CU women’s b-ball team hits highest ranking in a decade–18th
Mar 4th
Colorado, 24-5 overall and 13-5 in the Pac-12 Conference, received a season-high 354 points, up from 288 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 remained at No. 4, California moved up one to No. 5 and UCLA jumped up three to No. 14.
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. 13.
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 170th 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. 19 in last week’s coaches’ poll.
Colorado is the No. 4 seed in the 2013 Pacific Life Pac-12 Tournament, March 7-10, at KeyArena in Seattle. The Buffaloes will have a first round bye and play the winner of No. 5 Washington and No. 12 Oregon on Friday, March 8, at 9:30 p.m. MST.
2012-13 Associated Press
Top 25 Poll – Mar. 4
Rk Team Rec Pts Last
1 Baylor (40) 28-1 1,000 1
2 Notre Dame 27-1 957 2
3 Connecticut 27-2 916 3
4 Stanford 28-2 881 4
5 California 27-2 840 6
6 Duke 27-2 797 5
7 Kentucky 25-4 742 10
8 Penn State 24-4 709 7
9 Tennessee 23-6 673 8
10 Maryland 23-6 622 9
11 Dayton 26-1 565 12
12 Georgia 24-5 499 11
13 Louisville 23-6 490 16
14 UCLA 23-6 484 17
15 North Carolina 26-5 436 15
16 Delaware 26-3 380 18
17 South Carolina 23-6 376 14
18 COLORADO 24-5 354 19
19 Texas A&M 21-9 305 13
20 Green Bay 24-2 223 21
21 Nebraska 22-7 213 20
22 LSU 19-10 122 NR
23 Florida State 21-8 93 24
24 Syracuse 22-6 70 22
25 Toledo 26-2 64 NR
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CU women in the biggest comeback of the season, down Oregon State by 3 points in overtime
Mar 3rd
CORVALLIS, Ore. –
It was a wild ride: 18 points down in in the first half, three points up with seconds to play in the game, with Oregon State’s half court shot at the buzzer forcing the game into overtime. The Buffs got ahead and O-State caught up, again and again, but Colorado held on for the victory.
It was a wild ride: 18 points down in in the first half, three points up with seconds to play in the game, with Oregon State’s half court shot at the buzzer forcing the game into overtime. The Buffs got ahead and O-State caught up, again and again, but Colorado held on for the victory.
CU shot just 33.8 percent from the field but out rebounded the Beavers 49-36. Senior guard Chucky Jeffery scored a game-high 25 points, while redshirt freshman forward Arielle Roberson earned her second career double-double Sunday with 10 points and a team-high 11 rebounds. Eight of those were on the offensive end, a number just two off from the program record.
Chucky Jeffery scored 25 points to lead the BuffsThe victory brought the Buffs’ record to 24-5 overall, equaling the program record for number of regular-season wins.The victory brought the Buffs’ record to 24-5 overall, equaling the program record for number of regular-season wins
The victory brought the Buffs’ record to 24-5 overall, equaling the program record for number of regular-season wins.
“We knew how we wanted to end the regular season, but now it’s one-and-done from here on out,” said Jeffery, who also contributed seven rebounds. “We had a heck of a regular season, but now it’s Pac-12 tournament time, and anybody can win.”
With a win over Oregon on Friday, the Buffs secured a No. 4 seed and first-round bye at the Pac-12 Women’s Basketball Tournament, set for March 7-10 at the Key Arena in Seattle.
But even with a first-round bye already locked down, the Buffs had no easy go of Sunday’s matchup against the Beavers.
“Coach said this was probably how the game was probably going to go,” Jeffery said of OSU’s aggressiveness. “They weren’t going to come out and give it to us, we were going to have to earn it, and that’s what they did. I think it was a good game for us to end our regular season on, it was very competitive.”
It was senior day for the Beavers at Gill Coliseum, and the strength of the OSU upperclassmen showed early. Four OSU seniors hit the court at some point in the first nine minutes of the game, helping the Beavers to a 22-9 lead with 11:05 left in the half.
OSU seniors Mollee Schwegler, Quortni Fambro and Patricia Bright put up a combined 15 points in the half, including two Schwegler three-pointers in the first four minutes. The Beavers built their largest lead, 18, at the 6:50 mark, but CU responded with a 14-2 run to head into the locker room trailing by just five (28-33).
“We don’t give up,” Jeffery said. “They were hitting shot after shot, and it was kind of draining us, but we just had to keep plugging . . . we started cutting the lead, and we started getting settled, getting stops on defense and making baskets.”
Jeffery opened the second half with a layup and made two free throws to bring the Buffs back within one (33-32), but a strong OSU defense held CU to just four points over the next six minutes.
But then it was OSU’s turn for a scoring drought, as CU turned up the energy on both ends of the court with a 15-4 run. Junior center Rachel Hargis gave the Buffs their first lead of the game with a jumper at the 7:09 mark, and while CU would build a five-point lead with 2:12 on the clock, the Beavers weren’t done yet. With nine seconds remaining, OSU freshman guard Jamie Weisner hit a three-pointer to tie the score at 56-56 send the game into overtime.
The Buffs went on a 7-1 run to gain a six-point overtime lead, but OSU would fight to the finish as Weisner hit another three with 30 seconds on the clock. Jeffery then hit one of two free throws, but OSU guard Ali Gibson responded with a deep, nearly half-court trey to close CU’s lead to one (64-63) with 6.3 seconds remaining.
Roberson was fouled on the next possession and made two crucial free throws, and OSU missed its buzzer-beater shot to give the Buffs the 66-63 win.
“You can’t ever think that it’s not your day,” CU head coach Linda Lappe said of the Buffs’ comeback. “You’ve just got to find different ways to get things done . . . you’ve got to make sure that little things don’t affect you. We could have even let that half-court shot affect us, but we didn’t, and I really liked our resolve.”
Lappe said OSU’s competitiveness down the stretch was critical for the Buffs to experience before postseason play.
“I think it was so great for us to get a win like this,” Lappe said. “Now every game is win and you move forward, lose and you go home. It’s a different kind of pressure, but it’s also a lot more fun . . . I feel like Oregon State prepared us to play at a high level game in and game out and possibly multiple days in a row.”
Postgame Notes:
Colorado improves to 24-5 overall, 13-5 in Pac-12 play. The Buffaloes finish the regular season in sole possession of fourth place in final league standings and will be the No. 4 seed and have a first round bye in the Pac-12 Tournament played in Seattle, March 7-10. CU will play the winner of No. 5 Oregon and No. 12 Washington on Friday, March. 8, at 9:30 p.m. MST.
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CU men lose to Golden Bears, throwing NCAA bid in doubt
Mar 3rd
The Cal Golden Bears are one of the hottest teams in the PAC-12 right now, having won seven in a row. The Buffs poor shooting doomed them from the start.
CU, ranked fifth in the Pac-12 Conference going into Saturday’s game, falls to 19-9 overall and 9-7 in the Pac-12. The third-ranked Golden Bears, winning their seventh consecutive game, improved to 20-9 overall and 12-5.
Colorado struggled offensively Saturday with a season low in points, field goals made (15) and field goal shooting percentage (23.1). Freshman forward Xavier Johnson was the only CU player in double figures with 14 total points. Freshman Josh Scott returned to the lineup after missing two games with a concussion. He scored four points and grabbed 11 rebounds.
Cal’s Justin Cobbs and Tyrone Wallace scored 16 points each, while David Kravish added 14 points and 11 rebounds. Wallace also hauled down 11 boards.
“We didn’t have one guy offensively make a shot tonight, but you have to credit Cal, they man-handled us,” CU coach Tad Boyle said. “Our first shot defense was pretty good but those second-chance shots were tough.”
The Buffs came into Saturday’s matchup looking to smother guard Allen Crabbe, the leading scorer in the Pac-12 at more than 18 points per game. But when Crabbe recorded his third personal foul with 5:11 remaining in the half, he took to the bench.
An improving Cal team executed offensively without its star scorer, though. The Golden Bears went on an 8-0 run over the next four minutes to go up 22-15, and while senior guard Sabatino Chen hit a three to end the half on an energetic note, the Buffs were still down four (24-20) at intermission.
The Golden Bears held the Buffs to just 26 percent shooting in the first half, CU’s worst first-half field goal percentage this season, and the Buffs’ 20 first-half points tied a season low recorded earlier this season at Washington.
Much of CU’s shooting woes came from a failure to capitalize off of Cal turnovers, as CU had a +2 turnover margin going into halftime, but had five fewer points off of turnovers than its opponent.
The Buffs found some energy out of the locker room, closing the gap back to two on a Xavier Johnson trey with 14:16 left in the game. Cal responded, though, with an 8-3 run over the next five minutes capped by a SC Top-10-worthy dunk by guard Tyrone Wallace.
Cal had widened its gap to nine by the 5:32 mark — and with a final shooting percentage of 23.1 from the field, the Buffs’ comeback attempt came nowhere close. By the final buzzer, CU was down 16 for a 62-46 loss.
“Cal wasn’t this Cal when they came to Boulder a month ago,” said Boyle, whose team won the first meeting 81-71. “So they’ve improved We were the best defensive team in the league for a stretch there but these guys have overtaken us and you can see why.”
CU returns to the Coors Events Center next weekend for its final two regular season matchups, against No. 24 Oregon on Thursday (7 p.m.) and Oregon State on Saturday (2:30 p.m.).
Boyle called Saturday’s contest “a big time game and we didn’t answer the bell. But it wasn’t because of our lack of effort and we can’t get too down on ourselves. We have two big games at home to finish out the season.”
At 12-4 in the Pac-12, the Ducks currently hold the top spot in the conference, while the Beavers are ranked 11th at 3-13.
