Sports
Sports News in Boulder, Colorado Includes CU Buffs, Rockies, Nuggets, Bronkos, Avs, cycling, running, skiingand anything else sports that hits our sports desk. Send sports press releases to sports@BoulderChannel1.com To advertise please call 303-447-8531
Colorado Women’s B-ball Team’s Front Court Dominates In 78-55 Win At UMKC
Nov 18th
Arielle Roberson scored 23 in her second CU game
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – One freshman forward started, one finished. No matter the order of appearance the recipe provided a winning combination for Colorado.
Arielle Roberson and Jamee Swan combined for 37 points on 71 percent shooting as Colorado defeated Missouri-Kansas City, 78-55, Sunday afternoon at the Swinney Recreation Center on the UMKC campus.
Colorado improved to 2-0, claiming its 15th straight win over nonconference regular season opponents dating back to 2010. UMKC drops to 2-2.
Swan, making her first career start, scored 10 of her 14 points in the first half to give the Buffaloes a good start. After picking up her third foul early in the second half, Roberson stepped in scoring 19 of her game-high 23 points in the last 20 minutes.
Roberson was 9-of-12 from the field, hit all five free throw attempts and grabbed six rebounds. Swan was 6-of-9 from the floor had three rebounds and an assist.
The freshman front court duo helped the Buffaloes dominate in the paint, outscoring the Kangaroos 42-14 inside.
“I give all the credit to my teammates,” Roberson said. “We knew coming out of the locker room we needed to push the ball and run more, really turn it up in the second half.
“I knew I had to bring defensive intensity and that led to offensive intensity for everybody.”
Roberson and Swan were the beneficiaries of a Colorado offense that picked apart the UMKC zone; putting on a passing clinic from all five positions. The Buffaloes had 17 assists on 32 made shots and overall shot 47 percent for the game.
That offense ran through forward Jen Reese and center Rachel Hargis. Playing in the high post, Reese and Hargis continually made the right pass, either finding Roberson and Swan on the low block or dishing out to continue through the guards.
Officially the two combined for six assists, but their initial reads led to plenty of good looks for the Buffaloes all afternoon.
Reese also had 10 points on 5-of-8 shooting with eight rebounds. Hargis made 3-of-4 field goals finishing with eight points.
“Our four post players, Arielle, Rachel, Jamee and Jen really dominated the game,” CU head coach Linda Lappe said. “They really understood what we were trying to do in our zone offense. I thought they did a fantastic job of being a presence on the inside.”
After Lauren Dudding put UMKC up with a 3-pointer on its initial possession, Colorado scored nine straight including two buckets from Swan.
UMKC briefly retook the lead with a 7-0 run of its own for a 10-9 advantage six minutes in. Roberson and Swan had back-to-back scores to put CU up for good.
The Kangaroos kept CU close early. Eilise O’Connor scored eight of her 10 points in the first half as UMKC pulled to within two at 18-16, but then the Buffaloes went to work. Colorado scored on five of its next six possessions during an 11-0 run to take a 29-16 lead. Hargis had a three point play and Roberson and Reese each scored on put-backs off CU misses.
“The start was important, we really needed that to kick-start our momentum,” Swan said. “Starting off great helps us finish great.”
Offensive rebounding was key for the Buffaloes, grabbing 19 which led to 22 second chance points. Overall Colorado enjoyed a 44-29 advantage on the boards.
“Offensive rebounding was a huge improvement (from the season opener),” Lappe said. “We crashed the glass against the zone and got a lot of put-backs. The effort on the offensive glass was fantastic.
Colorado led by nine at the half (36-27). UMKC’s Kim Nezianya quickly converted conventional 3-point play to cut the CU lead to six, and also gave Swan her third foul. From there Roberson shined.
The San Antonio native scored 14 points in the first six minutes of the half as the Buffaloes began to pull away. She scored six in a row as CU rebuilt a double-digit lead at 46-35. After a pair of Hailey Houser free throws, CU put the game away with a 13-0 run. Following a Reese jumper and a transition layup from Lexy Kresl, Roberson scored the next seven as the Buffaloes won their fifth straight nonconference regular season game away from Boulder.
Nezianya led UMKC with 17 points and eight rebounds.
Colorado returns home to host the 26th annual Omni Hotels Classic Nov. 23-24 at the Coors Events Center. The tournament starts with Auburn vs. San Diego State on Friday, Nov. 23, at 5 p.m. followed by Colorado and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi at 7:30 p.m. On Saturday the consolation game will be played at 5 p.m. followed by the championship at 7:30 p.m.
[includeme src=”http://c1n.tv/boulder/media/bouldersponsors.html” frameborder=”0″ width=”670″ height=”300″]
CU men get sweet revenge on No. 16 Baylor to advance into tourney championship
Nov 16th
By B.G. Brooks, Contributing Editor
CHARLESTON, S.C. – Revenge is sweet. Is payback sweeter? Doesn’t matter. The Colorado Buffaloes got both Friday afternoon in the Charleston Classic, holding off No. 16 Baylor 60-58 to advance to the tournament’s championship game.
CHARLESTON, S.C. – Revenge is sweet. Is payback sweeter? Doesn’t matter. The Colorado Buffaloes got both Friday afternoon in the Charleston Classic, holding off No. 16 Baylor 60-58 to advance to the tournament’s championship game.
The tournament takes a day off Saturday, with play resuming Sunday. The opponent is to be determined, but the Buffs will play for the championship at 6:30 p.m. MST (ESPN2) in the TD Arena.
CU reeled in a rare signature win in November, with its last defeat of a ranked team in non-conference play dating to 1973. Buffs coach Tad Boyle understood the magnitude of that as well as what it meant to defeat Baylor.
“In our first year (at CU), we’re up 10 at the half down there; we let one slip away,” a joyous Boyle said. “Last year in the NCAA Tournament we had another chance . . . it was a tie game with four or five minutes to go and we didn’t finish it off.
“That’s why I was so excited after the game – and that we had fans down here to support this team and program. I want them to know how much we appreciate it and all the people back home who couldn’t make the trip.”
CU’s last win against a ranked opponent came last March in the NCAA Tournament, when the Buffs defeated No. 23 UNLV. In the next game in Albuquerque, N.M, Baylor ousted the Buffs 80-63.
After Thursday’s 67-57 win against Dayton here, CU players were pointing at Baylor. They got their wish Friday – but making it come true wasn’t easy. On the game’s final play, Baylor’s 7-1 freshman, Isaiah Austin, caught a three-quarter length of the court rainbow pass, but missed at the buzzer.
“I held my breath,” said CU junior Andre Roberson. “I thought he was going to hit the shot. But he missed it luckily and we came out with the win.”
Added Buffs sophomore Askia Booker: “All kinds of things are running through your brain, but you try to stay positive with your teammates,” We’ve been here before, we’ve been in close games. We just had to fight through it and stay together and be positive.”
Booker led the Buffs with a career-high 19 points – 16 in the first half. Spencer Dinwiddie (11) was the only other CU player in double figures. Baylor (3-1) was led by Cory Jefferson’s 17, with Pierre Jackson adding 12.
CU made only four of 18 free throw attempts, including missing five of six in the final 1:01. The four makes were the fewest in a Buffs win since the 1980 team sank only two against Oklahoma in a 60-59 win. Fortunately on Friday, Booker hit one of two with 11.6 seconds to play, giving CU its narrow margin.
The Buffs (3-0) led four times in the first half, three of the advantages coming in the first 5 minutes and the first coming on a Dinwiddie trey (5-2). From there, CU’s challenge seemed to be staying close – and it was a challenge.
But Booker and the Buffs were up for it.
The long and athletic Bears twice led by five points in the first 20 minutes, with their second advantage coming on the heels of a controversial blocking call against Josh Scott. One official – the trio was from the Big 12 – whistled a charging foul on Pierre Jackson, but an outside official overruled it.
The officials huddled, the Buffs bench objected, but the call stood. Jackson hit one of two free throws, then added a three-pointer on the next Baylor possession, sending the Bears up 22-17.
CU – especially Booker – had loads of fight left. He tied the score at 22-22 with a trey at the about the 5 minute mark. After Baylor had crept ahead by three, Andre Roberson stepped back and drained a three-pointer to tie it again at 30-30.
Then it was “Ski Season” in South Carolina – at least for the first half’s final minute. With the shot clock ticking toward zero on CU’s next-to-last possession, Booker drained his second trey of the half to send the Buffs up 33-30.
When Baylor gave up the ball on the ensuing possession, the Buffs left the final 17 seconds wind down – with the ball in Booker’s hands. With two seconds showing, he pulled up just inside the three-point arc at the top of the key. His soft jumper nestled into the net and CU left the court with a 35-30 halftime lead.
Booker finished the half with a game-best 16 points on a career-high seven field goals and was the only player on either team in double figures. He called it “absolutely” the best half of his college career: “At this level, with this intensity, yeah it was.”
The Buffs outrebounded the Bears 22-17 – a Tad Boyle mandate – in the first and 41-40 for the game. Boyle called that “no easy task because they have some length and good athletes out there who are a little bit longer than ours and little more athletic at some positions. But our guys found a way and we overcame.”
CU gave up only three three-pointers to Baylor – a huge upgrade from their last meeting in March in the NCAA Tournament when the Bears’ Brady Heslip gunned down nine of 12 from beyond the arc for 27 points. In Friday’s first half, Heslip had two points and 0-for-3 from three-point range. He finished with seven points – and one trey.
Boyle’s biggest concern might have been his team’s first-half free throw shooting. After going only 14-of-24 from the line against Dayton, CU ended Friday’s first half one-for-six and finished the afternoon with 14 misses.
But the Buffs had other issues to open the second half, turning the ball over on two of their first four possessions and leaving Heslip open in transition. His first trey of the afternoon – and his only one of the game — brought the Bears to 37-35 in the first 3 minutes.
Baylor tied the score at 37-37 on a baby hook by Cory Jefferson, but Boyle and his bench believed Jefferson’s toss didn’t beat the shot clock. Whatever, the game was tied with 151/2 minutes to play and CU couldn’t allow Baylor to muster any more momentum.
At the 10-minute mark, the Bears took a 45-44 lead – their first since 30-27 – on a twisting drive and layup by Deuce Bello. The Buffs answered with a key trey from the left wing by Eli Stalzer and a goal tending call on a steal/layup by Sabatino Chen.
That four-point CU advantage (49-45) wilted fast. Baylor went inside and got immediate results from the 7-1 Austin and 6-8 Rico Gathers, who pulled the Bears within 50-49 with 7:30 remaining. But the Buffs stayed focused.
After Josh Scott scored on a goal tending call on Austin, Dinwiddie buried a three-pointer, sending the Buffs up 55-51. They hawked the ball on the Bears’ next possession, forcing a tie up that went to CU. Dinwiddie hit again, this time a two-pointer to give the Buffs their biggest lead at 57-51 with 3:40 to play.
But could they hold it? Yes, but with difficulty.
At the 3:00 mark, Baylor – trailing 57-52 – began pressing and extended its halfcourt defense. With 1:55 left, Jefferson hit a follow shot (57-54), Dinwiddie answered with a floating layup (59-54), Jackson countered with a jumper (59-56) and then added two free throws (59-58) with 19.8 seconds to play.
Dinwiddie missed the front end of a one-and-one, but Shane Harris-Tunks controlled the rebound. Booker was fouled with 11.6 seconds showing, hit the front end of his one-and-one (60-58) then missed the second.
Baylor rebounded, A.J. Walton drove the length of the court but couldn’t hit a difficult running shot from the right side. Roberson got the last of his 12 rebounds, was fouled and went to the free throw line. With 3.1 seconds left, he missed both attempts but in the scramble for the second miss, time nearly expired.
Baylor got possession with 0.2 remaining. Austin caught a lob pass just above the free throw line, turned, shot . . . and missed.
The Buffs had one sweet ‘W.’
“It’s revenge, it means a lot,” Booker said. “It burned last year in our hearts. Just knowing we could have this chance and we finally got it. We took full advantage of it. I loved it.”
[includeme src=”http://c1n.tv/boulder/media/bouldersponsors.html” frameborder=”0″ width=”670″ height=”300″]
Balanced Buffs Hold Off Vandals In Opener
Nov 12th
Release: 11/11/2012 Courtesy: B.G. Brooks, Contributing Editor
BOULDER – Linda Lappe knew depth would be among her third Colorado women’s basketball team’s strong suits – and it took only one game into the 2012-13 season for verification.
With returning scoring leader Chucky Jeffery benched for a violation of team rules, CU got contributions of some variety from nearly everyone Lappe used in a 70-65 win over Idaho on Sunday afternoon.
“Everybody gave us good minutes . . . the players off the bench came in and did their jobs,” Lappe said. “Everybody stepped up at different times. No one player dominated the game, and that’s what you want to see.”
CU junior guard Brittany Wilson led all scorers with 18 points, including eight-of-eight from the free throw line. Four of Wilson’s foul shots were clutch, coming in the final 17.9 seconds as the Buffaloes were holding off the hard-to-bury Vandals. Her eight made free throws were a career high, her eight attempts tied a career high.
The Buffs also received a strong debut performance from Arielle Roberson, and if a single player did flirt with dominance at the Coors Events Center, it would be the redshirt freshman from San Antonio.
Roberson, an athletic 6-1 forward, sat out her first season while rehabilitating from hip surgery. CU coaches believed her return would boost the Buffs’ inside play as well as their defense – and they were correct.
In addition to her 16 points, Roberson collected six rebounds and blocked two shots. She also contributed five steals – one in the final minutes when the Vandals were continuing to make the Buffs uncomfortable.
“She did some really good things,” Lappe said. “In the second half, there was one stretch where she came off the bench for the very last time and we really needed her to step up. She did that.”
Of Roberson’s overall contribution, Lappe added, “That’s who Arielle is . . . she can score in a lot of different ways. She’s going to play a lot of different positions for us. She’s probably a little more effective on the block than anywhere else, but she’s going to keep getting better than what we saw today.”
After a year’s absence, Roberson simply was elated to get back onto the court. “I just wanted to go out and play like I know I can and show everybody what I can bring to this team,” she said. “My family was here (the Robersons watched Arielle’s older brother, Andre, open with the CU men’s team on Friday night) and of course it was my first game, so that’s extra motivation as well. I also don’t like to lose, so I think my drive to win was definitely a good push.”
And the Buffs definitely needed it to finally put away the Vandals, who lost their opening game at Wyoming 86-53. Idaho scored Sunday’s first basket, but that 2-0 lead was the visiting team’s last advantage. That doesn’t mean CU went unchallenged the rest of the way; in fact, the Buffs’ first afternoon on the court was a wire-to-wire fight.
“It was definitely tighter than we thought it was going to be,” Brittany Wilson said. “I think you see what we’re saying about this team being so special now . . . you never think your first game is going to be so close, but it was. We were about to come together as a team; we fought until the end and ended up coming out on top.”
Lappe credited Idaho: “They came out and fought and kept coming at us, which was great. It was a great game for us to be in.”
Of the ten players Lappe used, nine scored; and nine of those ten players’ minutes were in double figures. Lappe cited off-the-bench contributions by Lexy Kresl, who drained three-pointers on two of CU’s first three second-half possessions, and Jen Reese, who scored six of her eight points during the first 10 minutes of the second half. Roberson also got half of her total during that span.
Lappe said Jeffery could be reinstated for CU’s trip to Missouri-Kansas City on Sunday, Nov. 18. Had Jeffery not been in the lineup last season against Idaho, the Buffs would have been in trouble. With the Vandals up 59-58 with just over 2 minutes remaining in that meeting, Jeffery went on a tear, scoring seven of her career-best 30 points to rescue the Buffs, 68-59.
But CU would have to do without Jeffery this time around – and her teammates coped well. Idaho’s Ali Forde scored the game’s first points, but the Vandals’ 2-0 lead – the last of the afternoon – was quickly erased by a Meagan Malcolm-Peck three-pointer. Roberson took over from there, scoring CU’s next six points. Malcolm-Peck and Brittany Wilson combined for 10 of the next 15 points as the Buffs built an 11-point (25-14) cushion.
The Vandals wouldn’t go away then or later. They used an 11-2 run to pull to 27-25, before baskets by Jasmine Sborov and Rachel Hargis gave the Buffs a 31-26 halftime lead.
CU ended the first half with 11 turnovers, a number that didn’t please Lappe. But in the second half, especially coming out of time outs, she said her team’s overall execution was better: “We did a much better job . . . of scoring or at least getting a shot out of a timeout and being a little bit more careful with the ball, which you could see in our turnovers.” CU cut its second-half turnovers to seven, finishing with 18.
Behind Kresl’s three-point shooting and Roberson’s inside work, the Buffs built a pair of eight-point leads in the first 6 minutes of the second half. Kresl pair of treys during that span marked her 19th career game with two or more three-pointers.
But the Vandals weren’t lacking for long-distance shooters. They got treys from Connie Ballestero, Christina Salvatore and Stacey Barr to creep to within four (43-39) with 14 minutes to play.
“We have seen it; we saw it last year a little bit,” Lappe said of Idaho’s long balls. “They have quick releases and get off shots fast.”
Thanks to Roberson, CU was able to temporarily pull away before Idaho could fashion its next run. She scored consecutive baskets to restore a double-digit Buffs lead (54-44), but the Vandals weren’t folding.
They closed to 56-50 on a conventional three-point play by Alyssa Charlston (team-best 16 points) and a trey by Krissy Karr, then to 56-52 on another basket by Charlston with just over 5:30 remaining. Another three-pointer by Karr less than 2 minutes later pulled Idaho to three back (58-55), but CU answered with one of two free throws by Roberson and an Ashley Wilson layup to go ahead 61-55.
The Vandals answered on three of four free throws by Charlston to cut their deficit to 61-60 with 3:04 remaining. Ashley Wilson responded with another layup for a 63-60 CU lead. After an Idaho miss and a CU rebound, Reese hit a pair of clutch foul shots to put the Buffs up 65-60 with 51.6 seconds to play, and Roberson followed by hitting one of two free throws 11 seconds later for a 66-60 CU advantage.
Idaho called timeout with 37.2 seconds remaining, then another with 22.5 showing after the Vandals couldn’t get off a shot. When they did, they missed, but a double foul was called. Brittany Wilson and Charlston each made their free throws (68-62), then Barr hit a long trey to draw the Vandals to within 68-65.
With 13.8 seconds left, Brittany Wilson’s pair of foul shots gave the Buffs their final five-point advantage.
“Win No. 1 is good to get; it feels good,” Lappe said. “It was great to play somebody else other than ourselves. We have a lot of things to work on but we’re happy where we’re at . . . we had a lot of different players step up in crucial situations, which was good to see.”
[includeme src=”http://c1n.tv/boulder/media/bouldersponsors.html” frameborder=”0″ width=”670″ height=”300″]
