Posts tagged KU
CU women stay cool through big Iowa comeback, win 90-87
Nov 21st
By: B.G. Brooks, Contributing Editor
BOULDER – The draw was clear, but it didn’t matter. Colorado students turned out by the hundreds for Wednesday night’s women’s basketball game matching No. 16 CU against previously unbeaten Iowa. Never mind that they came mostly for tickets to the men’s game on Dec. 7 against No. 2 Kansas.
All that mattered to CU coach Linda Lappe and her players was that the students showed up. Turns out, the Buffs needed them. They had a difficult time holding leads, but they held off the Hawkeyes nonetheless, winning 90-87 at the Coors Events Center.
At game’s end, students traded wrist bands given to them upon entering the CEC for the coveted KU tickets. The court was nearly stormed – not to celebrate a win – but in time the distribution of just under 2,000 tickets went smoothly. Another 500 will be made available to students.
“Whether they came for tickets or to watch us, it was their choice to come . . . I mean they were there, what more can you say?” said CU senior guard Brittany Wilson.
Wilson topped five Buffs in double figures. She started for the first time this season and scored a career-high 26 points – 17 in the first half. Arielle Roberson scored 17 points, contributed a game-best nine of CU’s 44 rebounds (Iowa had 35) and had a career-high six assists. Lexy Kresl scored 12, while Jasmine Sborov and Jen Reese added 10 points each for the Buffs.
Rounding back into form after a leg injury, Wilson hit seven of 10 free throws in the final 1:46 as the Buffs turned back their Big Ten visitors. For the foul-filled night (59 were called on both teams), CU hit 30-of-40 free throws to Iowa’s 21-of-32. The Hawkeyes lost three players to fouls, the Buffs two. But CU benefitted most at the line, getting 15 of its final 18 points at the free throw line in the last 4:54.
Lappe called the CU students “a huge help in a game like that . . . we enjoy having them and we hope they come back. Having students support you is important in women’s basketball. We knew the student section was going to be awesome.”
With the Twitter world abuzz Tuesday about the KU ticket distribution plan, Lappe had told her players to “keep a narrow focus” on Wednesday night.
The Buffs did, didn’t and finally did. A 20-point first-half lead was cut to two early in the second half. A 15-point second-half lead was cut to three in the final half minute. Yet the Buffs kept their cool, remained unbeaten (3-0) and eventually handed the Hawkeyes their first loss in five games.
“We knew they weren’t going to lay down and die,” Lappe said. “Their players play hard. But in the end I liked how we responded to every one of their runs. We could have folded; instead, we came down and hit shot, got key rebounds and got stops.”
The Buffs led by as many as 20 points (46-26) late in the first half, but a 9-2 run to close the half pulled the Hawkeyes to within 48-35 at intermission. The Buffs’ 48 first-half points were their most since the 2011 WNIT when they hit 50 against Cal, but they ended up allowing more than 70-plus points since the 2011-12 season.
CU forged its double-figure lead with a 17-0 surge that broke an 8-8 tie less than 5 minutes into the game. Wilson scored six points during the Buffs’ spurt but just as instrumental as her scoring in that run was CU’s defense. While the Buffs were going from that 8-8 tie to a 25-8 advantage, the Hawkeyes went without a field goal in six attempts. By the time Iowa found its range again, CU had opened its 20-point margin.
The Buffs shot 45.9 percent from the field in the first 20 minutes, hitting 17 of their 37 attempts, while the Hawkeyes went to the locker room at 40.7 percent (11-of-27). Iowa finished the game at 46.9 percent, thanks to 51.4 percent second half shootinig.
If the Buffs believed they could open the second half in cruise control, the Hawkeyes quickly put an end to the notion. Less than 2 minutes into the final 20, CU’s 20-point first-half lead was a distant memory.
The Hawkeyes one-upped their 9-2 run that closed the first half, outscoring the Buffs 10-2 to pull to within five points (50-45) on a Theairra Taylor three-pointer with just over 17 minutes remaining. Two minutes later, CU saw its lead cut to three (54-51) on a pair of free throws by Iowa freshman guard Ally Disterhoft.
One of two free by freshman Alexa Kastanek shrunk the Hawkeyes’ deficit to 56-54 – and the Buffs were in dire need of a boost. They got it with a 15-2 run.
Field goals by Sborov and Roberson, coupled with two Roberson free throws and another pair by Reese, pushed CU back up by 10 (64-54) with 10:01 left. Kresl added a layup, aided by a sweet look-off of an Iowa defender, then freshman Lauren Huggins drained a three-pointer from the left corner.
Suddenly, the Buffs were back up by 15 points (71-56) and appeared to be out of danger. The Hawkeyes had something else in mind – and rolling over wasn’t it. They used a 12-1 run to get within four points again (72-68) until Huggins’ huge trey from the right wing opened a 79-72 CU lead with 3:28 remaining.
Again, Iowa wasn’t done. Four consecutive free throws by Melissa Dixon brought Iowa to within 79-75 with 2:02 to play, and a layup by Clair Till pulled the Hawkeyes to 84-80 with 41.4 seconds showing. They got to 85-82, then 87-84, then 90-87 at the buzzer on a three-pointer by Samantha Logic, who tied Wilson with a game-high 26 points.
Lappe called the win “huge” for her team “to gain confidence and for our young players to get some minutes and see what that looks like.”
And as for the CU students, added Kresl, “Maybe it opened their eyes to us.”
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“Big Dance” jitters end CU women’s tourney bid
Mar 24th
Chucky Jeffery is one of the best players in CU history and a first round loss won’t diminish the fact.
But scoring the fifth fewest points of the season while allowing the second most was not a formula for success for the Colorado women’s basketball team, as five Kansas players scored in double figures to lead the Jayhawks to a 67-52 upset over the host Buffaloes in an NCAA Women’s Tournament first round game here Saturday.
Seniors Carolyn Davis and Angel Goodrich led the scored 14 points apiece for Kansas (19-13, the 12th seed in the Norfolk Region), which basically limped into the tournament after losing six of its last eight games (and 11 of 18). But the Jayhawks, after falling behind by 10 early, played the like the team that opened the year with seven straight wins on their way to an 11-2 start.
Colorado (25-7, seeded No. 5), was playing in the NCAA Tournament for the first time in a decade, but had to make a go of it without starting center Rachel Hargis, who suffered a knee injury in practice a week ago Friday. It’s safe to say CU missed the junior’s 6-foot-4 presence inside, not only her rebounding but her ability to alter shots.
Colorado started out 6-of-7 from the field in building an early 14-4 edge, but then went cold the rest of the way in the first half (5-of-27) and missed its first seven shots of the second half before a Brittany Wilson layup at 14:02 ended the drought. Meanwhile, KU shot 50 percent in the first half (15-of-30), closing with 11 makes in 18 tries; the Jayhawks made 5-of-6 to open the second for a 16-of-24 performance while turning a 15-9 deficit into a 49-29 lead, the first of two 20-point advantages it had in the game (the other coming at 56-36).
It all added up to a whopping 45-15 comeback after Colorado recorded that early lead.
If the Buffaloes were going to get back in it, they needed a quick start in the second half. But the Jayhawks were not to be denied, scoring the first six points to extend their 10-point intermission lead to 43-27. The margin hovered between 14 points, the closest the Buffs would get on three different occasions, and 18 the remainder of the game.
Kansas opened the scoring on a Davis layup but then Colorado went on a 14-2 run in just over a two minute span, fueled by eight points, including a pair of 3-point baskets, by junior Brittany Wilson. The Jayhawks slowly worked their way back into the game, pulling to within 15-13 on consecutive scores by Monica Engelman at the 11:19 mark. A three-pointer by Lexy Kresl and a layup from Chuck Jeffery put the Buffs back up by seven, 20-13 with 9:12 left in the half.
KU then matched and actually exceeded CU’s early run with one of its own, using a 17-3 spree over the next five-plus minutes to take a 30-23 lead, with Davis and Chelsea Gardner each contributing six points. Davis had 10 points in the half, which ended with a Charlicia Harper three-point shot to give the Jayhawks a 37-27 lead.
“We came out and it was rainin’ in here, and then after a while we couldn’t hit anything,” Wilson said. “I mean, we had open shots, I just think … I don’t really know what happened. Then there were open shots, and we kept saying, ‘just step into it and take another shot.’ I don’t know if it was nervousness, I don’t know what it was, but after a while we just couldn’t hit anything.”
Colorado finished just 16-of-63 from the field, the 25.4 shooting percentage easily its worst of the season. The Buffs came into the game hitting at 39.9 percent, while Kansas was allowing its opponents to click at just 41.1 percent. The Jayhawks converted 46 percent of its tries; otherwise, the only other decided statistical advantages belong to Kansas in assists (16-8) and to Colorado in steals (13-5) and free throw attempts (25-6).
It was just the ninth time in 32 games that the Buffaloes trailed at halftime, and only Stanford had a larger lead at intermission over CU than the Jayhawks; the Cardinal, ranked fourth at the time, led 31-14 en route to a 57-40 win in Boulder back on January 4. In addition, Kansas tied CU on the boards with 42, just the seventh time this year the Buffs did not hold the edge in rebounding; Colorado was 0-5 when getting outrebounded and 1-1 when matched.
Arielle Roberson recorded a double-double for Colorado, scoring 11 points and grabbing 12 rebounds; Wilson tied her for the team scoring lead, also netting 11. Jeffery struggled in her final appearance in a CU uniform, scoring just eight points on 2-of-16 field goal shooting, but did have five rebounds, five assists and two steals.
“It’s very disappointing,” Jeffery said of ending the season this way. “We didn’t want it to end this early. It’s kind of sad being my last game, but I wouldn’t have gone through the season with any other team.”
Jeffery finished her career ranked high on several of CU’s all-time charts, including scoring (1,644 points, sixth), rebounds (921, fifth), assists (481, fourth) and steals (283, fourth). She finished with the fifth most double-doubles (30) and had at least one assist in her last 74 games (and in 123 of 125 for her career).
“No one expected us to be here right now,” Wilson added. “But you know I think that’s a great thing. Chucky has her legacy here, and Megan has her legacy here, and I think we sent them out in a great way. I’m disappointed to lose, and of course no one thought we’d end this early. But we had a great year, and no one expected us to do the things that we’ve done. But when we look back, and once the sting of this is over we’ll be ready to come back.”
Kansas will meet South Carolina Monday night for the right to advance to the Norfolk Regional next weekend; tipoff at the Coors Events Center is 7:30 p.m.
South Carolina Advances With 74-52 Win Over South Dakota State
BOULDER — Seniors Ashley Bruner and Ieasia Walker each scored 15 points to pace four Gamecock players in double figures to lead South Carolina over South Dakota State, 74-52, in the first round of the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament here Saturday afternoon.
South Carolina, ranked No. 14 in the nation by the coaches and No. 17 by the Associated Press, pulled away from the Jackrabbits midway through the first half. The score was tied six times and there were eight lead changes, with South Dakota State taking its last lead at 14-13 with 12:02 to play; it remained within two, 21-19, at the 9:34 mark but that’s when the Gamecocks found their stride.
Six different South Carolina players contributed in a 21-4 run over the six minutes that broke the game open, with Tiffany Mitchell scoring five and Walker four to give USC a 40-23 lead; the Gamecocks, seeded No. 4 in the Norfolk Regional, led 44-26 at halftime. South Carolina shot 61 percent in the first half, including 7-of-9 shots in the decisive run.
South Dakota State (25-8, the No. 13 seed) made a couple of mini-runs in the second half, but would get no closer than 15. Senior Ashley Eide led the Jackrabbits with 15 points, the only SDSU player in double figures, with sophomore Gabby Boever adding nine.
Bruner had a double-double, as she collected 11 rebounds for the Gamecocks (25-7), who owned a 40-28 advantage on the boards; she also had a game-high four steals. Elem Ibian scored 13 points off the bench and Mitchell had 11, as no South Carolina starter played over 29 minutes.
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CU women looking forward to playing an old opponent in NCAA tourney
Mar 19th
CU is matched against former Big Eight/12 Conference foe Kansas in its first game on Saturday, approximately 4:40 p.m., at the Coors Events Center. The Buffs (25-6) are a fifth seed, the Jayhawks (18-13) a 12th seed. A win would send CU against the winner of Saturday’s No. 4 South Carolina vs. No. 13 South Dakota on Monday night, at 7:30 p.m., at the CEC. South Carolina and South Dakota State will tip at 2:10 p.m. on Saturday at Coors.
“I’m excited to play a Big 12 opponent; we spent a lot of years in the Big 12 and the Big Eight,” said coach Linda Lappe, who in her third season guided the Buffs to their first NCAA Tournament appearance 2004 and the 13th in school history.
Lappe initially believed another former Big 8/12 conference foe – Nebraska – might wind up matched against her team. She said she was “excited for that opportunity (but) Kansas is going to be a tough opponent; I think anybody who makes it into the NCAA is going to be high level competition.”
During their final years in the Big 12, the Jayhawks had the Buffs’ number – a 7-1 record against them in their last eight meetings. In Lappe’s first season (2010-11) at CU, KU won all three games (two regular season, one postseason tournament).
CU senior guard Chucky Jeffery can recall KU’s domination before the Buffs said goodbye and headed for the Pac-12.
“Oh yeah, we remember,” Jeffery said at a Selection Show gathering Monday afternoon. “As soon as our name and Kansas came up on the screen, we all looked at each other like, ‘This is our time right here’. So we’re excited to have them come and play on our home floor, it’s definitely going to be a good game.
“I think, like coach Lappe said, we are a better team on our home floor so they (Kansas) can bring as many fans as they need, but I think we are going to have a pretty good turnout and play well.”
The Buffs were one of four Pac-12 teams to make the NCAA Tournament, joining Stanford, California and UCLA. Those teams were responsible for CU’s five conference losses, with the Cardinal ousting the Buffs from the league’s postseason tournament. Stanford is a No. 1 seed, Cal a No. 2 and UCLA a No. 3.
Lappe said her team’s seeding in the 64-team field was near what she anticipated: “We were expecting a five or six, right in that area, so we’re happy with that. The committee took a look at what we did all season long and I felt like that was a great seed with the wins we were able to get and having no bad losses.
“I know the committee takes a lot of things into consideration so you never quite know where you are going to be, but we are happy with that seed. It shows the committee gives us a lot of respect.”
The Buffs’ 25 wins are the women’s program’s most since the 1995-96 team finished 26-9. CU’s all-time NCAA Tournament record is 17-12, which includes an 8-2 mark in first-round games (9-3 in opening games, reflecting two first-round byes).
When Boulder was chosen for a first-round site, CU’s goal was to be included in the four-team field. Lappe called playing at the CEC, where her team was 15-0 this season, “a huge advantage; it’s a place we’ve had success all year, we’ve had great fan support. Being able to have our fans come out and support us, I think it is going to be one of the best first and second round games in terms of attendance that you are going to find out there.
“I think having that support always helps you, but you can’t take that for granted, you still have to come out and you still have to play well. But to be able to sleep in our own beds and to be in our comfort zones and not have to travel will be something that really helps us out, and obviously I like the altitude as well.”
By the time they tip off in Saturday’s first game, the Buffs will be on the last day of a 14-day break. They haven’t played since March 9, when they lost 61-47 to Stanford in the semifinals of the Pac-12 tournament in Seattle.
Lappe said the layoff can be viewed in “a few different ways. We’ve used it as some time to get some rest, and get some time away, so I think that is going to be very beneficial for us. I think we feel good, our legs are going to feel great. Obviously there’s that period of time if you have a long layoff where you haven’t competed, but we have practiced hard, we have a great group of practice guys that come in everyday and help us out.
“The most important part is what we do this week. This week will be like any normal week, we have four days to practice and then we will be getting ready to play on Saturday, so it’s a pretty typical week in terms of what were used to in the Pac-12.”
Jeffery, the team’s leading scorer (13.9 ppg) and rebounder (8.3 rpg), will close out her home career with an NCAA appearance she’s dreamed of.
“It means a lot,” she said. “It just shows how far we have come as a program, and how great the coaches have been at turning it around. And it’s all a tribute to my team, we have good players and we play together and we’ve had a great season. It’s just really satisfying to go out as a senior like this, and I just want to thank my teammates and my coaches for that.”
In the days preceding Monday’s Selection Show, Jeffery and the Buffs engaged in their own “bracketology” and tried to determine who they might play and the other two teams that would land at the CEC.
“We’ve been trying to figure that out for a long time, looking at the brackets and stuff like that, but you can’t really know,” she said. “We were way off (on their projections), we thought we were going to be up with Notre Dame, but we were off. We’re excited though.”
If the Buffs win their two home games, the Irish still could be in their future. Notre Dame is the No. 1 seed in the Norfolk bracket but plays its opening games in Iowa City. CU and Notre Dame would play in a Sweet 16 game on March 30.
The Buffs reaching the NCAA Tournament has caused a quandary for the family of CU redshirt freshman forward Arielle Roberson. Her brother, Andre, is a junior forward on the CU men’s team, which plays Illinois Friday in Austin, Texas, in the men’s tournament.
In high school in San Antonio, Arielle said she and Andre competed in the playoffs at the same time, creating a similar dilemma in the Roberson family. She called this week’s NCAA play at different sites “a great opportunity for both (of us), but it’s another competition in the family – who’s coming to who’s game.”
Maybe this is what they can hope for: Arielle and the CU women win two in Boulder and advance to Norfolk, Va.; Andre and the CU men win two in Austin and advance to Washington, D.C. That’s close enough for a close family to commute.
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