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Buffs take USC, split in So Cal games
Feb 17th
By Anthony Lepine, CU Sports Information Student Assistant
LOS ANGELES – After playing a forgettable second half in a loss at UCLA on Thursday, Colorado responded with 40 solid minutes of basketball and an 83-74 victory over Southern California on Sunday night at the Galen Center. The Buffaloes (19-7, 8-5 Pac-12) finished with five players scoring in double-figures, led by Xavier Johnson with 20 points and Josh Scott with 17. CU is now 5-0 on the season when five players score 10 or more points in a game. USC (10-15, 1-11) was able to rally late and got as close as eight with 28.5 seconds remaining, but it would not be enough. The Buffs smothered the Trojans with defense, forcing 17 turnovers. USC was led by Byron Wesley, who finished with 21 points and 8 rebounds. Johnson got the Buffs going offensively with five of his team’s first seven points. But two quick fouls put him on the bench.
Freshman Jaron Hopkins provided a spark from the bench with career-high 10 first-half points
Freshman Jaron Hopkins provided a spark from the bench with career-high 10 first-half points, including a three-pointer and a layup in transition that gave the Buffs a 10-point lead on two separate occasions. CU led by as many as 11 in the first half after Xavier Talton capped a 9-2 run with a trey, making the score 36-25 with 3:28 remaining in the half. The half ended with USC’s 12th turnover and CU on top 40-32; it was the third straight game in which the Buffs had scored 40 in a half, with 13 of those points coming off Trojan turnovers. CU picked up its fourth win in four games against USC in Pac-12 play. The Buffs are also perfect against Washington State (4-0) since joining the league in 2011. Colorado returns home for its final two home games against Arizona State on Wednesday (9 p.m. MT, ESPNU) and then No. 2 Arizona on Saturday, February 22 (7 p.m. MT, ESPN) when College GameDay will be in town for CU’s Senior Day.
WBB: Swan and A-Wil weren’t enough to beat Huskies
Feb 15th
Husky’s backcourt unstoppable, but Buffs were in the game til the very end
BOULDER – Colorado’s Jamee Swan and Ashley Wilson hit career highpoints on Friday night, but a business-as-usual performance by Washington’s backcourt trumped them and the Buffaloes.
While Swan (25 points) and Wilson (15) were scoring career highs and Wilson was collecting her first career double-double with 10 rebounds, UW guards Kelsey Plum and Jazmine Davis were combining for 49 points to push the Huskies past the Buffs 87-80 at the Coors Events Center.
It wasn’t anything the Buffs hadn’t seen before – and they didn’t have many answers then either. In UW’s 81-71 Pac-12 Conference win last month in Seattle, they combined for 55 points, with Plum getting 35 and Davis 20.
Jamie Swan lit up the scoring for Buffs with 25 points
On Friday night, Plum scored 25, Davis 24. They entered the game as the nation’s No. 2 top scoring backcourt, averaging 38.9 points.
“Washington’s two guards were outstanding . . . they torched us,” said CU coach Linda Lappe. “They pretty much did whatever they wanted to do . . . Davis carried them in first half (with 14 points), Plum came alive in the second (with 18). They were tough for us to guard.”
Still, even with Plum-Davis running mostly unchecked, the Buffs (14-10, 4-9) stayed in contention, cutting a 10-point Huskies lead to three twice in the final 1:16 but failing take the rally any further.
After tying the score at 60-60 on a Swan put-back with 8:57 remaining, a 10-0 run pushed UW ahead by 10 (70-60). CU first closed to within three (81-78) on Jen Reese’s first four points of the night, then got to within three again (83-80) on a basket by Arielle Roberson, who finished with 14 points and nine rebounds.
Ashley Wilson had the best game of her career
But three points back was as close as the Buffs would get, and Wilson said the game was lost by CU’s inability to “get those crucial stops, whether it was keeping them from scoring or getting a defensive rebound . . . It all comes down to the same thing: we make a push and tie the game and then we have a mental lapse where we don’t get that stop or defensive rebound. It’s been like that all conference season long.”
Lappe said scoring that many points – CU was averaging 70.2 – should have rewarded her team with a win: “Anytime we score 80, that has to be a game where we find a way to win. But it just didn’t go the right way tonight . . . you can’t give up 87 points; there are very few games that we will win that way. We just didn’t do what it took on the defensive side.”
Swann, whose previous career high was 20 against Stanford, said the Buffs lost focus late: “I think it comes down to who wants it more and it just happens that they want it a little more than us and we lose focus.”
UW coach Mike Neighbors didn’t seem surprised by Swan’s productivity. “She was on the scouting report because we recruited the heck out of that kid,” he said. “We wanted her very badly . . . she got it really going and we didn’t have a lot to answer – 25 points in 18 minutes . . . I’m just glad she had five fouls (No. 5 came with 1:30 left) or otherwise she could have had 50 (points).”
UW (14-10, 7-6) outscored CU 34-26 in the paint, outrebounded the Buffs 45-38 and converted 13 CU turnovers into 18 points. CU’s bench outscored UW’s 36-19 – mainly on Swan’s contribution before she fouled out with 1:30 to play. The Buffs hurt themselves at the free throw line, converting only 21 of 33 attempts. The Huskies shot 46.7 percent from the field (28-for-60), the Buffs 40.9 percent (27-for-66).
CU jumped to a 9-2 lead but UW recovered quickly with an 11-2 run and took its first lead on a Plum 3-pointer with 15:01 left before intermission. Davis followed with trey on the Huskies’ next possession, giving them their largest advantage (16-11) of the first half.
The first half’s last 13 minutes produced six ties and 11 lead changes before Ashley Wilson hit one of two free throws with 22.1 seconds left to put CU up 40-39 at the break.
The Huskies took a 49-43 to open the second half, getting back-to-back treys by Davis and Talia Walton, the latter hitting her triple with 16:38 left in the game. The Buffs fought back, closing to 51-50 on a 3-pointer by Lexy Kresl with just over 13 minutes remaining.
But the Huskies answered with a 6-0 run on consecutive conventional three-point plays by Plum and Chantel Osahor to open a seven-point advantage – 57-50 – with 12:19 to play.
If CU was to make a move, it would have to be soon. Ashley Wilson and Swan made two free throws each to pull the Buffs to within 57-54. After Swan scored consecutive baskets to tie the score at 60-60, the Huskies got 3-pointers from Osahor – only her second in five games – and Mercedes Wetmore and two free throws each from Katie Collier and Plum to pull ahead 70-60.
It was UW’s largest lead of the night, but a runner by Plum in the lane put CU behind 11 (75-64) just over a minute later. The Buffs pulled to within five (76-71) on a trey by Ashley Wilson, then seven (81-74) on a triple by Kresl with 1:16 left.
Reese got her first points of the night on a jumper to bring CU to 81-76 with 1:06 remaining, then hit a pair of free throws 3 seconds later to cut the deficit to 81-78. A layup by Roberson made it 83-80 but the Huskies closed it out with four free throws by Aminah Williams in the final 22 seconds.
“It took some warriors to win and I was so proud of our kids up and down the bench,” Neighbors said. “We get 19 (points) and 12 (rebounds) off of our bench tonight. There’s been games where we’ve gotten zero and zero.”
CU returns to the CEC on Sunday afternoon (1:30 p.m., Pac-12 Networks) to play Washington State.
Contact: BG.Brooks@Colorado.EDU
CU Lacrosse Defeats Stetson 12-4 In Inaugural Game
Feb 14th
DELAND, Fla. – In its first game of its inaugural season, the University of Colorado lacrosse team started setting records early, grabbing a 12-4 win over Stetson here Thursday.
“Going into the game we were really excited,” CU head coach Ann Elliott said. “We had a really good walkthrough this morning. I knew the girls were going to come out with a lot of energy and excitement with it being our first game. We were really happy with the way they came out, not just the excitement and energy, but really the focus they had and the determination to really play together and stick to our game plan.”
That determination was evident from the beginning of the game to the closing minutes. Colorado edged Stetson in nearly every category. The Buffaloes outshot the Hatters 25 to 15, scooped up three more ground balls (15 to 12) and grabbed two more draw controls (10 to eight). The Buffs defense also stepped up, preventing the Hatters from scoring on any of their three free position shot attempts. (CU was four of seven from the 8 meter.)
In the program debut, Cali Castagnola led the Buffs with four goals off five shots. Johnna Fusco was the top point-getter, with six points off three goals and three assists. Maddie Hunt was strong on the defensive end of the field, causing three turnovers and grabbing two groundballs. In just under 53 minutes, goalie Paige Soenksen grabbed four saves and allowed just three goals.
With one game under their belt, the Buffs are 1-0, while Stetson falls to 0-3 on the season with previous losses to No. 3 Syracuse and Mountain Pacific Sports Federation competitor Oregon.
The Buffs attacked early and often, with Castagnola earning CU’s first ever hat trick by the first period’s midpoint to give the squad a solid 3-0 lead.
“Cali stepped up for sure early in the game,” Elliott said. “I think they were all a result of our offense playing together, working hard together to give each other opportunities, and Cali was able to take advantage early on. I think it really set the tone for the team. It was exciting for us.”
Grabbing an assist on the Buffs’ third goal, Katie Macleay was at it again, scoring exactly five minutes later to push CU’s lead to 4-0. Johnna Fusco continued to push the lead in the final eight minutes before the break, first scoring off a free position shot. Just 15 seconds before halftime, Fusco scored again to give the Buffs a 6-0 lead by halftime.
Macleay’s pace wasn’t slowed by the intermission, getting her third point of the game less than two minutes into the second half.
Colorado had built a dominating 7-0 lead, but Stetson aimed to climb back. During a nearly 20 minute span, CU and Stetson traded off on four goals. The Hatter duo of Mary Kate Sullivan and Samantha Akl proved to be a strong force. Akl first assisted O’Sullivan six minutes into the half. Castagnola, assisted by Fusco, responded, but Stetson was ready for another. Akl assisted Lindsay Summers this time, cutting the Buffs’ lead to six once more.
Amanda Salvadore and Marie Moore both scored their first goals as Buffs with under 10 minutes remaining. O’Sullivan and Akl combined once more, and Stetson’s Julia Lozano scored the Hatter’s final goal, but it wouldn’t be enough to diminish the Buffs’ lead and slow their tempo. Elliott said she was impressed with the way her team handled the Hatter attack and how they took back control on the offensive end.
In the final four minutes, Macleay and Fusco became the second and third Buffs to join the young hat trick club, putting the game away at 12-4.
The Buffs’ first road trip continues against another Florida team, Jacksonville. CU faces the Dolphins, who have received votes in both the IWLCA preseason and first week polls, on Saturday, Feb. 15 at 10 a.m. MT.
“Jacksonville – they’re a great team,” Elliott said. “They play hard all over the field: offensively, defensively and in transition. It’s going to be a great challenge for us, and we’re really excited for the opportunity to play them and see what we can do.”
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MARLEE HORN | Assistant Sports Information Director
