Colorado
12-6,3-4Big 12
Cincinnati
11-5,3-3Big 12
Colorado Falls on the Road at Cincinnati
January 18, 2025 | Women's Basketball
Big 12 road woes continue for the Buffs
CINCINNATI — Colorado falls to Cincinnati on the road Saturday night by a score of 65-59 after a strong offensive fourth quarter from the Bearcats, handing the Buffaloes their second straight loss.
Colorado (12-6, 3-4 Big 12) drops its second consecutive game despite maintaining the lead for over 30 minutes of play. They led by eight points heading into the fourth and were outscored 28-14 in the final 10 minutes.
"Proud of our fight, our effort, our grit to continue competing, and never quitting," head coach JR Payne said. "I am proud of us because we competed harder than we did a couple of days ago, and so I'm proud of that. But obviously, the areas that Cincinnati thrives at are the areas that they beat us. Hitting the free throw line and offensive rebounding were huge priorities for us, and we did not do what we needed to do in those two areas, and they definitely took advantage."
Junior Jade Masogayo led the Buffs with 16 points and seven rebounds. Frida Formann chipped in 12 points of her own, shooting 4-for-6 from the perimeter.
"Jade is definitely a difference maker for us," Payne stated. "She's very aggressive. She can attack downhill. She's a great rebounder. [She] does a lot of different things for us, even on the defensive end, so when she was out with foul trouble, I thought that hurt us, although other people stepped up, but she's just a really good post player."
The Buffs' ball security issues eventually caught up to them on Saturday, turning the ball over 21 times to Cincinnati's 12 on the game. Colorado was also outscored by four points in the points off turnovers category.
Despite the loss, CU held the Bearcats to 21-for-65 overall and 4-for-23 from 3-point range. Colorado shot an efficient 24-for-54 overall and 9-for-20 from deep.
Cincinnati's Tineya Hilton led the charge for the home team, scoring 27 points on the night, including 18 of them in the final period.
"Allowing only six turnovers in the second half is really good, so I thought the turnovers hurt us in the first half. But in the end, that's not what beat us. It was the offensive rebounding, the fouls, them [Cincinnati] going to the free throw line over and over and over again [that] is what I think ended up really hurting us in the end," Payne expressed.
HOW IT HAPPENED
3-pointers early on in the game from CU's Formann and Johanna Teder got the Buffs out to an 8-2 lead with 6:26 remaining in the first quarter. JoJo Nworie nailed a third shot from distance at 5:07 to extend the lead to nine for the Buffs.
The Bearcats would go on a 14-7 run in the final four minutes of the first period to cut the Buffs' lead to just two, 18-16.
Colorado held Cincinnati to just five points in the second quarter, while Masogayo scored all eight points for the Buffs, giving them a 26-21 advantage at the half.
Back-to-back 3-pointers from Lior Garzon at 4:12 in the third quarter gave Colorado a double-digit lead, 39-29, and the Buffs' lead grew to 12 with just over two minutes to play in the quarter.
The Bearcats brought the deficit to eight points, 45-37, and the two teams headed fourth with the Buffs up eight.
A 7-0 run by the home squad to kick off the fourth quarter brought the Colorado lead to just one with 8:25 left in the game. Ayianna Johnson stopped the run after sinking one of her two free throws. Hylton earned an and-1 at the other end of the floor, giving Cincinnati a 47-46 lead.
Colorado answered back with another Johnson bucket at the 7:11 mark and quick back-to-back buckets inside from Masogayo brought the CU lead back to five, 55-50, with about four minutes left in the game.
Hylton answered with two scores of her own, bringing it to a 55-54 game. Cincinnati would then hit one free throw and earn a tip-in layup by Hylton on the miss during the second attempt, giving the Bearcats a 57-55 lead with 1:27 left in the fourth.
A Colorado turnover on the next possession led to another Hylton bucket, including an and-1. Trailing by five, Garzon nailed a floater for CU on the other end, cutting the lead to three. Alliance Ndiba hit a baseline jumper with 30 seconds remaining, extending her team's lead to five and securing Cincinnati's win.
UP NEXT
The Buffs will look to bounce back at home next Saturday against the Kansas State Wildcats at 1 p.m. MT.
NOTES
CU falls to 1-1 all-time against Cincinnati and 0-1 on the road...Saturday was the third CU start for Teder this season (89th career)...Masogayo recorded her 13th double-figure game of the season…Wetta fouled out for the third time this season…Formann fouled out for the first time this season…She moved into a tie for third all-time in games played (134)..Colorado had 21 turnovers, marking its first back-to-back games of 20+ turnovers since Feb. 17 & Feb. 19, 2023, at Arizona State (20) and Arizona (20)...CU was whistled for a season-high 25 personal fouls…Cincinnati was 19-26 from the free-throw line, while Colorado shot just 2-4.
