Posts tagged Friday
Cal press shakes the Buffs, costs the victory
Jan 12th
By: B.G. Brooks, Contributing Editor Send Mail Print RSS
BOULDER – California never stopped grinding, Colorado couldn’t step up with a stop. It was the recipe for a gut-wrenching, frustrating Friday night at the Coors Events Center.
Outscoring CU 14-2 in the final 4:08, No. 19 Cal rallied from a 10-point deficit to edge No. 17 CU, 57-55. Since the Buffs joined the Pac-12 Conference in 2011, the Bears are 6-0 against them, and their other Pac-12 nemesis – No. 4 Stanford, owning a 5-0 regular season/conference tournament record against CU – visits the CEC on Sunday afternoon (3 p.m.).
“We have to bounce back, we don’t have a choice,” CU coach Linda Lappe said. “We have to bring it for two games . . . we brought it for 37 minutes (against Cal) and Stanford is even tougher. If you feel sorry for yourself and are not ready to go, Stanford will take advantage of that.”
If the Buffs left their home court Friday night feeling they had been taken advantage of, it was justified. It was also mostly self-inflicted. CU (11-3, 1-2) held a 10-point halftime lead, led by 10 with just over 4 minutes to play and still couldn’t finish what was shaping up to be a milestone Pac-12 win. Cal (11-3, 3-0) wouldn’t allow it.
“We just didn’t play to win necessarily . . . they were the aggressors and we didn’t buck up to that challenge,” said Buffs forward Arielle Roberson, who rebounded from a subpar West Coast trip last weekend with a game-high 21 points on Friday night – including 11 during a 15-6 run that opened a 50-40 CU advantage with 5:55 to play.
But after Jen Reese hit a jumper to put the Buffs up by 10 for a second time, they failed to hit a field goal in the final 4:08. Roberson’s two free throws were CU’s only points in that span.
The Bears, led by Reshanda Gray (15) and Brittany Boyd (13), never considered going away. After CU called a timeout with 25 seconds remaining – 22 on the shot clock – Roberson was fouled and went to the free throw line with 16.2 seconds showing. She hit both, putting the Buffs up 55-54, prompting a Cal timeout with 12.1 seconds to play.
Afure Jemerigbe drove the right baseline and scored to give Cal a 56-55 lead with 6 seconds left. Lappe called timeout to set up a play for Roberson, but Jamee Swan’s side-court inbounds pass was stolen by Courtney Range, who was fouled by Roberson and hit one of two free throws at the 2.9 second mark.
Lexy Kresl’s half-court fling at the buzzer bounded off the back iron and the Buffs’ night of late frustration was complete.
“Give Cal a lot of credit,” a disappointed Lappe said. “They kept playing and didn’t give up. They were tough and aggressive down the stretch . . . they’re well- coached, they executed their offense and they turned us over.”
Employing full-court pressure to begin the second half, the Bears forced the Buffs into nine turnovers in the final 20 minutes and converted CU’s 16 errors into 16 points. Cal also outscored CU 36-34 in the paint, outrebounded the Buffs 40-39 and limited them to 37.5 percent from the field. The Bears shot only 39.7 percent, but they were at 45.5 percent (15-of-33) in the second half when the Buffs needed to clamp down.
“Towards the end when we needed stops, we didn’t step up to that challenge,” said Kresl. “I’d say they beat us in the last three minutes.”
In the final 4:08, Lappe said the Buffs lacked “leadership on the floor . . . you need somebody to step and somebody to recognize that you need a stop and say, ‘Here’s how we’re going to do it.’ We didn’t have that on the floor.”
CU’s biggest lead of the first half – 28-18 – came courtesy of a 10-4 run and a nearly 8-minute lockdown of the Cal offense. With 7:44 left before intermission, Mikayla Lyles hit a 3-pointer to bring the Bears to within 18-17, but that would be Cal’s last field goal of the half. Cal’s 18 first-half points were its lowest of the season.
Roberson led all first-half scorers with eight points – one less than she scored in two West Coast games last weekend.
In the first 2 minutes of the second half, it was Cal’s turn to turn up the ‘D.’ Opening with full-court pressure, the Bears disrupted the Buffs offensive rhythm just enough to force three turnovers and outscored them 10-2 to pull to within 30-28 on a conventional three-point play by Gray with 17:08 to play.
Over the next 51/2 minutes, Cal cut CU’s lead to one on two occasions, but after the Bears had closed to 35-34 the Buffs answered with an 8-0 surge on three baskets by Roberson and one by Rachel Hargis to go up 43-34 with 9:40 to play.
And Roberson wasn’t finished. After scoring in the paint, she backed up for a trey that opened a 10-point CU lead (50-40) with just under 6 minutes to play. Roberson said she was “better mentally” this weekend than last. “That was the biggest difference. I just forgot about what happens in the past and I said, ‘This is a new game, this is a new day, so just leave it there.’”
But the Bears wouldn’t roll. They cut the deficit to five (53-48) on a three-point play by Gennifer Brandon with 3:33 left, got a fast break layup by Gray to pull to 53-50, then crept to 53-52 on a jumper by Boyd at the 2:07 mark.
A turnover caused by Cal’s full-court pressure followed a CU timeout, and Courtney Range sank two free throws to give Cal a 54-53 lead – its first since 12-11 – with 1:59 left. Roberson’s pair of free throws gave the Buffs a 55-54 lead and their fans hope, but a stop at the other end was needed – and it didn’t happen.
“We didn’t show up, we didn’t have a sense of urgency when we needed to and really, that was the difference in the game,” said Lappe, knowing the Buffs need to find it before Sunday.
Roberson’s late scoring frenzy puts close game away
Dec 29th
But putting into practice what they had emphasized recently in practice, the Buffaloes showed if they continue to grind they can succeed. Applying the brakes to stubborn Southern Utah Sunday in the last 8 minutes, the Buffs finally put away the Thunderbirds 75-59 and now can turn their full attention to the Pac-12.
CU opens conference play on Friday at Southern California, then plays at UCLA next Sunday. The Buffs’ Pac-12 home opener is Friday, Jan. 10 against No. 23 Cal, with No. 4 Stanford visiting on Sunday, Jan. 12. The Pac-12 features four ranked (AP) teams, with Arizona State at No. 25.
Although CU did enough against Southern Utah to claim its 10th non-conference win (10-1), the Buffs often had difficulty getting in synch offensively and let a 14-point second half lead dwindle to two with 8:09 to play.
But that was as close as the Thunderbirds (7-3) would get. After Carli Moreland hit a pair of free throws to bring Southern Utah to 54-52, the Buffs launched a 19-2 run to take a 19-point lead (73-54) with 1:24 remaining.
Outscored 21-7 over the final 8:09, the T-Birds were toast.
“Overall, I liked how we responded to the last three days of practice,” CU coach Linda Lappe said, noting the Buffs had focused on rebounding, tighter defense and setting screens. “I saw all three things improve.”
Most apparent, according to guard Jasmine Sborov, was the defensive factor: “To be honest, it didn’t really feel like the score was that close leading up to the two-point deficit . . . we looked at scoreboard and we were like, ‘All right, we need to get down, get some stops and just extend our lead.’ I think that’s one negative thing with this game – we were up and then we were down and we were up and we let them get closer. We didn’t step on their throats and just keep going.”
Not until they needed to, anyway. During the decisive 8-minute surge, Arielle Roberson scored seven of her team-best 18 points while Ashley Wilson, who finished with career highs in points (14) and assists (5), contributed four points. Roberson added 12 rebounds for her fourth double-double in five games and seventh of her career.
Wilson’s performance came in 21 minutes off the bench. “That’s kind of my role – to provide energy off of the bench,” she said. “It just happened; it’s a credit to my teammates, they gave me energy.”
Down by 12 points at halftime, the Thunderbirds crept to within four before the Buffs answered with a 12-2 run to take what appeared to be a comfortable 50-36 lead. Not so. The visitors kept competing, climbing back to within 54-52 before CU delivered its final answer.
“We relaxed instead of keeping our foot on the gas,” Wilson said. “They play hard (but) we responded every single time; it shows what kind of team we have.”
Lappe agreed: “They’re a feisty group, well-coached and have lot of energy . . . at times we didn’t look very good, didn’t get stops and our offensive sputtered. Southern Utah made us play a half-court game, made us become stagnant (offensively) at times.”
But, noted Lappe, compensating with solid defense down the stretch was good for the Buffs with the Pac-12 schedule looming: “In terms of playing defense and unleashing our aggressiveness, we needed to do that against an opponent.”
CU also got double-figure scoring from Jen Reese (11) and Jasmine Sborov (12), who also recorded her first career double-double with a career-high 10 rebounds.
Desiree Jackson led Southern Utah with 21 points and was her team’s only player in double figures.
“Slow start” doesn’t come close to describing what the Buffs overcame to eventually pull away and take a 36-24 halftime lead. Just under 9 minutes into the first half, CU had one more turnover (five) than baskets (four) but still led 10-7.
But after Moreland, a 6-1 senior forward from Broomfield, tied the score at 13-13 on a 3-pointer, CU made its move. Over the next 6 minutes, the Buffs outscored the Thunderbirds 17-6 to take their first double-digit advantage (30-19) on a basket by Ashley Wilson.
Southern Utah rallied briefly, closing to within six points (30-24) before CU used a 6-0 run – four free throws by Roberson, a layup by Jamee Swan, who made her second career start – to establish its 12-point halftime advantage. But the T-Birds quickly cut into that, forced the Buffs to make a run, then the whole process was repeated.
Neither team shot impressively from the field – CU checked in at 37.9 percent, Southern Utah at 34.0 – and between them the Buffs and Thunderbirds committed 45 turnovers (CU 21, Southern Utah 24). And long-range accuracy was lacking: the teams were a combined 2-of-26 from beyond the arc, with each getting one trey in 13 attempts. The Buffs also clanked 12 free throws, giving them 25 misses in their last two games – which Lappe conceded concerns her.
Still, noted Wilson, “We’re happy with this win. There were a lot of different things we worked on the last three practices that definitely showed up in the game. We wanted to ramp up our defense a whole lot more going into Pac-12 because we know there are a lot of good teams that are going to come after us . . . so, it was a great win.”
CU redshirt freshman Lauren Huggins did not dress; she is recuperating from a lower leg injury and is hopeful of returning for the Pac-12 opener. In Huggins’ absence, freshman Desiree Harris saw her first playing time of the season, getting 5 minutes.
Contact: BG.Brooks@Colorado.EDU
Colorado Buffaloes
Subway on Folsom and Arapahoe was robbed
Dec 24th
Boulder police are investigating an aggravated robbery at the Subway restaurant, located at 2359 Arapahoe Ave., which occurred on Friday, Dec. 20, 2013 at 2:27 p.m.
A female clerk told police she was counting cash behind the register when a male walked into the store and up to the counter, and then demanded the cash. The suspect lifted up his shirt and showed what the clerk described as a “bulge,” and she handed over the cash. The clerk thought the bulge may have been a weapon, although she did not see a weapon. No one was injured.
The suspect was wearing a white cloth which covered his face. He fled on foot after the robbery, heading eastbound from the store. The suspect is described as:
· White male
· 5’6” – 5’7” tall
· Between 20-and-30 years old
· Wearing blue jeans and a white and blue striped hooded sweatshirt, with a hunting-type cap with ear flaps
· Eye color is possibly blue or green
The case number is 13-16846.
Surveillance video from the store is attached. Police are trying to identify the suspect and ask that anyone with information about the robbery or the suspect contact Detective Kurt Foster at 303-441-4329. Those who have information but wish to remain anonymous may contact the Northern Colorado Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477) or 1-800-444-3776. Tips can also be submitted through the Crime Stoppers website at www.crimeshurt.com. Those submitting tips through Crime Stoppers that lead to the arrest and filing of charges on a suspect(s) may be eligible for a cash reward of up to $1,000 from Crime Stoppers.
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