Colorado
12-8, 2-7Pac-12
Utah
13-7, 2-7Pac-12
Buffs Hold Off Utes, Break Five-Game Slide With 54-49 Pac-12 Win
January 25, 2017 | Women's Basketball, B.G. Brooks
Leonard scores game-best 24 points, including CU’s final 11 in fourth quarter
Sophomore guard Kennedy Leonard scored the Buffaloes' final 11 points, including four straight free throws in the final 19.7 seconds to seal the victory.
Winning for just the second time in 10 games, the Buffs (12-8 overall, 2-7 Pac-12) led 41-36 entering the fourth quarter and held off the Utes (13-7, 2-7) after they tied the score at 45-45 then pulled to within 48-47 in the final minute.
"We needed it," CU coach JR Payne said. "We can't hang everything on this win, but we needed it."
Payne was happiest with her team's 48-37 edge on the boards: "The biggest thing I'm excited about is the way we rebounded . . . (Utah) is one of top rebounding teams in the conference and we've been talking about it for two weeks. Everyone who played rebounded."
Monica Burich and Leonard topped the Buffs with a career-high nine boards each, and Leonard added a game-best 24 points. She and Alexis Robinson (10) were the only two CU players in double figures.
Utah got 12 points from Paige Crozon and 11 from Kiana Moore. Leading Utes scorer Emily Potter (15.6 ppg) was held to six points but she added a game-high 11 rebounds.
CU improved to 8-4 against Utah since the two schools joined the Pac-12 for the 2011-12 season.
HOW IT HAPPENED: The Buffs led by as many as 10 points (14-4) in the first quarter, courtesy of a 12-0 run. But the Utes had an answer – a 10-3 surge that closed the period and brought them to within 17-14 at the buzzer.
CU's lead was cut to 17-16 on a pair of Tilar Clark free throws to open the second quarter and Utah finally tied the score at 24-24 on a layup by Megan Jacobs in the period's final minute.
The second quarter offered proof of why the Buffs and the Utes reside at the bottom of the Pac-12 stats in field goal percentage and scoring. Each team managed only two field goal in the period, with
CU's two baskets – a Haley Smith trey, a Bri Watts put-back – coming in the quarter's first 4 minutes.
Thereafter, the Buffs' only points were a free throw each by Ariana Freeman and Leonard.
CU wound up shooting 24 percent (9-of-37) from the field in the opening half, while Utah finished at 23 percent (7-of-31). The Utes stayed close by hitting 9-of-10 free throws while the Buffs could make only 3-of-8.
Neither team had a player in double figures in the first half.
Crozon hit a layup to open the second half, giving the Utes a 26-24 lead – their first since 4-2. The Buffs responded with two baskets each by Robinson and Leonard, taking a 32-28 advantage.
But they lost it on a 3-pointer from the left corner by Crozon and a traditional 3-point play by Kiana Moore, pushing Utah ahead 34-32 with 4:58 left in the period.
From that point, the Buffs outscored the Utes 9-2. Leonard's layup with 2 seconds remaining gave CU a 41-36 lead entering the final quarter.
The Buffs increased their lead to 43-36 on a put-back by Zoe Beard-Fails to open the fourth period. With CU getting only two Leonard free throws over the next 6 minutes, Utah pulled to within 45-43 and tied the score at 45-45 on a Jacobs layup.
Then it become Leonard's time to shine . . .
CU answered with a Leonard conventional 3-point play, pushing the Buffs ahead 48-45 with 1:20 to play. Potter's layup brought Utah to within 48-47, but a Leonard jumper from the right of the key restored the Buffs' three-point lead (50-47) with 33 seconds remaining.
She went 4-of-4 from the free throw line in the final 19.7 seconds to secure CU's win.
Leonard spent much of the night picking herself up off the floor, but the bumps that might lead to bruises didn't matter.
"My body will be OK," she said. "We won . . . this felt good. It was a confidence-builder."
TURNING POINT: With the score tied at 45-45, Leonard scored nine straight points, including 4-of-4 from the foul line to keep the Buffs afloat.
CU STANDOUTS: Leonard went 7-of-19 from the field and 9-of-13 from the free throw line to go with her 9 rebounds . . . . Robinson, who had averaged 14 points in the four previous games, hit 4-of-6 from the field and one of two foul shots . . . . In 22 minutes, Burich collected a career-best 9 rebounds and had two assists.
KEY STATISTICS: CU outrebounded Utah 48-37 . . . . The Buffs scored 22 points off of 18 Utes turnovers, one more than Utah scored off of CU's 18 turnovers . . . . CU shot 50 percent from the field (7-of-14) and outscored the visitors 17-12 in the third quarter – a period that has plagued the Buffs in conference play.
WHAT IT MEANS: The Buffs were desperate for a 'W' and they earned one. It wasn't a game featuring torrid shooting or error-free offense, rather a grind-it-out with no style points kind of night. Whatever, Payne and her first CU team will take it. And on Saturday they'll face the same opponent – this time in Salt Lake City.
NOTEWORTHY: CU's 30.6 field goal percentage was the lowest in a win since March 7, 2012 against Utah in the Pac-12 Tournament when the Buffs shot 29.4 (15-for-51) in a 55-41 win .... Burich had a career-high nine rebounds, as did Leonard .... The last time CU was tied at halftime was Dec. 21, 2015 at Wyoming .... Beard-Fails made her first start since Dec. 19, 2015 against Presbyterian .... Colorado breaks the tie in all-time meetings against the Utah and now holds the advantage, 15-14 .... Utah's 49 points was the lowest scoring total for a Colorado opponent all season .... Wednesday's win was CU's first in the last four games at the Coors Events Center .... Three Utah players came into the game averaging double-digits in scoring on the season and all failed to score double digits Wednesday.
QUOTEWORTHY
Colorado coach JR Payne
General
"I'm proud of how we played, the thing I'm most excited about is how we rebounded tonight. (Utah) is one of the top two rebounding teams in our conference, we've been toward the bottom of the conference in rebounding, but we've been talking about the importance of rebounding both ends. I'm just unbelievably proud of our effort. I think everybody that played, rebounded, which is just phenomenal. Kennedy (Leonard) knocked down free throws late in the game, Monica (Burich) gave us incredible minutes on both ends of the floor. We needed this. You can't hang everything on just getting the win, but we needed it. We need to use this as momentum."
On Dominating the 3rd Quarter
"It was really important. It was our highest scoring quarter; it was their second lowest scoring quarter. I know we talked about it, I know it was on their minds, it was certainly on our minds, about trying to be more aggressive in that third quarter."
On Message To Team In Final Minutes
"Something I was really happy about was, with about two minutes to go, we executed really well. We had two 30-second possessions, Monica got an offensive board, we had another 30-second possession, they tipped it out of bounds and we got another 30-second possession. That was a minute and a half of offense for us, defense that they had to play. I thought our execution was good at the end of the half. We just talked about having a good solid possession, with something aggressive at the end of the clock. Nothing really special, but we executed what we wanted to."
On Focal Points Of The Gameplan
"(Emily) Potter is the key to everything they do offensively and defensively. The biggest thing was rebounding, we talked about it all week and in shootaround today – rebound, rebound, rebound. We thought that was the most important factor so to see us do as well as we did on the glass, I'm very proud of that."
On Facing Utah Again In 4 Days
"It's been rare in her whole career that Potter has gone for less than 10-points two games in a row, so I would expect a really concerted effort to get the ball inside and for her to be aggressive. They'll be playing at home, which everybody is more comfortable at home. Both teams will try to make adjustments, we'll see what we did well, what didn't we do well, what should we do differently, so it kind of becomes a chess match, which is really fun as a coach. The biggest thing is to not try to get too creative, if something was working, go for it. We have to build on your strengths and try to figure out where our weaknesses were tonight, try to fix those things, but I don't think we need to go back to the drawing board. Stick with what worked."
Colorado Players
Kennedy Leonard, So., G
On hard hits tonight
"I am feeling good because we won. My body will be okay. It can hurt tomorrow but we won today and that is what matters."
On First Win after five loses
"It is just a confidence builder. We struggled a little bit coming off a good pre-season. So, to be able to get another win and hopefully on Saturday take exactly what we did today and get better at it, I think it's a huge confidence builder for us."
On her point run late in the game
"I just had the ball in my hands a lot as a point guard. So to be able to come down and read other players, I have all my other players. Haley [Smith] is getting offensive rebounds. Zoe [Beard-Fields] is getting second chances. Monica [Birch] is getting seconds chances. So all those little things and I ended up with the ball and luckily I could put it into the hoop tonight. That was good."
Monica Burich, Fr., F
On her Nine Rebounds
"Actually every time I go for a time out, Coach [JR Payne] is always telling me to rebound. It definitely is one of my strengths so I really like to bring that to the game and help out wherever I can. Coach [Towns] is always big on crashing every time. As long as you go to the basket you are more likely to get it. That has just been my mentality. "
On defending Utah's Emily Potter
"It was definitely in our game plan. I think we can even do a better job executing it when we play them again, which is exciting. She is a great player. She is 6'6', that helps a lot. She is very good at finishing. One of our goals was to take the ball out of her hand and make other people make plays. I think we did a really good job executing that."
NEXT UP: The Buffs travel to Utah on Saturday (12:30 p.m. MST, Pac-12 Networks, ESPN Radio 1160 am.)
Contact: BG.Brooks@Colorado.EDU
