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CU Women Climb One Spot To No. 21 In AP Top 25 Poll
Feb 4th
BOULDER – Following a Southern California split, the University of Colorado moved up one spot to No. 21 in the Associated Press Women’s Basketball Top 25 poll, released Monday.
Colorado, 16-5 overall and 5-5 in the Pac-12 Conference, received 162 points, down from 205 last week. All five of Colorado’s losses have been to ranked teams, including two each to Stanford and California ranked No. 7 or better at the time. Stanford and California remained at No. 4 and No. 6 respectively, while UCLA moved up one spot to No. 17.
The Buffaloes do have one top 10 win on their resume, a 70-66 win over then-No. 8 Louisville on Dec. 14. The Cardinals are currently ranked No. 11.
The Buffaloes have resided in the AP poll for the last eight weeks, reaching as high as No. 20 twice – Dec. 31 and Jan. 21. CU’s eight-week run in the AP poll is its longest since appearing in all 19 polls of the 2003-04 season.
The Buffaloes have a long history of rankings in the AP poll, dating back to the 1980-81 season. This week’s ranking marks the 166th time Colorado has appeared in the AP poll, trailing only Stanford, USC and UCLA among Pac-12 schools.
The USA Today Sports Coaches poll is scheduled to be released on Tuesday. Colorado was No. 23 in last week’s coaches’ poll.
Colorado returns home for the first time in three weeks as the Buffaloes will host the Oregon schools. Colorado will face Oregon State on Friday, Feb. 8, at 7 p.m. and host Oregon on Sunday, Feb. 10, at 1:30 p.m. The Oregon State game will be televised by the Pac-12 Mountain Network while the Oregon game will be streamed live on Pac-12.com.
2012-13 Associated Press
Top 25 Poll – Feb. 4
Rk Team Rec Pts Last
1 Baylor (37) 20-1 997 1
2 Notre Dame 20-1 955 2
3 Connecticut (3) 20-1 928 3
4 Stanford 20-2 862 4
5 Duke 20-1 845 5
6 California 19-2 807 6
7 Maryland 18-3 753 10
8 Penn State 17-3 642 7
9 Georgia 19-3 632 13
10 Kentucky 19-3 630 8
11 Louisville 19-4 553 12
12 Tennessee 17-5 512 9
13 Purdue 18-3 502 14
14 Texas A&M 17-5 497 16
15 South Carolina 19-3 480 15
16 North Carolina 20-3 458 11
17 UCLA 17-4 409 18
18 Dayton 19-1 397 17
19 Florida State 18-4 223 20
20 Delaware 18-3 205 25
21 COLORADO 16-5 162 22
22 Oklahoma State 15-5 128 19
23 Oklahoma 16-5 127 21
24 Syracuse 18-3 80 NR
25 Iowa State 15-5 71 23
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Strong Second Half Pushes CU Women Past USC Trojans, 65-49
Feb 3rd
It’s been a tough road trip for the No. 22 Colorado women’s basketball team, with three straight road losses against nationally ranked opponents in the past two weekends.
On Sunday, though, the CU women had one last chance to pull out a road win over the Southern California Trojans — and this time, they made it happen.
Arielle Roberson was high scorer with 15 points
With a solid second-half effort on both sides of the ball, Colorado pulled away from the Trojans for a 65-49 victory.
“I really liked our toughness in this game,” said Colorado head coach Linda Lappe. “We didn’t have any of that on Friday, and so it was nice to kind of get our identity back because that’s who were are when we’re playing our best.”
It was a success that came at a much-needed time, as the Buffs were in the midst of their longest losing streak of the season. After falling to top-10 teams Cal and Stanford last weekend, Colorado shot less than 30 percent from the field in a 62-46 loss to No. 18 UCLA on Friday.
“I think we knew we could definitely win this game and that we had to win this game,” said redshirt freshman forward Arielle Roberson, who led the Buffs in scoring with 16. “We just knew we had to do it in a fun way and not make it too stressful.”
The stress was certainly still there in the first half, as the Buffs and Trojans traded baskets and both teams struggled to gain a solid advantage. The lead changed eight times throughout the half, and neither team went up by more than five.
In the four minutes before intermission, however, USC found its momentum and went on a 13-3 run to reverse Colorado’s five-point lead to a five-point lead of its own by halftime (31-26).
The Buffs shot 36 percent from the field in the first half compared to USC’s 33, but the Trojans were efficient from the line with an free throw percentage of 89.
Colorado, though, took control at the start of the second half, going on an 8-0 run and forcing five turnovers in the process to build a three-point lead.
“I kind of had a feeling that (the Trojans) were going to get tired in the second half,” Lappe said. “And I think that’s what happened. I think we pushed the ball really well at them in the first half, we were physical with them in the first half, and I think that wore on them in the second half.”
With 12:17 remaining, Roberson knocked down an “and-1” play to put the Buffs up eight (41-33). Four minutes later, senior guard Chucky Jeffery scored on a steal and a fast break to give CU a 10-point lead.
In the final two minutes, Colorado went on an 8-1 run capped by a Roberson trey and a Jeffery free throw, erasing USC’s chance for a late-game comeback.
By the final buzzer, the Buffs had gone up 16 for a 65-49 victory.
Lappe said the improvement her team made from Friday night’s struggle to Sunday’s success was indicative of a high-level team.
“Everybody has a bad game, championship teams have bad games,” Lappe said. “But the real championship teams respond in a great fashion. They can let it go, they can take it for what it’s worth, and they can get a little mad and come back even stronger. I think that’s what’s going to happen to us after that Friday night game.”
Colorado demonstrated its depth in both scoring and rebounding on Sunday, with four players scoring in double figures and six players grabbing five or more boards.
In addition to Roberson’s game-high 16 points, Jeffery scored 15 and grabbed 10 rebounds in the process for her fifth double-double of the season. Junior guard Brittany Wilson added 12 points, while sophomore guard Lexy Kresl scored 11 and grabbed six rebounds.
Overall, the Buffs out-rebounded the Trojans 44-29, with 13 of those on the offensive end. Colorado ended the game shooting 40.4 percent from the field, holding USC to just 27.5 percent.
Junior forward Cassie Harberts led the Trojans in scoring with 14 total points, below her average of 18.7, while sophomore guard Ariya Crook added 10.
The win bumps Colorado’s record to 16-5 overall and 5-5 in the Pac-12 Conference, while USC falls to 8-13 and 5-5 in conference play. The Trojans remain unsuccessful against ranked teams (0-6) so far this season.
Though the Buffs may be only .500 in conference play, their start to the season has been far from smooth sailing. Half of Colorado’s matchups so far in conference play have been against nationally ranked opponents, and four of those have been against top-10 Cal and Stanford teams.
Only one of Colorado’s next eight opponents, Washington, currently has a better record than the Buffs in the Pac-12.
The CU women return to the Coors Events Center next week with matchups against Oregon State on Friday and Oregon on Sunday.
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CU Women’s lackluster performance nets fifth PAC-12 loss
Feb 2nd
Story by Caryn Maconi, CUBuffs.com
LOS ANGELES – The No. 22 Colorado women’s basketball team had an opportunity on Friday night to gain a win over a ranked Pac-12 Conference opponent for the first time this season — but the Buffs couldn’t capitalize.
Shooting just 20 percent in the first half and 28.6 percent overall, CU fell to No. 18 UCLA 62-46 at Pauley Pavilion.
Lexy Cresl was the only Buff who looked like she wanted to win
It was the Buffs’ third straight road game against a ranked opponent, having fallen to then-No. 7 California and then-No. 4 Stanford last weekend. Now 4-5 in the Pac-12 and 15-5 overall, CU has just one day to regroup before taking on Southern California Sunday at 10 a.m. MST.
Colorado was No. 1 in the conference in scoring defense going into Friday’s matchup, holding opponents to an average of 52.1 points per game — but UCLA’s forceful offense was too much for the Buffs to handle.
The Bruins (16-4, 7,-2) shot 55.5 percent from the field, improving from 44 percent in the first half to 70 in the second. Senior guard/forward Markel Walker led the Bruins with 17 points, and senior forward Alyssa Brewer added 10.
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Junior guard Brittany Wilson and senior guard Chucky Jeffery led CU in scoring with 12 and 11, respectively. The Buffs, however, didn’t show their usual scoring depth, with all non-starters combined scoring just nine points.
Rebounding, though, was perhaps Colorado’s biggest struggle. The Buffs were outrebounded 25-16 at the half and 44-29 on the night. Four Bruins recorded at least six rebounds, while only one CU player had more than four.
The Buffs did force 29 Bruin turnovers while only committing 17. CU head coach Linda Lappe said that while that may have been the only positive on the stat sheet for her team, the inability to capitalize off of those turnovers was costly for the Buffs.
“They gave us plenty of opportunities,” Lappe said. “Obviously they weren’t really ever threatened by us, and so perhaps they gave away some passes that they wouldn’t have if the game had been closer.”
Lappe said her team was capable of much more than it showed Friday night, especially on the defensive end.
“We didn’t have any mental toughness tonight,” Lappe said. “I mean, we were really a shell of ourselves. We didn’t rebound, we didn’t really play defense, we didn’t play together.”
CU started with a bang in the first half, going up six on a Lexy Kresl three with 16:32 remaining. When UCLA’s Walker responded with a 6-0 run of her own, though, the Buffs were unable to recover. In the 10 minutes following Walker’s run, Colorado scored just three points, allowing the Bruin’s lead to grow to 14 with five minutes left in the half.
By intermission, CU had recorded only 15 points to UCLA’s 29.
The Buffs found some energy with a 6-2 run at the start of the second half, even closing the Bruins’ lead to 11 with 14:43 remaining.
Ultimately, though, an inconsistent CU offense paired with UCLA’s dominance on the boards prevented the Buffs from a successful comeback.
With 6:41 on the clock, UCLA’s lead had grown to 19 — and while Colorado would not stop fighting, the shots simply didn’t fall.
“We were off the entire night,” Lappe said. “We couldn’t make layups. We weren’t necessarily turning the ball over a ton, but we just couldn’t get stops. We were on our heels the entire night. When we did get a stop, they’d get an offensive rebound put-back, or they’d get to the free throw line because we’d bail them out. There are so many things to point to that I can’t even name just one.”
The Buffs have just one day to regroup before taking on USC and Lappe doesn’t plan to waste that time.
“We’ve just got to get back to the drawing board, we’ve got to figure out how to get ready for the next game,” Lappe said. “Play like we can play, play with a sense of confidence, understand what we’re trying to do. We’ve got to play together. We just have to get back to doing the things that we were doing to win so many games that we seemed to not want to do tonight.”
