Sunday, March 19
Brookings, S.D.
1 p.m.
Colorado
17-15
81
at
75
South Dakota State
23-9
1
2
3
4
OT 1
F
Colorado
9
19
23
12
18
81
South Dakota State
17
12
14
20
12
75
Kennedy Leonard led CU with 29 points in Sunday's win at South Dakota State.
Photo by: CUBuffs.com
Gritty Buffs Advance In WNIT With 81-75 Overtime Win
March 19, 2017 | Women's Basketball, B.G. Brooks
With Robinson sidelined, CU’s Leonard, Smith combine for 50 points
BROOKINGS, S.D. – Down a key starter and playing in one of the most difficult environments of the season, the Colorado women's basketball team didn't blink.
The resilient Buffaloes squandered a 13-point fourth-quarter lead but settled themselves sufficiently enough to dominate overtime and extend their season with an 81-75 second-round WNIT win against South Dakota State.
CU (17-15) advances to play at Iowa on Thursday night in the WNIT third round.
"Oh my goodness . . . I'm so unbelievably proud of my team," said first-year CU coach JR Payne. "When the buzzer sounded, I kept saying, 'No one wins here, no one wins here.' . . . . (But) our poise, our discipline, and everything we've talked about to this young team, they did it down the stretch."
Playing without starting guard Alexis Robinson, who suffered an injury in Saturday's practice, CU dealt SDSU its first loss in 11 games in tumultuous Frost Arena. The Jackrabbits (23-9) were 13-1 at home this season and had won seven of eight previous WNIT games on their home court.
Kennedy Leonard led the Buffs with 29 points, 8 assists and 7 rebounds and helped keep the Jackrabbits at bay by hitting four consecutive free throws in the final 28 seconds.
Robinson, who averaged 11.4 points a game but scored 16 with a game-high five steals in the Buffaloes' first-round win against UNLV, was replaced in the starting lineup by freshman Quinessa Caylao-Do, who scored four points but contributed five assists in 39 minutes. Payne said Robinson is "day-to-day."
Haley Smith (21 points) and Makenzie Ellis (10) also helped compensate for Robinson's absence.
Ellie Thompson (20 points) topped three SDSU players in double figures.
HOW IT HAPPENED: The Jackrabbits started slowly, going just over 6 minutes between first-quarter field goals and falling behind the Buffs 7-4. But when they hit the ON button, they stayed on.
SDSU closed the period with a 14-2 run, getting back-to-back 3-pointers from Madison Guebert and Thompson, to take a 17-9 lead into the second quarter.
Thompson took over from there, scoring seven of the Jacks' next 10 points as they took their biggest lead of the first half – 27-14. But the Buffs didn't roll over; instead they responded with an 11-0 run, with Leonard scoring five points and Smith four, and pulled to within 27-25.
After a Kerri Young jumper made it 29-25, Monica Burich sank a 3-pointer at the halftime buzzer and the Buffs closed to 29-28 at intermission.
CU opened the second half with a 10-2 run and took a 38-31 lead when Ellis hit a trey just under 3 minutes into the third quarter. The Jacks pulled to 38-35 but the Buffs took off again, outscoring the home team 7-2 and taking a 45-37 lead after Smith's layup with 4:28 left in the quarter.
Less than 2 minutes later, CU's lead swelled to double digits – 49-39 – for the first time on an Ariana Freeman basket. SDSU cut its deficit to 49-43 but a Zoe Correal layup gave CU a 51-43 advantage heading into the final quarter.
The Buffs hit 10-of-14 from the field in the third quarter, and that kind of shooting would be needed in the fourth quarter for their season to stay alive.
With Smith hitting a layup, Ellis another trey and Leonard two free throws, CU extended its lead to a game-high 13 points – 58-45 – with 6:23 to play. Closing it out and advancing seemed entirely possibly, but SDSU wouldn't go away.
The Jacks got four consecutive 3-pointers – the last two by Thompson – to climb back to within 60-57 before Leonard answered with a trey at the 2:30 mark and stop a 12-2 SDSU run.
The Buffs were up 63-57, but two free throws by Clarissa Ober cut the margin to 63-59 with 2:15 to play. After Caylao-Do missed a pair of free throws, Guibert tied the score at 63-63 with back-to-back layups, completing an 18-5 run.
After CU called its final timeout with 36 seconds remaining, Ellis missed a jump shot with 8 seconds to play and the Buffs were headed for their first overtime since January 2015.
CU opened the OT with an 8-2 surge, getting treys from Leonard and Smith, and took a 71-65 advantage. The Buffs extended their lead to nine points – 76-67 – with 48 seconds left, getting a key rebound and put-back from Zoe Beard-Fails, before the Jacks hit consecutive 3-pointers to close to 76-73.
But in the final 28 seconds, Leonard was money at the free throw line, going 4-for-4, and with Ellis hitting one of two foul shots, CU left with its unlikely but hard-earned overtime win.
TURNING POINT: After being forced to overtime by an 18-5 SDSU run, CU could have wilted in the extra period. Instead, the Buffs steeled themselves and took a nine-point lead, then withstood another Jackrabbits run and kept their season alive.
CU STANDOUTS: Leonard (29 points) went 8-of-19 from the field, 10-of-11 from the free throw line, and contributed 8 assists, 7 rebounds and two steals . . . . Smith (21) hit 9-of-14 field goal attempts, 3-of-5 from long range, with 6 rebounds and 4 steals . . . . Ellis (10) hit 3-of-4 from downtown and also collected 6 rebounds . . . . Before she fouled out, center Zoe Correal was strong in the paint, scoring 8 points and collecting 5 rebounds.
KEY STATISTICS: The Buffs out-rebounded the taller Jackrabbits 34-33 and scored 28 points off the home team's 18 turnovers. CU had 17 turnovers but SDSU was able to convert them into 11 points . . . . After shooting only 20 percent in the first quarter, the Buffs found their range, finishing the game at 53 percent (30-of-57) from the field . . . . They also hit 10 of their 21 trey attempts (48 percent).
WHAT IT MEANS: CU keeps on playing, and with a 17-15 record assures Payne of finishing above .500 in her first season in Boulder. The Buffs showed they could stare down the adversity of a hostile environment and also withstand the loss of a starter.
NOTEWORTHY: Entering the game tied with Ann Troyan, Leonard's 8 assists pushed her past Troyan's record of 177 set in 1979-80 .... Leonard had her 17th career 20-point game and 13th this season .... CU shot a combined 18-for-27 (.667) in the second and third quarters after shooting 3-of-14 (.214) in the first .... SDSU went on a 13-0 run late in the first quarter and into the second quarter and led by as many as 13, but CU closed the first half on a 12-2 run to pull within one and that run continued 22-4 into the second half as CU led 38-31 with 6:55 remaining .... CU improved to 14-5 (.737) all-time in the WNIT and advanced to the third round for the fifth time in its sixth appearance .... It was CU's first overtime game since Jan. 14, 2015 (77-72 win over Utah).
QUOTEWORTHY
CU Coach JR Payne
On playing South Dakota State
"When we found out several days ago who we would be playing, the first thing I thought was, 'oh gosh, [Aaron Johnston].' I have so much respect for their program, the way AJ's teams play, the discipline and toughness they play with. I've always been a big fan. I knew what this environment would be like. I knew it would be a tough game. As far as our team is concerned, I'm just blown away at our execution and our toughness, at our ability to face adversity and to overcome and stay together. I'm just wildly proud today."
On the importance of cutting a 13-point deficit to one at halftime
"Even that last 3-pointer by Monica Burich--she had some family here, she's from Minnesota--to come in and knock down that shot ice cold...she's a great shooter, but that was a big momentum swing. And I thought our defense in that four-minute stretch got us back into the game with that type of aggressiveness, creating some easy chances in transition. But that [comeback] was vital. The game could have been over at that time."
On SDSU forcing overtime
"That's who they are. They have a huge home-court advantage here. That's partly why South Dakota State never loses here, partly it's all of the other things I said about this program. It took a tremendous amount of togetherness, cohesiveness, grit, fight, all of the things that we are looking to instill in our program in the first year. I think we put those on display tonight."
On the team's resiliency
"[We're a] relatively young team, as far as experience. Our senior class is the only group that's ever played in the postseason. So to be in this type of environment in the second round of the WNIT shows incredible resiliency. It shows toughness, it shows leadership, shows cohesiveness, all of the things that we're looking to instill. I'm excited about having another opportunity to play. We're just very, very blessed right now."
On the team's mentality playing without Alexis Robinson
"[It was] just, 'next man up, everyone has to play harder.' I said everybody has to do a little bit more. Nobody has to have a herculean effort, but everyone has to be a little bit tougher. Everyone has to rebound a little bit harder. Everyone has to be ready to catch and shoot. I think you see that if you look through the stat sheet. [Zoe Beard-Fails]'s rebound and putback at the end, that was huge. She didn't play a ton of minutes. Everyone contributed in such a valuable way. That's a resilient group and a really good team to coach."
Kennedy Leonard
On winning on the road in overtime
"I think we just stuck together. That was the big theme in the locker room before the game and just as a team this whole season, stick together no matter what happens. I think today it finally came to fruition and we stuck together. Who cares if they hit a three. We're going to come back and hit another three get another point after that. Just staying together and knowing no matter what happened, we would come down and settle and play our game is what helped us win."
On playing in front of a big crowd on the road
"Before the game Haley said to us, 'use the crowd's energy for our benefit.' And there were a couple times where they hadn't hit a ton of shots and so the crowd got behind them on defense. A couple of us starting clapping our hands and using that to our advantage. I'm glad that there were that many people there because that helped us just as much as it helped out the home team."
On having the momentum going forward in the postseason
"I'm really proud of everybody. We didn't have our typical team today. We lost a big part of us. I think [Quinessa Caylao-Do] played a really good game and had some really clutch baskets. Zoe Beard-Fails had a really nice rebound at the end and putback and that was probably the game-sealer right there. Kenzie with her free throws. Everybody just really stepped up. To be able to say that everybody stepped up in this kind of environment says a lot about where this program is going to go."
NEXT UP: The Buffs play a third-round WNIT game on Thursday night (6 p.m. MDT) at Iowa.
Contact: BG.Brooks@Colorado.EDU
The resilient Buffaloes squandered a 13-point fourth-quarter lead but settled themselves sufficiently enough to dominate overtime and extend their season with an 81-75 second-round WNIT win against South Dakota State.
CU (17-15) advances to play at Iowa on Thursday night in the WNIT third round.
"Oh my goodness . . . I'm so unbelievably proud of my team," said first-year CU coach JR Payne. "When the buzzer sounded, I kept saying, 'No one wins here, no one wins here.' . . . . (But) our poise, our discipline, and everything we've talked about to this young team, they did it down the stretch."
Playing without starting guard Alexis Robinson, who suffered an injury in Saturday's practice, CU dealt SDSU its first loss in 11 games in tumultuous Frost Arena. The Jackrabbits (23-9) were 13-1 at home this season and had won seven of eight previous WNIT games on their home court.
Kennedy Leonard led the Buffs with 29 points, 8 assists and 7 rebounds and helped keep the Jackrabbits at bay by hitting four consecutive free throws in the final 28 seconds.
Robinson, who averaged 11.4 points a game but scored 16 with a game-high five steals in the Buffaloes' first-round win against UNLV, was replaced in the starting lineup by freshman Quinessa Caylao-Do, who scored four points but contributed five assists in 39 minutes. Payne said Robinson is "day-to-day."
Haley Smith (21 points) and Makenzie Ellis (10) also helped compensate for Robinson's absence.
Ellie Thompson (20 points) topped three SDSU players in double figures.
HOW IT HAPPENED: The Jackrabbits started slowly, going just over 6 minutes between first-quarter field goals and falling behind the Buffs 7-4. But when they hit the ON button, they stayed on.
SDSU closed the period with a 14-2 run, getting back-to-back 3-pointers from Madison Guebert and Thompson, to take a 17-9 lead into the second quarter.
Thompson took over from there, scoring seven of the Jacks' next 10 points as they took their biggest lead of the first half – 27-14. But the Buffs didn't roll over; instead they responded with an 11-0 run, with Leonard scoring five points and Smith four, and pulled to within 27-25.
After a Kerri Young jumper made it 29-25, Monica Burich sank a 3-pointer at the halftime buzzer and the Buffs closed to 29-28 at intermission.
CU opened the second half with a 10-2 run and took a 38-31 lead when Ellis hit a trey just under 3 minutes into the third quarter. The Jacks pulled to 38-35 but the Buffs took off again, outscoring the home team 7-2 and taking a 45-37 lead after Smith's layup with 4:28 left in the quarter.
Less than 2 minutes later, CU's lead swelled to double digits – 49-39 – for the first time on an Ariana Freeman basket. SDSU cut its deficit to 49-43 but a Zoe Correal layup gave CU a 51-43 advantage heading into the final quarter.
The Buffs hit 10-of-14 from the field in the third quarter, and that kind of shooting would be needed in the fourth quarter for their season to stay alive.
With Smith hitting a layup, Ellis another trey and Leonard two free throws, CU extended its lead to a game-high 13 points – 58-45 – with 6:23 to play. Closing it out and advancing seemed entirely possibly, but SDSU wouldn't go away.
The Jacks got four consecutive 3-pointers – the last two by Thompson – to climb back to within 60-57 before Leonard answered with a trey at the 2:30 mark and stop a 12-2 SDSU run.
The Buffs were up 63-57, but two free throws by Clarissa Ober cut the margin to 63-59 with 2:15 to play. After Caylao-Do missed a pair of free throws, Guibert tied the score at 63-63 with back-to-back layups, completing an 18-5 run.
After CU called its final timeout with 36 seconds remaining, Ellis missed a jump shot with 8 seconds to play and the Buffs were headed for their first overtime since January 2015.
CU opened the OT with an 8-2 surge, getting treys from Leonard and Smith, and took a 71-65 advantage. The Buffs extended their lead to nine points – 76-67 – with 48 seconds left, getting a key rebound and put-back from Zoe Beard-Fails, before the Jacks hit consecutive 3-pointers to close to 76-73.
But in the final 28 seconds, Leonard was money at the free throw line, going 4-for-4, and with Ellis hitting one of two foul shots, CU left with its unlikely but hard-earned overtime win.
TURNING POINT: After being forced to overtime by an 18-5 SDSU run, CU could have wilted in the extra period. Instead, the Buffs steeled themselves and took a nine-point lead, then withstood another Jackrabbits run and kept their season alive.
CU STANDOUTS: Leonard (29 points) went 8-of-19 from the field, 10-of-11 from the free throw line, and contributed 8 assists, 7 rebounds and two steals . . . . Smith (21) hit 9-of-14 field goal attempts, 3-of-5 from long range, with 6 rebounds and 4 steals . . . . Ellis (10) hit 3-of-4 from downtown and also collected 6 rebounds . . . . Before she fouled out, center Zoe Correal was strong in the paint, scoring 8 points and collecting 5 rebounds.
KEY STATISTICS: The Buffs out-rebounded the taller Jackrabbits 34-33 and scored 28 points off the home team's 18 turnovers. CU had 17 turnovers but SDSU was able to convert them into 11 points . . . . After shooting only 20 percent in the first quarter, the Buffs found their range, finishing the game at 53 percent (30-of-57) from the field . . . . They also hit 10 of their 21 trey attempts (48 percent).
WHAT IT MEANS: CU keeps on playing, and with a 17-15 record assures Payne of finishing above .500 in her first season in Boulder. The Buffs showed they could stare down the adversity of a hostile environment and also withstand the loss of a starter.
NOTEWORTHY: Entering the game tied with Ann Troyan, Leonard's 8 assists pushed her past Troyan's record of 177 set in 1979-80 .... Leonard had her 17th career 20-point game and 13th this season .... CU shot a combined 18-for-27 (.667) in the second and third quarters after shooting 3-of-14 (.214) in the first .... SDSU went on a 13-0 run late in the first quarter and into the second quarter and led by as many as 13, but CU closed the first half on a 12-2 run to pull within one and that run continued 22-4 into the second half as CU led 38-31 with 6:55 remaining .... CU improved to 14-5 (.737) all-time in the WNIT and advanced to the third round for the fifth time in its sixth appearance .... It was CU's first overtime game since Jan. 14, 2015 (77-72 win over Utah).
QUOTEWORTHY
CU Coach JR Payne
On playing South Dakota State
"When we found out several days ago who we would be playing, the first thing I thought was, 'oh gosh, [Aaron Johnston].' I have so much respect for their program, the way AJ's teams play, the discipline and toughness they play with. I've always been a big fan. I knew what this environment would be like. I knew it would be a tough game. As far as our team is concerned, I'm just blown away at our execution and our toughness, at our ability to face adversity and to overcome and stay together. I'm just wildly proud today."
On the importance of cutting a 13-point deficit to one at halftime
"Even that last 3-pointer by Monica Burich--she had some family here, she's from Minnesota--to come in and knock down that shot ice cold...she's a great shooter, but that was a big momentum swing. And I thought our defense in that four-minute stretch got us back into the game with that type of aggressiveness, creating some easy chances in transition. But that [comeback] was vital. The game could have been over at that time."
On SDSU forcing overtime
"That's who they are. They have a huge home-court advantage here. That's partly why South Dakota State never loses here, partly it's all of the other things I said about this program. It took a tremendous amount of togetherness, cohesiveness, grit, fight, all of the things that we are looking to instill in our program in the first year. I think we put those on display tonight."
On the team's resiliency
"[We're a] relatively young team, as far as experience. Our senior class is the only group that's ever played in the postseason. So to be in this type of environment in the second round of the WNIT shows incredible resiliency. It shows toughness, it shows leadership, shows cohesiveness, all of the things that we're looking to instill. I'm excited about having another opportunity to play. We're just very, very blessed right now."
On the team's mentality playing without Alexis Robinson
"[It was] just, 'next man up, everyone has to play harder.' I said everybody has to do a little bit more. Nobody has to have a herculean effort, but everyone has to be a little bit tougher. Everyone has to rebound a little bit harder. Everyone has to be ready to catch and shoot. I think you see that if you look through the stat sheet. [Zoe Beard-Fails]'s rebound and putback at the end, that was huge. She didn't play a ton of minutes. Everyone contributed in such a valuable way. That's a resilient group and a really good team to coach."
Kennedy Leonard
On winning on the road in overtime
"I think we just stuck together. That was the big theme in the locker room before the game and just as a team this whole season, stick together no matter what happens. I think today it finally came to fruition and we stuck together. Who cares if they hit a three. We're going to come back and hit another three get another point after that. Just staying together and knowing no matter what happened, we would come down and settle and play our game is what helped us win."
On playing in front of a big crowd on the road
"Before the game Haley said to us, 'use the crowd's energy for our benefit.' And there were a couple times where they hadn't hit a ton of shots and so the crowd got behind them on defense. A couple of us starting clapping our hands and using that to our advantage. I'm glad that there were that many people there because that helped us just as much as it helped out the home team."
On having the momentum going forward in the postseason
"I'm really proud of everybody. We didn't have our typical team today. We lost a big part of us. I think [Quinessa Caylao-Do] played a really good game and had some really clutch baskets. Zoe Beard-Fails had a really nice rebound at the end and putback and that was probably the game-sealer right there. Kenzie with her free throws. Everybody just really stepped up. To be able to say that everybody stepped up in this kind of environment says a lot about where this program is going to go."
NEXT UP: The Buffs play a third-round WNIT game on Thursday night (6 p.m. MDT) at Iowa.
Contact: BG.Brooks@Colorado.EDU
Team Stats
COLO
SDSU
FG%
.526
.429
3FG%
.476
.478
FT%
.647
.909
RB
34
33
TO
17
18
STL
10
8
Game Leaders
Scoring
Pts
29
FGM
8
3FGM
3
FTM
10
Pts
21
FGM
9
3FGM
3
FTM
0
Pts
10
FGM
3
3FGM
3
FTM
1
Pts
8
FGM
4
3FGM
0
FTM
0
Players Mentioned
F
/ Women's Basketball
F
/ Women's Basketball
G
/ Women's BasketballC
/ Women's BasketballF
/ Women's Basketball
G
/ Women's BasketballG
/ Women's Basketball
G
/ Women's BasketballG/F
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