Posts tagged Jen Reese
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
WBB: Buffs avoid a meltdown, still come up short
Feb 17th
CU’s inside game, led by Swan and Reese, was excellent, but a couple of bad shots in the last three minutes doomed the effort
http://www.cubuffs.com/mediaPortal/player.dbml?id=3200918
http://www.cubuffs.com/mediaPortal/player.dbml?id=3200918
By: B.G. Brooks, Contributing Editor
BOULDER – Another chance at a close-game breakthrough eluded the Colorado women’s basketball team Sunday afternoon. Following what has become a painfully familiar script, CU faltered in the final 5 minutes and lost 80-77 to Washington State at the Coors Events Center.
“Well, it seems a little bit like déjà vu,” said Buffaloes coach Linda Lappe, whose team lost its fourth Pac-12 Conference game this season by three or fewer points.
Lappe credited the Buffs for competing throughout and staying close enough to win but again lamented their inability to “make key stops, free throws, passes and shots down the stretch that would have helped us have the outcome we wanted.”
Jamie Swan and Jen Reese both scored 19 points
After trailing by as many as nine points midway through the second half, CU (14-11, 4-10) rallied to tie the score at 71-71. But the Buffs clanked four of their next five free throws, not hitting one until Ashley Wilson converted a pair with 2:52 to play, then sank one of two to put CU up 75-73 with 2:17 remaining.
From there until the final buzzer, the Buffs got only a field goal by Jen Reese in the last 2 seconds that made it a two-point (79-77) game. After one of two foul shots by WSU’s Shalie Dheensaw with 1.1 seconds left put WSU (14-12, 8-6) up 80-77, Reese threw a three-quarter court length pass to Jamie Swan, who caught the ball then passed to Wilson instead of shooting.
Time expired before Wilson could attempt a shot.
Lappe said Reese’s long pass went a step or two too deep, forcing Swan inside the 3-point circle to catch it – thus Swan’s decision to kick it back to Wilson. Reese said the play was designed for Swan to catch-and-shoot, but added, “If there was more time, Ashley could have shot the ball. The pass was there; she had it.”
Swan, again coming off the bench, and Reese led the Buffs with 19 points each, while Ashley Wilson added 12. Arielle Roberson was a point away from a double-double in points and rebounds – nine in each category. Brittany Wilson left the game with 12:19 to play and did not return after suffering a possible concussion.
The Buffs had problems with Washington’s backcourt of Kelsey Plum (25 points) and Jazmine Davis (24) in an 87-80 loss on Thursday night. This was part of Lappe’s déjà vu: On Sunday, CU surrendered 42 combined points to WSU guards Tia Presley (32) and Lia Galdeira (10).
Presley got 22 of her total in the first half, then picked up eight more points in the first 4:55 of the second half. She didn’t get her 32nd point until hitting a layup with 1:27 to play, putting the Cougars up 77-75.
That nearly 14-minute span of keeping Presley in check, said Ashley Wilson, came from “focusing on keeping the ball out of her hands” in the second half. “We had a couple of different players on her (and) when she was driving, just have our bigger post players waiting for her at the basket. It turned out to work in our favor.”
Lappe also thought a different lineup might work in the Buffs’ favor; she used a bigger five of Swan, Reese, Roberson and Rachel Hargis, with Ashley Wilson at guard, in the first half and again to close the game.
But it didn’t matter in CU making enough late plays to win. “There’s no magic formula,” Lappe said. “You just have to do it. You have to figure out that enough’s enough and decide to be tough enough to do that. You have to understand that every team is going to get tougher down the stretch and that’s when the stars are really born. It’s where players step up.”
The Cougars swept the series with the Buffs, winning 70-60 last month in Corvallis, Wash. With their loss to the Huskies on Thursday, the Buffs gave up 80 points or more for the second consecutive game and the fourth time in Pac-12 play. And it marks the first time CU has allowed 80 or more points in back-to-back games since the 2008 WNIT.
The Buffs trailed 44-40 at halftime, surrendering a 25-22 lead taken on a 3-pointer by Roberson with 8:37 left before the break. But CU didn’t get another field goal for nearly 4 minutes, and during that time WSU was building its largest lead of the half – 34-25 – with Presley scoring eight of her 22 first-half points in that stretch.
“She played too many minutes tonight (36), but you really can’t take her out,” said WSU coach June Daugherty. “She’s such a fierce competitor.”
A defensive upgrade had to be among CU’s second-half goals, but that message – if delivered – apparently took a while to register. The Cougars outscored the Buffs 7-2 to open the half, with Presley scoring consecutive baskets to kick off that run. WSU again stretched its lead to nine – 51-42 – on a traditional three-point play by Shane Romberg (14 points, 12 rebounds).
By the 10-minute mark the Buffs still trailed by seven – 64-57 – but they were about to make their move. With Reese getting four points in a 6-0 run and freshman Zoe Beard-Fails scoring on a put-back, CU pulled within 64-63 with 9:07 remaining.
The Buffs finally tied the Cougars at 71-71 when Swan hit both ends of a one-and-one with 4:23 left. On the previous possession, With 5:51 to play, Swan scored what would be CU’s next-to-last field goal – the last being Reese’s jumper with 2 seconds left.
After Ashley Wilson hit one of two free throws to give CU its 75-73 lead with 2:17 left, WSU got four free throws from Galdeira, Presley’s layup and one of two foul shots from Dheensaw to account for its 80 points.
The Cougars were up 80-77 and the Buffs needed a nearly full-court pass and full-blown miracle to force overtime. They got the first but not the second.
“We have to forget about this game, but we have to learn from it as well and move on,” Reese said. “We just have to finish down the stretch . . . hopefully good things will come.”
CU is at Arizona State on Friday night (6:30 p.m.) and at Arizona next Sunday (3 p.m.). The Buffs close out the regular season at home against UCLA on Feb. 28 and USC on March 2.
