Posts tagged Ashley Wilson
CU Women Bury Wildcats For Fourth Straight Pac-12 Win
Jan 20th
Story by Caryn Maconi, CUBuffs.com
BOULDER – The Colorado women’s basketball team executed its game plan in every category Sunday afternoon to earn a decisive 79-36 win over Arizona at the Coors Events Center.
It was the Buffs’ fourth straight Pac-12 Conference win, with the 43-point margin of victory the eighth-largest in CU history in conference play.
“Obviously I’m really happy with how that game turned out,” said CU head coach Linda Lappe. “We had very few mental or physical errors, which was fun to see. It’s very rare that you see both of those things happen on the same night.”
Senior guard Chucky Jeffery’s performance (11 points, five rebounds and six assists) made her the first player in school history to earn 1,400 points, 800 rebounds and 400 assists in her career.
The Buffs started strong over the Wildcats, going on a 7-0 run to start the game and building that lead for the rest of the half. CU shot 56.7 percent from the field and 66.7 percent from beyond the arc in the first half and held Arizona to 23.3 from the field and 14.3 from three-point range.
By intermission, Colorado was up 43-15, its largest halftime lead in conference play since leading Kansas 42-14 in February 2003. Hitting a jumper with nine seconds remaining in the half, freshman guard Kyleesha Weston became the ninth player to score for CU in the first 20 minutes.
CU held onto that momentum for the rest of the game, going up by 46, the largest lead of the game, on a Weston basket with four minutes to go.
But even with such a decisive lead, the Buffs never lost energy or focus.
“When you’re on a roll, you just continue staying on a roll,” said redshirt freshman forward Arielle Roberson, who scored a game-high 12 points on her 20th birthday. “You’ve got to continue to stay focused. In the timeouts, coach would say, ‘Stay focused, stay solid,’ and I think that helped.”
By the final buzzer, CU had a 43-point lead over the Wildcats and had played nearly its entire bench, including walk-on guard Alexus Atchley in the final minutes. Weston, who was recruited to the team as a true point guard, gained a valuable 17 minutes of playing time at that position.
Four CU players – Roberson, Jeffery, sophomore guard Lexy Kresl and freshman forward Jamee Swan – scored in double figures, while five other CU players added at least six points.
“We have a lot of players that can score, and you could see that (Sunday),” Lappe said. “I thought our bench played great. From the very first second when the first one came in, we didn’t slow down at all. In fact, we pushed the tempo . . . I think everybody that came off the bench was ready, brought a lot of energy, and there was no disruption of flow, so you have to credit our players for that.”
All-conference guard Davellyn Whyte led the Wildcats in scoring with 11, nine of which were in the first half. Lappe said junior guard Brittany Wilson stepped up her defense on Whyte to shut her down in the second half.
“I thought Brittany did a really good job on her, staying down on her face,” Lappe said. “Davellyn Whyte is a very talented player, has some great offensive skills, and I thought Brittany stepped up to the challenge.”
Overall, CU shot 50 percent from the field and held Arizona to just 25 percent. The Buffs also out-rebounded the visitors 51-26, with Swan and junior guard Ashley Wilson recoding eight boards each.
Swan, who also added two blocks and two assists, said that while the margin of victory was unexpected, the level of play the Buffs showed was not.
“I don’t think it was a surprise,” Swan said. “I think we expect ourselves to do the best we can 100 percent of the time.”
And while the Buffs’ combined 51 rebounds, 21 assists and 79 points are something to be proud of, Kresl said Sunday afternoon wasn’t about the stats.
“We all played together,” Kresl said. “It was definitely a team effort and not one person was trying to get their points or steals or anything. It wasn’t about statistics, it was all about the win and trying to play together.”
Colorado improves to 15-2 overall and 4-2 in Pac-12 play, its best start since the 2003-04 NCAA Tournament team began its season 18-2. With the loss, Arizona falls to 11-6, 3-3.
Starting next week, the Buffs head to California for four straight away games. The first, at No. 7 California, is set for Friday at 9 p.m. MST.
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Jeffery, Defense Lead Buffaloes To Pac-12 Win Over Arizona State
Jan 19th
Story by Caryn Maconi, CUBuffs.com
Thanks to a strong second-half surge, the Colorado women’s basketball team secured a 57-43 Pac-12 Conference win over Arizona State Friday night at the Coors Events Center.
Senior guard Chucky Jeffery earned her 24th career double-double and her fourth of the season with 19 points and 16 rebounds. Her rebound total was also a team season-high.
Redshirt freshman forward Arielle Roberson earned a career-high 11 rebounds and contributed seven points of her own. Overall, Colorado out-rebounded Arizona State 47-31.
“Like any Pac-12 game, it was very physical down there,” Roberson said. “It’s always a war, it’s always a battle … But we knew we had to box out and then go get the rebounds, not just let them try to come to us.”
Forward Jen Reese and guard Lexy Kresl, both sophomores, added eight points each.
Strong defense from both teams kept the score and shooting percentages low, as Colorado shot just 37.8 percent from the field but held the Sun Devils to 23.6 percent.
One of the goals for Colorado was to keep ASU players from scoring around the rim. The Buffs executed that game plan well, forcing the Sun Devils to shoot 8-for-26 from beyond the arc.
“It was a very solid night defensively for us,” said Colorado head coach Linda Lappe. “Knowing how Arizona State likes to score, they score a lot of baskets and layups at the rim, so one of our goals was to give up less than 10 layups. I think we gave them only a couple of wide-open layups.”
The Buffs and the Sun Devils looked evenly matched in the first half as the lead changed seven lead times, but two three-pointers by Arizona State’s Jada Blackwell and Haley Videckis put the Sun Devils up 26-22 at the half. Neither team shot particularly well in the first half, as CU was 32.1 percent from the field and ASU was 36.0.
After intermission, though, the Buffs found the energy they had been lacking. With 14:30 remaining, Colorado went on a 13-0 run capped by a Lexy Kresl three-pointer to go up 12 (44-32).
“We have to start fast and finish strong, that’s our motto. We say that before every game,” Jeffery said. “We just kept going. Once you attack them, you keep them on their heels a little bit.”
The Buffs held onto the momentum from that point on, gaining their largest lead of the game, 17, on a Jeffery free throw with less than a minute remaining.
“Even when they started hitting some outside shots, we stayed steady,” Lappe said. “We didn’t panic, and I thought that allowed us to pull away in the second half.”
Jeffery said part of what allowed the Buffs to pull away in the second half was recognizing ASU’s key scorers and guarding them with more intensity. Videckis, who was the Sun Devils’ leading scorer in the first half with 11 points, was shut out in the second half.
“I thought we did a much better job on (Videckis) in the second half, she hurt us a lot in the first half,” Lappe said. “We barred down and knew where she was. Arielle (Roberson) got the assignment on her for a large part, Jen (Reese) guarded her for a little while, and our guards understood where she was in the second half as well.”
The Buffs also showed their strength off the bench once again, as three non-starters — Reese, sophomore Jasmine Sborov and junior Ashley Wilson — scored a combined 14 points on the night.
With the win, Colorado improves to 14-2 overall and 3-2 in the Pac-12. The Sun Devils fall to 10-7 overall and 2-3 in conference play.
On Sunday, the Buffs return to the Coors Events Center to take on Arizona at 2 p.m.
“As far as I know, (Arizona) is going to bring a lot of the same pressure that ASU does,” Lappe said. “They have a really good All-Conference player in (guard) Davellyn White, and they have a lot of good players around her. I think they’re much, much improved over last year, and we’re just going to have to be ready on Sunday.”
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Balanced Buffs Hold Off Vandals In Opener
Nov 12th
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.”
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