Colorado
9-3,0-1Pac-12
Alcorn State
4-5,0-0SWAC
Team Stats
Game Leaders
Players Mentioned
Buffs Dominate Braves, 82-47
December 16, 2022 | Women's Basketball
BOULDER – Frida Formann put in a season-high 21 points and the Colorado Buffaloes got back in the win column at the CU Events Center with an 82-47 dispatching of Alcorn State on Friday.
Colorado (9-3, 0-1 Pac-12) never trailed in the contest and led by double-digits for almost 23 minutes. The 82 points by the Buffs were the second-most scored this season (83, at Chicago State). CU scored 27 points off of 23 ASU turnovers.
"I don't think it was the prettiest basketball game that has ever been played, but there were still a lot of good things that came from our effort tonight," head coach JR Payne explained. "We had great on the glass, a lot of different people playing a lot of different minutes and in different positions, rotations, all of that I think is good for us moving forward. There are going to be games throughout conference play where people are going to have to play heavier minutes than they're used to, or play a different position and be able to sustain that. To be able to do that [tonight] and gain that experience is going to be good for us when we need to."
The Buffs matched a season-high with 11 3-points and outrebounded the Braves by 21 to remain unbeaten at home. Four out of CU's five starters scored in double figures with Aaronette Vonleh (14), Quay Miller (12) and Tayanna Jones (11) joining Formann. Sophomore Kindyll Wetta made her first start of the season, handing out a game-high seven assists. CU was without senior guard Jaylyn Sherrod for the first time this season.
Freshman Brianna McLeod led all players with a season-high eight rebounds and was a +22 in 22 minutes off the bench.
"What I'm slowly learning is that rebounding is something that I like to do," McLeod noted. "I think I'm kind of good at and it's something I can control like when points are not falling for me. My effort on the glass is something that can always make up for that. I've started to take pride in my rebounding ability and making sure I get good positioning. I think it's been working out for me recently."
The Buffs had eight different players play more than 20 minutes and 10 different players saw the floor on Friday.
"We know that we have good depth," Payne expressed. "Brianna [McLeod] comes in and can instantly change a game with her rebounding effort. To have players really buying into those roles, 'I can do this, and I can do this really well,' is huge for us. I think every player on our team that's played significant minutes has had at least one really good game if not multiple so far in the young season. I think that should give us confidence in each other, and confidence in ourselves and our ability to compete with anybody."
Alcorn State (4-5) was led by Nia McCalphia's 11 points. The Braves attempted 30 3's on the night, converting on nine.
How It Happened
Colorado got out to a 1-for-5 shooting start to the night and let Alcorn stay close for the early portion of the first quarter. The game was tied twice early on at 3-3 and 7-7 until the Buffs got kicked into gear. A Miller 3 broke the tie and gave CU a 10-7 lead with 6:05 to play in the period. Colorado made 6-of-7 shots in a 12-2 run that pushed the CU lead to 19-9. Miller had 10 of her 12 points in the first quarter and the Buffs totaled 10 of their 19 points in the paint.
CU more than doubled its lead in the first three minutes of the second quarter. The Buffs went from being up 19-13 to leading 30-16. Five different Buffs scored in the 11-3 open to the period. Alcorn attempted to climb back into the contest, getting back to within eight, 32-24, at the five-minute mark. Tameiya Sadler scored seven of her nine points in the quarter, including a desperation 3 in the closing seconds of the half, that put the Buffs in front 39-24.
"It [Sadler's 3] was a really cool shot and I did not think it was going in," McLeod recalled. "I was ready to rebound and get it and then I kind of saw, I was like 'Oh, well it's actually going to go in,' and then it did. It was just really nice to see that and we had great energy in the locker room. We were kind of joking about it because it's like, where do you ever see people make shots like that?"
A 13-3 run in the third quarter deflated any thought of an ASU comeback, putting Colorado out of reach, 13-3. CU hit six of its 11 3's in the third quarter and with Formann contributing 12 points from behind the arc.
"They were in a zone that was not very good and their rotations weren't very good," Formann noted. "We just had a lot of open shots when we created them. I think, on the other hand, our rotations weren't very good today so that's something we need to improve on when we face better shooting teams."
The Buffs' lead hit 31 points, 73-42, with four minutes gone in the fourth. Colorado held Alcorn to seven points in the quarter on 3-for-16 shooting.
Turning Point
Colorado's close to the first half helped propel the team forward for the remainder of the night. The Buffs held a nine-point lead, 32-24 with 5:04 left to play in the second quarter. CU would rattle off the final seven points in the quarter, including five from Sadler, taking a 39-24 lead at the half. Colorado's lead never dipped below 14 the rest of the night.
Up Next
The Buffs will close out the non-conference season with a trip to Marquette next Wednesday (Dec. 21). The team will then be off for the holidays before getting back into Pac-12 play at Washington State (Dec. 29) and Washington (Jan. 1).
Notes
CU has now held six of its 12 opponents to under 50 points this season…Colorado's 49 rebounds were the most since its 55 against Western Colorado (Nov. 25, 2020)…Friday was CU's third game this season with 21 assists…CU has had 10 or more 3FGM in four games this season…Friday marked the third game this season with 11 3FGM…Miller is closing in on 500 points at CU, now with 498…Friday was Formann's second career game with 20+ points (25, at Cal., Feb. 7, 2021).
Quotes
Head coach JR Payne
On CU's execution
"I think it probably depends on the possession. I thought there were some possessions that we executed really well. One that I can think of, in particular, was sort of a low post look for Nettie [Vonleh], but they were fronting and so Brianna [McLeod] made a good read and flashed. We got exactly what we wanted out of it. There were some possessions like that, some nice zone possessions. We've hardly seen any zone defense all year. So that was awesome, to be able to execute how we did against a new defense. I just told the team I just want us to be so excellent. I want us to play such great basketball that I know we're capable of and I think in spurts we did but we can be better and need to continue to work towards being our best."
Frida Formann
On the win tonight after losing to Utah
"It was really important. We watched a lot of film from Utah and there were a lot of things to learn from. I think we all kind of left the film room with a feeling of we could all do more, have more urgency, play with more energy, just things that should just be intangibles that you shouldn't leave and feel like you didn't fight all you could. We just went into this game and just really wanted to play and really give it all we have. I think we did that sometimes but, I think it was good for us to have this game and we could just really get that out."