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CU WBB: Sborov and Kresl finish off Rice to win OMNI tourney
Dec 1st
Release: November 30, 2013
By: Troy Andre, Assistant SID
By: Troy Andre, Assistant SID
BOULDER – No. 14/19 ranked Colorado used a late 14-0 rally to pull away from Rice and claim the 2013 Omni Hotels Classic championship, 75-58, Saturday night at the Coors Events Center.
Junior guard Lexy Kresl scored 19 points and recorded five rebounds, four assists and three steals to earn Classic MVP honors. Classmate Jen Reese was also named to the All-Tournament team after scoring 13 points and grabbing seven rebounds.
Lexy Kresl was named tournament MVP
Rice guard Megan Shafer hit a 3-pointer with 12:06 remaining in the game to pull Rice within four at 49-45.
But Colorado, 6-0, reeled off the next 14 points. Kresl made a nice pass to Reese in traffic on a fast break to put Colorado back up by double-digits at 56-45. Lauren Huggins then put back a Reese miss the next time down the floor to add to the rally.
The Wilson twins capped off the run. Brittany Wilson hit her second 3-pointer of the game and her sister Ashley Wilson caught the Owls defense sleeping for an open drive to the basket and layup to give the Buffaloes a 63-45 advantage.
“I like the way that our team bared down and got a certain level of toughness at about the eleven-minute mark in the second half,” CU head coach Linda Lappe said. “That was really where the game changed. We started defending, we started rebounding and that allowed us to run and transition to score.”
Rice guard Jessica Kuster, scored eight of her game-high 30 points to close the Colorado lead to 64-56 with 3:56 left. But the Buffaloes held off the Owls by staying aggressive. Arielle Roberson scored on a layup and Kresl scored four straight points to put the game away.
“That was a really fun game for our team and for our staff,” Lappe said. “We did not play our best, and we still found a way to win.”
Kuster, who struggled from the field against Samford in Friday’s opener, hitting only 1-of-9, couldn’t miss early on Saturday. She scored Rice’s first seven points and a traditional 3-point play tied the game at 7-7.
Colorado responded with 10 straight including 3-pointers from Brittany Wilson and Huggins and took a 17-7 lead on a Kresl layup.
Turnovers hurt the Buffaloes early and Rice cashed in. Colorado gave it up 10 times in the first 20 minutes which accounted for 11 Rice points.
But the Buffaloes shot 45 percent in the first half, allowing them to stay just ahead of the Owls. Reese hit a layup with 4:57 remaining to give Colorado a 27-17 advantage.
Rice then closed the half on a flurry behind Kuster. The All-Conference USA guard led the Owls on a 12-6 run, including a buzzer-beating 3-pointer off a mad scramble in the final minutes. Kresl missed a layup with eight seconds left which sent players sprawling for the rebound. Jasmine Goodwine eventually controlled it, shot it over to Christal Porter who got the ball to Kuster in time for her 3-pointer from the top of the key sent CU to the locker room with just a 33-29 lead.
“They were tough, and (Kuster) is a great player,” Lappe said. “We tried everybody on her in terms of guarding her, and she found a way to make things happen for them.”
Kuster scored her team’s first three points of the second half and cut CU’s lead to its smallest margin at 35-32 at the 19:02 mark. The Buffaloes countered with a 10-4 run capped off by four straight points by Kresl for a 47-36 lead.
Then all of a sudden Rice couldn’t miss from downtown. After making just 1-of-3 from deep in the first half, the Owls hit 3-pointers on three consecutive possessions for a 9-2 run that ended with Shafer’s 3-pointer and the four-point margin before Colorado’s big second half run.
Kuster, who set a tournament record for free-throws made and attempted over the two-games (23-of-29) joined South Alabama’s Jennifer Johnson and Samford’s Keke Fletcher on the all-tournament team. Samford defeated South Alabama 70-49 in Saturday’s consolation game.
Colorado returns to action by traveling to play Wyoming on Wednesday, Dec. 4, at 7 p.m. at the Arena Auditorium in Laramie.
2013 Omni Hotels Classic – Boulder, Colo.
Colorado WBB Team Sprints Past South Alabama 94-61
Nov 30th
Buffs face Rice in tournament championship Saturday
BOULDER – Colorado’s offense continued to click as the No. 14/19 ranked Buffaloes sprinted past South Alabama, 94-61 in the first round of the Omni Hotels Classic Friday evening at the Coors Events Center.
Colorado (5-0) will play Rice (4-4) in Saturday’s championship game, set for 7:30 p.m. at the Coors Events Center. Rice squeaked by Samford 57-52 in the opener. South Alabama (0-5) will play Samford (1-4) in Saturday’s consolation at 5 p.m.
Swan scored a career high 16 points in the game.
Colorado had five players score in double-digits for the third straight game and hit at least 80 points for the fourth consecutive contest, and 90 for the second time this year.
Jen Reese and Jamee Swan tied for lead scoring honors with 16 points apiece. Lexy Kresl had 12 points, seven rebounds and a career-high six assists. Rachel Hargis had 11 and Lauren Huggins had 10.
“It was another night with really good balance,” head coach Linda Lappe said. “Offensively, we moved the ball well. We had a lot of different players contribute; we scored on the inside, we scored on the outside. I really like the flow of some of the things we’re doing offensively.”
Colorado’s balanced shined once again as all 10 players that played scored, in fact that was achieved less than 10 minutes into the contest. Kresl scored 11 of her 12 points in the first half and keyed the Buffaloes fast start, drilling a 3-pointer that gave Colorado an early 11-2 lead.
South Alabama stayed close early on the heels of Rachel Cumbo, who hit two early 3-pointers, the second pulling the Jaguars to within six at 22-16 at the 11:10 mark of the first half.
But Kresl countered with a 3-pointer which sparked a 10-0 run. Ashley Wilson scored on a put back of a Brittany Wilson miss to double-up the Jaguars at 32-16.
From there the Buffaloes continued to roll. Colorado hit 57 percent in the first half alone en route to a 53-27 lead at the break, its most halftime points since putting up 53 against Southern Utah in 2009.
The Buffaloes dominated in the paint outscoring the Jaguars 40-14. The trio of Reese, Hargis and Swan were a combined 15-of-24 from the field. They also got it done at the foul line, making 12-of-13 combined, including a career-best 7-of-8 from Hargis.
Swan’s 16 points were a career high and came in a variety of ways, she had put back on offensive rebounds, mid-range jumpers and even a steal and coast-to-coast lay-in. She finished 7-of-10 from the field and grabbed eight boards, leading the Buffaloes in rebounding for the second straight contest.
“It was pretty even, it just came down to who wanted it more,” Swan said. “They were good on the inside and strong, but again, it came down to who wanted it more.”
Colorado as a team was outstanding from the line sinking 83 percent (20-of-24).
”We keep working on that every day,” Hargis said. “It was nice to get some fouls and get to the line.”
Reese was 6-of-8 from the field and pulled down seven rebounds. Ashley Wilson finished with six points, six rebounds and tied a personal best with four assists.
Colorado ended up at 52 percent for the game (34-of-65) and dished out 19 assists. The Buffaloes also enjoyed a 42-28 edge on the boards.
Cumbo had a game-high 19 points for South Alabama while Jennifer Johnson scored 18 off the bench.
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CU Frosh soccer phenom gets called to camp
Nov 27th
CARSON, Calif. – University of Colorado freshman phenom Brie Hooks was called into the U.S. Under-20 Women’s National Team training camp, which is running here from November 24 to December 1 at the U.S. Soccer National Training Center at the StubHub Center.
“We are excited that Brie has been called into this U-20 camp,” CU head coach Danny Sanchez said. “This opportunity is a byproduct of her play this fall, but also the team’s success. We know that she will represent herself and Colorado soccer well.”
Hooks was invited to the U.S. U-20 post season training camp
Hooks stood out in her debut season at Colorado. In her first collegiate game, Hooks helped the Buffaloes to a 3-0 shutout of Northern Colorado behind a two-goal performance. Hooks is the first Buff in program history to score multiple goals in her Colorado debut. Hooks was an important part of the Buffs’ 1-0 victory over No. 15 Denver in the first round of the NCAA Women’s Soccer Championship, drawing the foul that set up the game-winning goal – Hooks and the Buffs ended their season with a trip to the Sweet 16, matching the program best finish first recorded in 2006.
In CU’s freshman offensive record books, Hooks concluded the season ranked third with eight goals and fourth with 18 points. Her 42 shots tie for eighth. Her eight goals also tie for eighth most in a single season at CU. Her four game-winning goals tie for fourth best in a single season at CU and tie for fourth best in Pac-12 Conference regular season play.
The training camp will serve as a bridge camp to an event in Florida in December, which will be the final preparation for the team before the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football Women’s U-20 Championship which will run from January 9-19 at the Truman Bodden Sports Complex in George Town, Cayman Islands.
The tournament features eight nations divided into two groups of four teams. The top two finishers in each group will qualify for the semifinals, with the winners of those games along with the winner of the third-place match earning berths to the 2014 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup, to be held in Canada. Players born on or after January 1, 1994 are age-eligible for the World Cup.
The USA is in Group A with Costa Rica, Jamaica and Guatemala, while Group B features the host Cayman Islands, Honduras, Trinidad & Tobago and Mexico.
The USA opens play on Thursday, Jan. 9 against Costa Rica, faces Jamaica on Saturday, Jan. 11 and finishes the group against Guatemala on Monday, Jan. 13. All three of the USA’s group games kick off at 5:30 p.m. MT. The semifinal matches will take place on Friday, Jan. 17 and the Championship and Third-Place matches are on Jan. 19.
Hooks joins the likes of Amy Barczuk and Nikki Marshall – record-breaking players at Colorado who turned their collegiate and national training camp success into professional careers. Barczuk was selected to the 2011 U.S. Women’s National Team Under-23 Training Camp and was a member of the U-23 player pool.
Marshall appeared in numerous training camps and tournaments as a member of the U.S. Women’s National Team U-23 player pool from 2009-11. With the U-20 team, Marshall helped the Americans to the silver medal at the 2007 Pan American Games and to the FIFIA U-20 Women’s World Cup Championship in 2008, where she was named the Sierra Mist Woman of the Match in the 2-1 championship win over North Korea.
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Marlee Horn Graduate Assistant SID University of Colorado
