Posts tagged Beard Fails
Brooks: Buffs Rely On Tightened ‘D’ In Rout Of Utes
Feb 2nd
Vid intro: The CU women’s basketball team has slumped in the middle of the season, often falling apart at the end of the game with turnovers, missed shots and lack of effort. That all changed Sunday when the Buffs won by 16 points against the Utah Utes, a team they lost to by 2 points four days earlier.
By: B.G. Brooks, Contributing Editor
BOULDER – Linda Lappe’s scouting report for Sunday’s Pac-12 Conference game against Utah didn’t change much – if at all – from last Wednesday night’s encounter in Salt Lake City. It didn’t need to.Colorado’s coach was more focused on what her team didn’t do than most anything Utah did – and fine-tuning her team was the right approach. Lappe’s Buffs clamped down defensively, made a few offensive tweaks and dispatched the Utes 61-45 at the Coors Events Center.
“It was good to get that win,” Lappe said. “I thought our players stepped up and did some good things on the defensive end and in rebounding.”
Lexy Kresl, a point giard and three-point shooter, had missed several games with a possible injury, hot a three late in the game to stop a Ute run.
Winning for only the second time in their past eight games, the Buffs (13-8, 3-7) scored the afternoon’s first points and never trailed thereafter. CU led 33-16 at halftime, by as many as 20 points early in the second half, and allowed the Utes (10-11, 3-7) no closer than 13 for the rest of the game.
‘D’ was key for the Buffs, who had shot below 40 percent from the field in nine of their previous 11 games. While Sunday’s shooting percentage didn’t climb above 40 (35.8), CU held Utah to a frigid 25.9 percent – well below the 38.8 the Utes shot in Wednesday night’s 58-55 win.
In that game, CU’s Arielle Roberson and Jen Reese combined for only nine points. By halftime Sunday, Roberson-Reese had 16 between them – Roberson with 9, Reese with 7. Reese didn’t score in the second half, but Roberson doubled her first-half productivity and finished as the game’s high scorer (18).
Roberson said Lappe’s characterization of the Buffs now as “underdogs” made them “all come out and be more aggressive . . . we threw the first punch and were more aggressive.”
Defensively, said Roberson, the Buffs “boxed out a lot better, got a lot of defensive rebounds. We were better on our fouls, so I think (Lappe) was very pleased about that. We were scrappy, we were in passing lanes, and that set the tone for our offense.”
Brittany Wilson added 10 points for CU, seven of them in the second half. Freshmen Haley Smith contributed eight points and eight rebounds, matching Roberson’s board total. Lappe said Smith “played tremendous. I liked her demeanor . . . she was aggressive and that gave us a lot of energy and helped our overall intensity.”
Smith, a 6-0 wing from Sammamish, Wash., called Sunday’s win “a good bounce-back game for us . . . I think our mentality is changing.”
Sophomore Jamee Swan, who had scored 15 points and collected eight rebounds in Wednesday night’s loss, was held out of Sunday’s first for violating a team rule. She played 5 minutes, totaling one point and two rebounds.
Utah had one player in double figures – guard Danielle Rodriguez with 11. Forward Michelle Plouffe, the Utes’ high scorer (14) in Wednesday’s game, went 1-for-10 from the field Sunday and finished with 7 points. Cheyenne Wilson, who had 11 points against the Buffs in the earlier meeting, managed nine in the rematch.
Lappe credited Roberson, Reese and Rachel Hargis for their defensive work on Plouffe and for turning Sunday’s game in a guards duel.
“We match up well with her (but) you always have to know where (Plouffe) is,” Lappe said, noting that Hargis did “a great job” in spelling Roberson, which allowed Roberson to stay fresh on the offensive end.
The Buffs raced to a 33-16 halftime lead, finally ending a long 3-point drought and getting an impressive first-half finish from freshman Zoe Beard-Fails.
After missing the last 13 trey attempts – a span of 88:33 or two-plus games – CU got a 3-pointer from Reese to take a 5-2 lead that was never relinquished. Roberson closed the Buffs’ first-half scoring with a straightaway triple from the top of the key.
CU finished the half 2-of-6 from beyond the arc and got one of its top 3-point shooters – junior guard Lexy Kresl – back on the court. Kresl, out for the previous three games with a lower leg injury, played 4 first-half minutes but did not attempt a shot. But with 6:45 to play in the game, she knocked down a critical trey to send CU ahead 50-31. The Buffs finished 3-of-11 from behind the arc.
Lappe said Kresl wasn’t necessarily ahead of schedule in her comeback, noting that she will be brought along slowly and monitored for this week’s games. The Buffs visit the Pacific Northwest this week, playing at Oregon State on Friday (9 p.m. MT) and at Oregon on Sunday (3 p.m. MT).
Beard-Fails, who had scored six points in the previous nine Pac-12 games, matched that total in final 2:38 of Sunday’s first half. The 6-2 Beard-Fails, of Herndon, Va., followed a pair of free throws with two inside baskets as the Buffs stretched their advantage to 30-16.
Half a minute later, Roberson drained her 3-pointer, giving CU its 17-point lead at the break. The Buffs owned a healthy 27-12 rebounding edge after the first 20 minutes (51-35 for the game), but they committed 11 turnovers (17 for the game) which the Utes converted into 11 first-half points – the key number in keeping Utah as close as it was after one half. The plus-15 board advantage was the Buffs’ biggest in a half this season.
CU shot 42.9 percent in the opening half and went into the second half wanting that stat to hold up. It didn’t, but the Buffs compensated on the defensive end. They kept their intensity up to open the final 20 minutes, opened a pair of 20-point leads and kept the Utes playing catch up for the remainder of the game.
Utah coach Anthony Levrets applauded CU for adjusting after Wednesday’s game: “When they played big the first time, we had our two guards guarding Arielle on the perimeter, and then that allowed Plouffe to guard Reese.
“When they went back small today, it was a really good move by them because then our ‘five’ man has to either guard Reese or Roberson –and neither one of them is ever a ‘five.’ Playing on the perimeter was really hard for our big girls. It was a great adjustment by Colorado and I give a lot of credit to them.”
Contact: BG.Brooks@Colorado.EDU
CU women b-ballers nip CSU at the last moment
Nov 13th
Roberson and Sborov carry the scoring weight for team
By: B.G. Brooks, CUBuffs.com Contributing Editor
FORT COLLINS – In the post-Chucky Jeffery era, even though the Colorado women’s basketball team might still be in search of a specific go-to player, the No. 17 Buffs made a significant opening-night discovery.
They had talked about having each other’s backs, and when crunch time arrived against their in-state rival Tuesday night, they backed each other up. CU withstood a late Colorado State comeback and escaped with a 63-59 win in its 2013-14 season opener at Moby Arena.
“We stuck together and that’s a major accomplishment,” said forward Arielle Roberson, whose layup with 6:43 left was the Buffs’ last field goal of the night. “One of the things we talked about was having each other backs. I think we had that, especially down the stretch. I didn’t feel like I was playing one-on-one; I felt like my teammates had my back. I think everyone felt that way.”
Jasmine Sborov and Arielle Roberson shard high game points at 13 each.
CU led by as many as 13 points twice in the final 10 minutes, including 59-46 on Roberson’s final basket. But the Rams outscored the Buffs 13-1 during that span and pulled to within 60-59 on a basket by Ellen Nystrom with 2:15 to play.
CSU had an opportunity to go ahead on a possession in the final minute, but Roberson stole the ball with 51 seconds left. Jasmine Sborov hit two free throws with 27 seconds showing, giving her a career-high 13 points and putting the Buffs ahead 62-59.
After Buffs center Rachel Hargis blocked Elin Gustavsson at the other end, Brittany Wilson hit one of two free throws with 2.4 seconds remaining – and the resilient Rams were done. The Buffs, who won 72-46 last season in Boulder and padded their series lead to 34-11, return to the Coors Events Center on Friday night to play Alcorn State in their home opener (7 p.m.).
The versatile Sborov, who has seen her role undergo alterations in each season of her college career, said hitting the two late free throws “felt good, I’m not going to lie. It was really comforting to know my teammates and coaches trust me with those shots. I feel comfortable taking them and they give me reassurance.”
But, she added with a smile, if she had dwelled too much on the scenario when she stepped to the free throw line, “I would have been a head case. I tried not to think about it and tried to act like it was a regular free throw in practice. And that’s what Jen (Reese) said – shoot it just like practice.”
The Rams’ late 13-1 run included a pair of free throws by Caitlin Duffy following a technical foul called on CU coach Linda Lappe. Duffy, who had hit a three-pointer on the previous possession, sank both free throws and pulled the Rams to 60-57 with 2:30 to play. CSU closed to within one on Nystrom’s basket but could get no closer.
Lappe’s explanation of her ‘T:’ “My clipboard fell . . . I didn’t say anything . . . it wasn’t the smartest move. But the players have each other’s back and my back. When you’re a team and you’re family, people make mistakes. There were a lot of missed shots, a lot of fouls, and I definitely made a mistake. I think it shows a lot of resilience from our team.”
Said Roberson: “I think with the technical we definitely could have folded, but we didn’t. I think that’s a positive for us.”
Lappe called her team’s victory “gutsy,” adding, “We found a way to win, which is really important. First game of the year, on the road against your rival . . . CSU is a good team. We got stops when we needed to, got rebounds and made free throws when we needed to. There’s a lot of things to take out of this game.”
And there are areas that obviously need improvement. The Rams turned the Buffs’ 19 turnovers into 15 points and outscored the visitors 28-24 in the paint. Gustavsson scored a game-high 21 points and got assistance from Duffy with 13 and Sam Martin with 10.
CU benefited from balanced scoring from its five starters, with Roberson and Sborov each scoring 13. Reese added eight points and guard Lexy Kresl grabbed a career-high nine rebounds, with four points and four assists.
Kresl said the Buffs knew the Rams “had improved from last year. We didn’t want to underestimate them. They had five people on the floor that could score. It was a really big challenge for us defensively.”
She conceded the Buffs eased up when they opened their 13-point leads, but called the way the win was finally secured “good . . . especially in the first game of the year. It shows you a lot about our team and our heart.”
The Buffs opened the night by hitting four of their first eight field goal attempts and went ahead 10-4 before cooling off. When the cold touches arrived, they lingered; CU went 0-for-7 from the field during a 6:18 stretch and CSU took advantage.
The Rams caught and overtook the Buffs 11-10 at on a Martin three-pointer with 11:15 left in the first half and increased their lead to as many as four (22-18) just under 5 minutes later. During that Rams run, the Buffs’ lone spark was freshman Zoe Beard-Fails, who got five points and two rebounds in 2 minutes. She also picked up two fouls and Lappe said Beard-Fails needed to improve her defense before getting significant minutes against scorers like CSU puts on the floor.
“Right now, she’s not quite ready to guard a team like CSU where all five players can shoot the three, drive, score one-on-one,” Lappe said. Beard-Fails did not play in the second half.
With about 5 minutes left before halftime, CU appeared to at least temporarily solve its turnover (10 for the half) and shooting problems and launched a 13-0 run that opened a nine-point lead. After an Ashley Wilson basket to start the surge, Reese scored on a put-back and a turnaround jumper from the foul line, Roberson hit a jumper, Reese followed with another and Lauren Huggins drained a three-pointer.
Suddenly, the Buffs were up 31-22, although by halftime the Rams had trimmed that lead to 33-27.
The second half started as the Sborov show. The 6-0 junior scored CU’s first six points of the half on two field goals and a pair of free throws, jump-starting an 11-5 run that sent the Buffs up by 12 (44-32).
They led by as many as 13 points twice in the final before the Rams launched their comeback and put a large opening-night scare into the visitors.
“They’re a really good team, much better than last year,” Sborov said. “But I do think making a big run like that, you do start getting a little too comfortable. That’s what need to work on – keep our foot on the gas pedal, keep going until the game’s over.”
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CU Buff women blast Lazio All-Stars
Aug 19th
ROME – Colorado head coach Linda Lappe was anticipating the opportunity to give her four new freshman valuable playing time during the team’s trip to Italy. She is getting exactly what she was hoping for, and possibly more.
Zoe Beard-Fails had 14 points and Bri Watts grabbed double-digit rebounds for the second straight game as Colorado blasted the Lazio All-Stars 96-22 Sunday at the Stella Azzurra.
Zoe Beard-Fails had a double double and led all scorers with 14 points.
All 12 Buffaloes scored with four in double-digits. Jen Reese, Brittany Wilson and Jamee Swan had 12 points apiece. Watts had a game-high 10 rebounds to go with five points and four assists.
Not to be outdone, freshman guard Desiree Harris had seven points and seven rebounds while classmate Haley Smith pitched in six points, three rebounds and three assists.
“(The freshmen) are doing a really nice job fitting in to what we are doing,” Lappe said. “They are getting a lot of minutes and they are capitalizing on that. We’ve seen some really good things from everybody and the freshmen are no different.”
Beard-Fails filled out her stat line nicely with five rebounds, four steals and three of assists while making 7-of-10 from the field.
“We had confidence and cohesiveness,” Beard-Fails said. “We have been spending a lot of time together (on this trip) on and off the court and it’s beginning to show.”
Sunday’s game was over quickly. Colorado scored the first 13 points and led 29-4 after the first 10-minute quarter. Wilson hit her first of three 3-pointers during CU’s opening run, setting the tone for the contest.
“We tried to set the tone to be quicker, and that carried through the game,” Wilson said
The Buffaloes hit 58 percent in the first quarter (11-of-19). Lazio managed just six field goal attempts hitting two, and had 14 turnovers in the first quarter alone.
Colorado built its lead to 49-4 at the half, and didn’t allow more than seven points in any one quarter. The Buffaloes final margin of 74 was its largest. Lazio was 6-of-44 from the field (14 percent) and it took a late 3-pointer by Sbolci to allow the all-stars to break 20 points. Lazio hit 9-of-16 from the foul line.
Colorado scored 64 of its points in the paint, many of them in transition, and scored 45 points of 32 Lazio turnovers.
The Buffaloes made 54 percent from the field. Swan and Reese each hit 6-of-8 from the field.
“We had a few goals for tonight and one of them was to be much sharper,” Lappe said. “We did a fantastic job defensively and that really spurred our offense, that allowed us to get stops, and we did a much better job converting in transition.”
Wilson echoed Lappe’s pregame plan of focus…”Our mindset was to come out more sharp and that took care of everything else. We were more aggressive on defense…we came out more intense and ready to play.”
Colorado will play its third off four games Monday at 7 p.m. local time, 11 a.m. MT, against Latina.
Troy Andre
Assistant SID/Internet Managing Editor
University of Colorado
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