebounding effort in the second half. There are so many great things you can pull from this stat sheet. The point total is where the disappointment comes. But our effort, our rebounding effort, taking care of the basketball the way that we do, we shot the ball well – there is just a lot of really great things. I know I always say this but it is the truth – I am really proud of the way our team battled."
On the difference in playing such a talented team like Stanford
"They have so many weapons. Like I said the other night, they have post players that can score, they have players that can shoot, they have athletes that can get out and defend. They have everything you want in a great team. They have depth - people that come in and can knock down shots. Their non-shooters shot the heck out of it tonight. We had people double their 3-point output for their entire season tonight. So you play the percentages, you come with a game plan, you execute the game plan, and really try to win the fifty-fifties and the hustle stats - and let the chips fall. But they are very, very well coached obviously – and really good."
On the satisfaction of the shots the players had taken
"Against a defense like that, absolutely, I thought we got a lot of good shots. At times, we need to try and get to the rim more. But they are No. 23 in the country in defense – so they are one of the best. Their help-side is excellent. But for the most part, I thought we took good shots tonight. It would be nice to get the ball inside more. But other than that, I was happy with our offensive production."
On Stanford's effort to keep Colorado away from the rim in the second half
"That's what they do. But I don't know the last time that they gave up 70 points except in their double overtime game a couple weeks ago. We scored the ball. It was the rebounding that I thought was a big difference. Second chance opportunities for them, I thought were really important. But I was happy with our offensive production tonight."
On the play of Stanford's McCall and Samuelson
"Samuelson is one of the top shooters in the country – shoots 50% from three. I think she is the best shooter in our league. She had too many looks - some were contested, some were not. We have to be able to control the ones that weren't contested and do a better job there. McPhee, we needed to make an adjustment on earlier. She kept rejecting the screen, going baseline, getting all the way to the rim with no help-side. That was something that we needed to fix after the first time that she did it. But she is a tremendous athlete, she's experienced, and it showed tonight."
Colorado Players
Kennedy Leonard, So., G
On Playing Ranked Teams over the Weekend
"I think first and foremost we learned that a game is 40 minutes and not just 40 minutes. I think Friday taught us that pretty well but obviously coming into today knowing that we had to play the full 40 minutes. We had a little lapse in the third quarter, but continuing to push through showed us that we are listening to our coaches enough to know that the game is going to be 40 minutes. I think a huge thing that we realized is that we can play with anybody, Stanford's ranked 13th, or whatever they are ranked, rankings do not really matter, and if we can play with them, we can play with anyone as long as we have each other's back and keep working hard. I think that's the biggest takeaway."
On Preparation this Week for Road Games
"Obviously tomorrow is an off-day, then we start up school, so just being able to concentrate again on basketball and school I think is a big thing, just knowing that it is a business trip. Oregon and Oregon State are good teams. It is a tough road trip. We are just getting after it this week, knowing everything we need to work on, scouts and stuff like that and getting better at things that we know we need to work on."
Zoe Beard-Fails, Sr., F
On Playing Off the Bench
"I think, especially when we play against a team like Stanford, in general you try to bring everything you got, but something happens when you play these kinds of teams, especially after Cal which was such a close game for us, and we felt that we hadn't played for 40 minutes. So we came into this game knowing that we had to do the extra stuff, kind of focus on doing the extra effort, diving on the floor, getting those extra rebounds. I just told myself I need to focus on that and everything else will fall where it may."
Stanford Coach Tara VanDerveer
On contributing factors to coming from being down at half to winning the game
"It was a great win today. I thought we played much better defense in the second half. We had some people get going offensively and we took care of the ball better. I believe we had eight or nine turnovers in the first half but continued to take care of the ball which led to a win. Different peeople stepped up for us and that is what we need"
On Brittany McPhee
"She was a great contribute to today's win. She got it going in the second half. We count on her for days like these and she came up very big. That's who she is and anything else, she can't be."
On preparation for the games next weekend against Arizona & Arizona State
"It's kind of nice in a way that we have played them already but kind of bad in a way that we are playing them already so fast. It gives you a little bit of a breather and that you don't have to do all this thinking about what you are going to do or who the new players are. I think that we can work really hard on getting a successful result that we want and maintain our position at top of the standings."
NEXT UP: The Buffs take a Northwest trip this week, playing at Oregon on Friday (7 p.m. MST, Pac-12 Networks) and at Oregon State on Sunday (4 p.m. MST, Pac-12 Networks).
Contact: BG.Brooks@Colorado.EDU
Team Stats
STAN
COLO
FG%
.538
.361
3FG%
.550
.440
FT%
.773
.882
RB
37
27
TO
14
8
STL
5
5
Game Leaders
Scoring
Pts
22
FGM
6
3FGM
5
FTM
5
Pts
13
FGM
5
3FGM
3
FTM
0
Pts
11
FGM
3
3FGM
1
FTM
4
Pts
9
FGM
4
3FGM
1
FTM
0
Players Mentioned
F
/ Women's Basketball
G
/ Women's Basketball
C
/ Women's Basketball
F
/ Women's BasketballG
/ Women's BasketballG
/ Women's BasketballG/F
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