Posts tagged Jamee Swan
Buffs STOMP Bruins in second half
Mar 1st
Women’s b-ball team’s recent problems disappear against UCLA, hold Bruins to 3 baskets in the second half
Release: February 28, 2014
By: Anthony Lepine, Student Assistant SID
BOULDER – Colorado’s defense came through again, only allowing UCLA 12 second half points on 3-for-25 shooting as the Buffaloes cruised to a 62-42 victory on Friday night at the Coors Events Center.
Last weekend, the Buffs held Arizona to 10 points in the second half and earned an overtime victory in Tucson after trailing by 20.
The 12 points surrendered ties for the 3rd fewest second half points scored by an opponent in Colorado school history.
“The last four halves felt like we’re getting back to who we are and what Colorado women’s basketball is all about,” CU head coach Linda Lappe said. “Really, how our defense led to our offense that was key.”
Jamee Swan’s defense was a game maker for the Buffs
Colorado (16-12, 6-11 Pac-12) put the pressure on UCLA from the get-go, forcing UCLA into 11 miscues by intermission, and scored 18 points off 19 Bruins’ turnovers by the games end.
Arielle Roberson notched her second consecutive double-double (sixth of the season) scoring 14 points and grabbing 10 rebounds to lead the Buffaloes, Haley Smith also tallied a career-high 11 points.
The effort from Smith was much needed as Jen Reese, the Buffaloes second-leading scorer, went down hard after taking a charge with 33 seconds remaining in the first half, sustaining a shoulder injury that sidelined her for the remainder of the game.
“It was definitely needed, and I’m really proud of her,” Roberson said of Smith’s performance. “Tonight she was very confident and it was great to see, and it was great to feel, it gave us all confidence in her and she had confidence in us. She helped us big time.”
Haley Smith stepped into the gap left by Jen Reese’s injury and scored 11 points
UCLA (12-17, 6-11 Pac-12) was led by Antonye Nyingifa with 12 points and Thea Lemberger who scored 11. Nyingifa scored eight first half points, and Lemberger seven, respectively.
“I’ve been saying it for about 3-4 weeks now that we’re getting better,” Lappe said. “Even though other people couldn’t see it, I could see it…Now we’re starting to get that edge that we didn’t have. We feel like the season is not over and we want to play well as we go down the stretch here.”
Colorado trailed 30-27 at halftime but began the second period on a 12-2 run capped off by a Smith layup giving the Buffaloes a 39-32 advantage with 11:52 remaining. UCLA made just one of its first 18 shots to start the half, and the Bruins never found a groove.
Nyingifa cut the lead to four on a 3-point play with 7:53 remaining and it appeared UCLA could fight their way back. But, Colorado had other plans and buried the Bruins with a 16-0 run highlighted by a Jamee Swan layup off the fast break and a Roberson and-one play that gave Colorado a 55-39 lead. Ashley Wilson completed the run with a pair of free throws.
The Buffaloes largest lead of the game came with the final points as Smith hit a free throw with 26 seconds remaining to give CU its 20-point margin of victory.
Unlike the final 20 minutes, the first half featured seven lead changes and three ties as the Buffs and Bruins battled to earn the upper hand. Both teams can expect to see each other in the first round of the Pac-12 tournament starting March 6 in Seattle.
The bracket won’t be officially released until Sunday night, however with only one game remaining and the same conference record for both schools, the Buffs and Bruins will make up the No. 8 vs. No. 9 matchup. It will be the third time this season the two teams have faced each other as Colorado won 61-59 on January 5th at Pauley Pavilion.
“We just have to take it one game at a time and for now,” said Swan who finished with 14 points on 6-of-9 shooting. “We’re focused on Sunday, and as soon as we get into the Pac-12 tournament, we’ll focus on [UCLA].”
Colorado concludes its regular season on Sunday taking on the USC Trojans at Noon (Pac-12 Network) when the program will honor three seniors as Rachel Hargis, Ashley Wilson, and Brittany Wilson will play their final game at the Coors Events Center.
Colorado Buffaloes Women’s Basketball
WBB: An epic comeback and finally a WIN
Feb 24th
TUCSON, Ariz. – In a season of ups and downs the peaks and valleys on Sunday were monumental.
Colorado erased a 20-point first half deficit to claim a 61-56 overtime Pac-12 Conference win over Arizona Sunday afternoon at the McKale Center.
Sophomore forward Jamee Swan banked in a short jumper just off the block with 0.9 seconds left in regulation to send the game to overtime. Senior guard Ashley Wilson then scored seven of her 11 points in the extra session to help Colorado (15-12, 5-11) overcome its largest deficit to win in program history from available records since 1982.
“We needed that one,” CU head coach Linda Lappe said. “We battled back in the second half after one of our worst halves of the season. We were able to get it turned around at halftime.”
Arizona (5-22, 1-15) was able to build its lead with an impressive first half performance from the field. The Wildcats hit 14 of their first 20 shots (70 percent) and built a 36-16 lead by the 4:14 mark.
Colorado came out in a zone defense to take away the paint, but Arizona caught fire quickly hitting five 3-pointers in the first 15 minutes including two each from Candice Warthen and Carissa Crutchfield.
The Buffaloes issues were compounded by their own cold shooting and turnovers. Colorado shot just 29 percent in the first half (7-of-24) and committed 12 turnovers. To make matters worse, Arizona took advantage to the tune of 16 points off those turnovers alone.
Colorado was able to whittle the lead down to 16, 39-23, at the break. Swan scored eight points in the final five minutes and had actually cut the Arizona lead to 14 on a pair of free throws with 5 seconds left, but Warthen was able to take the inbounds pass and went coast-to-coast, finishing off with a runner in the late at the halftime buzzer.
Senior guard Ashley Wilson scored seven of her 11 points in overtime
With momentum starting to nudge towards Colorado, the Buffaloes put together an epic defensive effort to get to overtime.
Colorado outscored Arizona 26-10 in the second half, holding the Wildcats to just two field goals, and 10 percent shooting (2-of-20), both all-time CU opponent lows for one half. The 10 points allowed to Arizona was an all-time opponent low for a second half, and tied for the second-fewest in any half in team history.
“It was all about our mind set; we didn’t start off the game well and they were getting shots they don’t usually hit,” Lappe said. “We went back to our defense and made sure that we defended them the right way; changed our mind set to getting stops and keeping them from getting easy shots.”
The Buffaloes immediately cut the lead to 39-27 on layups by Swan and Arielle Roberson. After a LaBrittney Jones free throw, Colorado scored the next six, capped off by another Swan bucket as CU trailed 40-33 with 12:50 remaining.
Erica Barnes put in Arizona’s first bucket of the period on the next possession to put the lead back up to nine. But the Buffaloes kept coming. Haley Smith scored four points during another 6-0 CU run and her two free throws with 8:55 left made it a one possession game at 42-39.
Barnes made a free throw and Crutchfield made Arizona’s second and final field goal of the half with 7:14 left to kick the Wildcats’ lead back to six. Freshman guard Desiree Harris responded with her first career field goal on a nice layup in traffic. Swan followed with a jumper after a stop and Roberson completed the comeback with a pair of free throws that tied the game at 45-45 with 3:22 left in regulation. Roberson then gave CU its first lead of the game on a contested layup with 1:52 remaining.
“We were more aggressive and played together,” Lappe said. “We flipped a switch at halftime and it carried us from there on out.”
Jones kept Arizona going at the line. She hit four free throws sandwiched between a Swan missed shot that gave the Wildcats the lead back at 49-47 at the 1:07 mark. Arizona had a chance to increase its lead but turned the ball over on two straight possessions opening the door for the Buffaloes.
Following an Arizona shot clock violation, the Buffs had the ball with 15 seconds remaining. After a CU timeout with 6 seconds left, Roberson had the ball at the top of the key and found Swan posted up on the left block. Swan hesitated for a second, but turned around and banked in the equalizer off the top of the class from about eight feet out with :00.9 on the clock.
“I saw Arielle was blocked off (up top) and could hear someone yell for me to post up,” Swan said. “When she threw it in I thought about passing it, but the team told me to shoot it. My confidence (to take the shot) came from that.”
In overtime Roberson opened the scoring with a drive through the lane, but Jones answered at the other end. Wilson then hit Colorado’s first 3-pointer of the game for a 54-51 advantage. On the following possession, Wilson picked off a Crutchfield pass and took it the distance for a 56-51 CU lead.
The Buffaloes then held off Arizona at the free throw line. Lexy Kresl hit one and Jen Reese made two – her only points of the game – to give CU a six-point lead. Kama Griffitts pulled Arizona back to within 59-56 on the Wildcats’ first 3-pointer since the first half with 8 seconds left in overtime. Wilson then iced the game for the Buffaloes with a pair of free throws.
Swan finished with 18 points, seven rebounds and a career-high six steals. Roberson recorded her fifth double-double of the season with 13 points and 10 rebounds. Wilson added eight rebounds as the Buffaloes enjoyed a sizeable edge on the boards, 45-32.
Jones led Arizona with 13 points. Crutchfield and Griffitts both had 10.
Colorado returns to action on Friday, Feb. 28, by hosting UCLA at 6 p.m. at the Coors Events Center.
Colorado Buffaloes Women’s Basketball
CU women put it all together–at last
Feb 12th
Colorado Uses Defense, Rebounding To Stop Oregon 81-75
Release: February 10, 2014
By: Troy Andre, Assistant SID
EUGENE, Ore. – Playing in her native Oregon, Jen Reese felt right at home scoring 18 points and grabbing 13 rebounds as Colorado clipped Oregon 81-75 Monday at Matthew Knight Arena.
Playing aggressive defense and dominating on the boards, Colorado held Oregon, the nation’s top scoring offense, 20 points below its season average. Colorado (14-9, 4-8 Pac-12) grabbed a season-high 54 rebounds, including 24 on the offensive end.
Colorado’s 24 offensive boards translated into 25 second-chance points.
Jenn Reese, an Oregon native, played the best game of her life against U. of O.
“We were more aggressive in rebounding and that really helped,” said Reese who corralled her third career double-double. “We gave the first punch; we knew we had to box out. They are a great offensive rebounding team and we knew coming in that was going to be a huge factor.
And it wasn’t just Reese on the boards. Arielle Roberson had nine with her 17 points, just missing a double-double. Jamee Swan had eight points and eight rebounds off the bench.
Rachel Hargis also came up with some key minutes down the stretch. She scored seven of her eight points in the second half, getting two key baskets in the final minutes. Hargis was credited with only two rebounds, but her presence in the paint, which included a season-high three blocked shots, caused issues for the Ducks.
“Today, we really focused on our defense and it hasn’t been what it has been in the past,” Hargis said. “If we keep doing that, we’ll get back to where we need to be and we’ll go into the conference tournament with some confidence.”
Oregon forward Jillian Alleyne who entered the game averaging 21.4 points and a nation-best 15.6 rebounds per game, was held to single figures in rebounding for just the third time this season, finishing with nine to go along with 15 points.
Freshman guard Chrishae Rowe scored a game-high 23 points for Oregon on 7-of-19 shooting. Colorado held the Ducks to 33 percent from the field while the Buffaloes shot 44 percent.
Colorado led by as many as 15 points in the first half, but the Ducks stormed back using a 14-4 run to take its first lead at 46-45 with 15:34 left.
The Buffaloes regrouped with a stretch that epitomized the Buffaloes effort on the boards. CU capitalized on three consecutive offensive rebounds to help push its lead back up to eight.
Up by one after a couple of Swan free throws, Swan missed a layup but Reese was in perfect position for the tip in. Fouled on the play, Reese missed the free throw, but Swan got the offensive board and was fouled herself.
Swan made the first but missed the second. This time Lexy Kresl grabbed the offensive board. She was able to split the Oregon defense for a layup as Colorado increased its lead to 52-46. Following a Megan Carpenter missed jumper, Swan grabbed the long rebound and went coast-to-coast, capping of a 9-0 run and a 54-46 Buffaloes advantage.
“I think there’s always flows of the game,” head coach Linda Lappe said. “We knew coming out of halftime, a nine point lead against Oregon is nothing. We wanted to come out aggressive, but we didn’t do that as well. But I like how we composed ourselves. When we have the mentality defensively, we’re going to make plays on offense. Even offensively, we had to grind it out at times tonight, and we did that.”
Oregon stayed close with the long ball. The Ducks hit six of their 10 3-pointers in the second half. When it looked like Colorado could pull away after Reese gave the Buffs a 61-51 lead, Lexi Petersen drilled a 3-pointer that began an 18-5 run for the Ducks. Petersen hit a second long ball during that stretch and Ariel Thomas capped off the run with a 3-pointer to give Oregon a 69-66 lead with 4:41 remaining.
But Colorado never let the Ducks extend the lead beyond that. Hargis, who scored seven of her eight points during the final stretch, answered Thomas with a bucket.
Colorado then clamped down defensively, allowing Oregon (13-10, 4-8) only four points in the final four minutes.
Reese scored the go-ahead bucket on a short baseline jumper with 45 seconds left to break a 75-75 tie. After getting a stop on the defensive end, Brittany Wilson gave Colorado that all-important four-point lead on a pair of free throws with 15 seconds left.
After stopping the Ducks for the second straight possession, Ashley Wilson accounted for the final points with a pair of free throws to close the game. In all the Ducks came up empty on eight of their final 10 possessions.
“Our overall mentality was different from the start of the game,” Lappe said. “When you’re willing to do whatever it takes and rebound the basketball, you can turn it around.”
Brittany Wilson finished with 11 points, six rebounds, four assists and three steals. Haley Smith scored a career-best nine points on 4-of-6 shooting and dished out three assists.
Colorado returns to action on Friday, Feb. 14, by hosting Washington at the Coors Events Center at 6:30 p.m.
