Posts tagged Lexy Kresl
Buffs whip Southern Utah, head to WNIT round three
Mar 23rd
By: B.G. Brooks, Contributing Editor
BOULDER – April approaches and the Colorado women’s basketball team plays on. Arielle Roberson’s second-half scoring and her team’s overall shot blocking swept CU past Southern Utah 79-68 on Saturday night and into the third round of the WNIT.
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Roberson opened the second half with a 3-pointer, launching the Buffaloes on a 17-5 run that produced their largest lead of the game – 45-26. Held scoreless in the first half, Roberson finished with a team-high 15 points, collected 11 rebounds for her seventh double-double of the season, and added a career-best five of CU’s 14 blocked shots – the second-most in team history.
Rachel Hargis tied her career high of 12 points against Southern Utah
“That was a tough team we played,” CU coach Linda Lappe said. “Southern Utah does so many good things . . . we had a tough time scoring in first half. Their defense was stingy, but I really liked the way we opened the second half; we had a different level of energy. At the end we were able to do just enough to hold on to our lead and win.”
The Buffs (19-14) defeated the Thunderbirds (23-10) for the second time this season, claiming a 75-59 win in their final non-conference game on Dec. 29, also at the Coors Events Center.
CU’s next WNIT opponent and game site are to be determined. The Buffs advanced with a 78-71 first-round win over TCU, while the Thunderbirds moved into the second round with a 71-56 win over Colorado State.
CU closed Saturday night’s first half with a 12-5 run that produced a 28-21 lead at intermission. Then, the Buffs opened the final 20 minutes with a 17-5 surge to begin pulling away. They led by as many as 19 points but the T-Birds, who never led, closed to within nine points twice in the final 3 minutes. CU hit seven of 10 free throws in the final 1:23 to put the game out of reach.
Roberson said she opened the game “timid . . . I was just going through the motions. It was just a mindset.” She took only two first-half shots, which she said drew a halftime admonishment from associate head coach Jonas Chatterton.
“Coach Jonas was saying ‘shoot the ball,’” Roberson recalled, and in the second half she did. Roberson hit six of her eight field goal attempts. “I just hit the switch,” she said. “In the second half I decided to be myself again and just go out there, be aggressive and play.”
Lappe said Roberson wasn’t “really going, getting touches” in the first half. “She needs our offense to work, to move around her” while she “moves within the offense . . . she was on the receiving end of that (and) stepped up within the flow of the offense.”
Lappe also reiterated Roberson’s thought about her second-half play: “I thought she came out with a different mindset.”
But Roberson had plenty of help. Rachel Hargis tied a career high with 12 points and contributed four steals, while Lexy Kresl added 12 points, six rebounds and four assists. Brittany Wilson was CU’s fourth double-figure scorer with 11 points, while her twin sister Ashley added eight points.
The Buffs went up 6-0 on consecutive 3-pointers by Brittany Wilson and held the lead until the T-birds went to Carli Moreland, a senior from Broomfield. She scored six straight points to pull Southern Utah into a 16-16 tie with 5:42 left before the break.
But that deadlock served as a launch point for the Buffs. They closed the half with a 12-5 run and led 28-21 at intermission, with a catch-and-shoot 3-pointer by Kresl on an in-bounds play at the shot clock buzzer highlighting the surge.
Moreland, meanwhile, got the T-Birds’ final five points of the half, giving her 11 straight. She finished with a game-high 17, with Desiree Harris coming off the bench to add 16.
Roberson had three first-half blocks and got her fourth – setting a career high – in the first minute of the second half. Lappe attributed her team’s 14 blocks to “great help-side” defense, with Roberson adding that communication was a big factor. “I think we did that very well in practice . . . I think it just carried over.”
After Roberson’s trey to open the second-half scoring, Hargis scored on a left-handed spin move and the Buffs were up 33-21, prompting a Southern Utah timeout with 18:22 to play. When the Buffs got one of two free throws from Ashley Wilson and a jumper from Roberson, their lead jumped to 15 (36-21) and the T-Birds were on the ropes.
Lappe called Hargis’ shot “huge. It helped our whole mindset in the second half. Rachel took really good shots and that’s the key . . . she wasn’t in a rush and was just taking her time.”
In scoring 51 second-half points, the Buffs shot 60.7 percent (17-of-28) from the field and finished at 47.9 percent (23-of-48) for the game. The T-Birds scored 27 points off of the Buffs’ 24 turnovers, but CU limited the visitors to 34.5 percent shooting (19-of-55) and held a 21-8 advantage in second-chance points.
That the Buffs are still playing is a large bonus for seniors such as Hargis and the Wilson sisters. “It’s always great to be able to continue to play when other teams are going home and other careers are done,” Hargis said. “We want to play as long as we can; it’s an awesome feeling.”
WBB: Buffs stumble but did not fall, move to the WNIT 2nd round
Mar 20th
Swan’s play was key to the victory
BOULDER—It took the Buffs nearly six minutes to knock off the rust of a 12-day layoff. They then spent the game’s final 34 minutes rediscovering a level of efficiency that had been lost for the better part of the season, as they defeated the TCU Horned Frogs 78-71 in the first round of the Women’s National Invitational Tournament at the Coors Events Center on Wednesday.
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Trailing 19-11 with 14:01 left in the first half, the Buffs suddenly switched into a different gear as they finished the half on a 32-11 run that also saw them shoot a resounding 55 percent from the field over that span. They then fought off a furious Horned Frogs rally in the game’s final few minutes and now will advance to the second round of the WNIT where they will play the winner of Thursday night’s Colorado State-Southern Utah game. The date and location of the second-round matchup will be announced by the WNIT shortly following that contest up in Fort Collins.
Swan’s off-balance, off- hand, finger-roll lay-in late in the game iced the victory for CU
“We’re extremely excited to have our season continue,” said head coach Linda Lappe. “It was also good to get back into the flow of things and get that rust off. We really came out and started attacking their zone, which was a huge key and we got some easy baskets off of that.”
One of the team’s best offensive performances of the season was sparked by a bench that outscored its opponents’ 36-3. Jamee Swan provided the biggest boost off the bench as her 16 points paced an offense a unit that struggled to find its way in the game’s opening minutes. Trailing by eight at that tedious point early in the game, the Buffs bench proceeded to score 15 of the team’s next 20 points and help turn a deficit into 31-24 lead in just over eight minutes. By the end of the half that surge of momentum had translated into a 43-30 halftime lead.
“I thought everyone that came in was solid,” said Lappe. “(Desiree Harris) gave us some good minutes.Lauren Huggins gave us some good minutes, and Zoe (Beard-Fails) did as well. That allowed us to keep everybody fresh and we also wanted to try and get our young kids some post-season experience. You could see a lot of the hard work that they put in over this past week carry over into today and it really helped us.”
With 16:59 remaining, the Buffs’ lead had ballooned to as much as 17 (47-30). But, before the Buffs even began to breathe a sigh of relief, the Horned Frogs went on a 24-7 run of their own, ignited by an effective full-court press defense, that ultimately culminated in a 59-59 tie with just over five minutes to play.
“TCU’s a good team,” said Lappe. “They’re quick, they’re athletic and they can cause a lot of problems with their pressure. We wanted to make stronger and better cuts through the center of their defense. I think we handled it pretty well but we didn’t do a good job in letting them back in the game, but I did like our composure when that happened.”
After an offensive lull allowed the Horned Frogs back into the game, CU went more than six minutes without a field goal. It was a renewed level of defensive tenacity that eventually helped them win it.
TCU guard Zahna Medley’s short jump shot tied the game at the 5:10 mark. Two Haley Smith free throws helped CU regain a 61-59 lead on the ensuing possession. Facing the most critical juncture in the game,Lexy Kresl swiped a TCU pass leading to a fast break layup by Arielle Roberson giving the Buffs a four point lead officially swinging the game’s momentum for the final time.
After a timeout and two TCU free throws, it was only fitting that Swan would take center stage once again as she had done all night. Swan converted three times in the paint on the next four CU possessions and the Buffs once again had a double digit lead.
“Everybody comes to play and I wouldn’t have been able to do it without the passes or the looks that I got from my teammates,” said Swan. “You can’t do it by yourself. As a team as a whole, I wouldn’t be able to do it without them.”
Swan wasn’t the only Buff who had a big night offensively. Roberson, who pulled down a career-high 17 rebounds 12 days ago against Stanford, scored a team-high 18 points on Wednesday.
“I think we did a really good job moving the ball,” said Roberson. “We could basically get anything we wanted. I think we had it in the post all night, and I think our guards also could shoot as much as they wanted. So, I think it was just a matter of your mentality and if you’re going to attack them or fall back on your heels and more often than not we were able to attack them.”
The biggest surprise on the roster continues to be senior guard Ashley Wilson, who scored 13 points. Her incredible performance over the last nine games, averaging 10.8 points per game over that span, has given CU an added dimension on the offensive end of the court. Her recent offensive explosion comes as even more of a shock considering that she had scored in double figures only twice in the first 97 games of her career.
Ashley Wilson’s late career offensive surge has been a joy to watch.
An added motive for the team as they finish out the season has been to send this year’s celebrated senior of class of Wilson sisters Brittany and Ashley and center Rachel Hargis out on a high note.
Hargis played in her 132nd career game on Wednesday which ties the program record originally set by Erin Scholz, who starred on the team from 1993-97. Brittany Wilson played in her 131st career game as she continues to also climb the school’s all-time list.
“We’re very, very happy (to continue our season),” said Roberson. “Not every team gets this opportunity to continue postseason play, so it’s great for us to continue to play with our seniors, and I know it’s great to get this home win. I don’t know if words can describe it, but we’re just really happy.”
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
