Colorado
13-10,3-9Pac-12
Washington
22-3,10-2Pac-12
Buffs Rally Late But Can’t Overtake No. 10 Huskies
February 05, 2017 | Women's Basketball, B.G. Brooks
Behind Plum, Osahor, UW claims 79-75 Pac-12 Conference Win
The Buffaloes (13-10 overall, 3-9 Pac-12) got a 3-pointer by Alexis Robinson, coming back from 11 down in the final period to within four with 3 seconds to play.
"Tremendous effort by our team . . . we played against one of the best teams in the country," CU coach JR Payne said. "We played against the best scorer in the country and the best rebounder in the country, and went toe to toe with them. I'm really proud of the way we played and the heart that we played with.
"We never back down and never give in, and that sounds so cliché, but that's a team that you love to coach. I would rather have a team that's going to go out and compete every single night than a group of all-stars that won't compete."
CU had three players in double figures, topped by Kennedy Leonard and Robinson with 19 points each. Makenzie Ellis added a career-high 18.
Kelsey Plum, the nation's leading scorer at 31 points a game, had 28 for UW (22-3, 10-2), followed by Chantel Osahor with 20, Aarion McDonald with 14 and Katie Collier with 11.
Osahor, the nation's leading rebounder at 14.8 per game, collected 16 of UW's 39 rebounds. CU had a two-board final edge, 41-39.
HOW IT HAPPENED: The Huskies outscored the Buffs 17-7 over the final 6 minutes of the first quarter to take a 23-16 lead at the period's end. After a back-and-forth first 4 minutes, CU's last advantage was 9-8 – and the Buffs wouldn't lead again.
The Huskies gained their first double-digit advantage (27-16) on four consecutive free throws – two by Osahor, two by Plum – to open the second quarter.
CU rallied on baskets by Smith, Ariana Freeman and a trey by Ellis to pull to within 27-23, but UW answered with a 9-0 run to go up 36-23 with 5:05 left before the break.
The Huskies maintained leads of 11-13 points for the rest of the half, with two late free throws by Ellis cutting the Buffs' deficit to 42-31 at halftime.
CU shot only 32 percent (12-of-37) in the first half while UW checked out at 52 (14-of-27). The Huskies hit 5 of their 11 trey attempts, with Osahor (15 points) and Plum (14) sinking two each from beyond the arc.
Leonard hit just one of her five first-half field goal attempts while Robinson was 4-of-8 and finished with a team-best 11 points in the half.
The Huskies scored the first five points of the second half on a Plum layup and a triple by Natalie Romeo – her first points of the game – to take their first 16-point lead, 47-31.
They stretched it to 17 before the Buffs closed out the quarter with an 11-2 run, leaving them behind 56-48 entering the final period. UW got its final basket of the third quarter on a jumper in the lane by Plum.
It followed a 3-pointer by Leonard, who scored 7 of the 11 points in CU's surge, that pulled the Buffs to within 54-48 – the closest they'd been since 32-23 in the second period.
And CU wasn't done. After UW opened the final quarter by outscoring the home team 8-2 to restore a 14-point advantage (64-50), Leonard and the Buffs responded with an 11-1 run to pull to within 65-61 with 6:16 remaining.
Robinson opened the run with a triple, and Leonard and Ellis accounted for four points each to close it out.
But from then to final buzzer, it was Plum Time. After a layup by Katie Collier, Plum added a layup followed by a 3-pointer to cap a 7-0 spurt that sent U-Dub up 72-61 with 3:30 left.
Once again, the Buffs had a double-digit deficit to overcome but not much time to do it. They gave it a shot – Bri Watts hit a short jumper, Ellis nailed a trey and Leonard a layup – to bring CU to 74-68 at the 1:52 mark.
CU got field goals by Leonard and Monica Burich before Robinson's final trey to pull within 79-75. The Huskies didn't make another field goal during that final span but hit 5-of-10 free throws – which was good enough to keep the Buffs at bay.
TURNING POINT: After CU had pulled to 65-61 on consecutive field goals by Ellis, UW mounted a 9-2 run, with Plum scoring of those points, to go back up by 11 points. Another double-digit deficit was too much to overcome in the final 3 minutes.
CU STANDOUTS: After scoring only two first-half points, Leonard went 6-of-8 from the field in the second half and finished with 19. She added 6 assists, 6 rebounds and 5 steals . . . . Ellis' 18 points came on 7-of-19 from the field and 2-of-2 from the foul line. She also had 6 rebounds and one blocked shot . . . . Robinson scored 11 of her 19 points in the first half and led CU with three 3-pointers . . . . Haley Smith led the Buffs with 11 rebounds and contributed 7 points.
KEY STATISTICS: CU stayed with UW on the boards, out-rebounding the visitors 41-39, including 12-6 on the offensive glass . . . . The Buffs' fourth-quarter shooting was their best of the afternoon; they hit 58 percent (11-of-19) and 41 percent for the afternoon (30-of-73) . . . . CU had three fewer turnovers -- 10-7 -- than UW. Each team scored 12 points off of errors . . . . CU's bench outscored UW's 10-0.
WHAT IT MEANS: The Buffs believe they can play with any team in the Pac-12 -- and they can for spurts. But it's a 40-minute game. Nonetheless, they remain competitive and that's one of the things that Payne likes about her first CU team.
NOTEWORTHY: Leonard had her second career game with at least 15 points, five rebounds, five assists and five steals (had 19, 6, 6 and 5) ... Robinson, Leonard, Ellis combined to score 56 points (21-of-46 from the field) ... Colorado's 75 points is a conference-high for the team this season ... Washington entered the game with the third most free-throws made in the nation – however only made 64 percent of its free throws Sunday (16-of-25) . . . Smith came into the game averaging 6.2 rebounds per game but is averaging 12 rebounds per game over the last two contests ... CU scored 17 points in the third quarter and went on an 11-2 run from 3:43 mark to end the third quarter and cut the lead to just six after being down 17 points ... CU had been outscored 236-163 in 11 Pac-12 games in the third quarter entering Sunday.
QUOTEWORTHY
Colorado Coach JR Payne
On Importance Of Rebounding
"It's the biggest key. For us most nights, rebounding is the biggest key. Defensively, it gives us an opportunity to get out in transition, and offensively it gives us second chance opportunities, and the chance to get to the free throw line. It was essential to rebound tonight. A lot of people played, and I like when I look at the stat sheet and every single player that stepped on the floor rebounded."
On Leading Rebounder Hayley Smith Fouling Out With 6 Minutes Remaining
"I think it hurts a lot because Hayley is so much more than a rebounder for us, she can stretch the defense, she's aggressive, she can defend, she does a lot for us, so it would've been nice to have her down the stretch but everyone that came really gave tremendous effort."
On Turning Point
"We came into the second half thinking we had to reverse the basketball, we didn't want shots 5-seconds into the shot clock, we wanted to make them have to defend us."
On Letting Kelsey Plum "Get Hers" And Compensating Elsewhere
"You don't stop Kelsey Plum. Nobody stops her. You have to make her work for her points, and she still scored 28 and a lot of those were down the stretch. We wanted to make them work for their baskets, work for their touches, work for rebounds, and have to play a physical game at altitude."
On Key To A Strong Third Quarter
"I think ball movement. We made them have to defend multiple things, and then at the end of the clock we were aggressive to the basket."
Colorado Players
Makenzie Ellis, Soph., F
On The Team's Heart
"I think this team has a great spark in us. We have a fight and heart. I think with this coaching staff, it's brought it out in us. We have the ability to compete with these teams. In these last few games, we pulled it out of us and have been able to compete and bring these games closer and closer."
On Washington's Fatigue In The Second Half
"We knew coming in that they play a limited amount of players and that this altitude is our best friend. We could tell that they were having a hard time and we just kept putting it on."
Alexis Robinson, Soph., G
On Team Play Through All Quarters
"It's showing that we can compete with any team out there. Before we would put the first two quarters together and now we're starting to put the last two together. So now we need to put all four together and we'll be on the right track."
On Strategy For This Game
"We knew we weren't going to outscore them and we had our hands full with Kelsey Plum. That's a tough one. We tried to score the ball any way we could and get those stops on defense.
On Playing Against Kelsey Plum
"She's the toughest guard I've ever faced in my life. She scores any type of way which is pretty extraordinary."
Washington Coach Mike Neighbors
On how CU started the second half strong
"They do it every second half. It catches up to you. Their play in the first half wears on you and then the get you in the third and fourth quarter, not only to us but also to a lot of people in this place. Fortunately we were able to respond to their runs and have a big enough lead in the first half to where it didn't matter."
On the altitude having an effect on the game
"Always, it's a real thing. I coached here for a year and I helped paint that sign in the locker room so I get it. It's a real thing. You have to understand that and you have to let the kids fight through it, but they're playing at the same elevation so it's kind of a mindset thing. We haven't always handled it very well but we did today."
On what Washington can take away from the game
"We're resilient. We saw a couple new defensive looks tonight that we hadn't seen so add those to more looks that other people will use to try to slow us down. Experience came up big too."
Contact: BG.Brooks@Colorado.EDU
