Quick break
Why the Buffs received: They have been distinctive on offense many of the night time, performed stellar protection within the second half and dominated the boards.
Three stars:
1. CU’s Aaronette Vonleh: Posted the fourth double-double of her profession, with 18 factors and 10 rebounds.
2. CU’s Jaylyn Sherrod: Posted 16 factors on 7-of-11 taking pictures, dished out eight assists and racked up three steals.
3. Drake’s Katie Dinnebier: Confirmed why she was Missouri Valley Convention participant of the yr, with 24 factors and 7 assists.
Up subsequent: Colorado will face fourth-seeded Kansas State on Sunday within the second spherical of the NCAA Event.
MANHATTAN, Kan. – Digging a little bit of a gap within the early moments of a recreation is nothing new to the Colorado ladies’s basketball workforce.
Neither is climbing out of that gap and cruising to victory anyway.
On Friday night time, the primary two minutes didn’t go fairly just like the fifth-seeded Buffaloes had hoped, however the final 38 have been dominant as they rolled previous Twelfth-seeded Drake 86-72 within the first spherical of the NCAA Event at Bramlage Coliseum on the Kansas State College campus.
“We’ve had a couple of video games this yr the place we’ve began gradual, so it’s not likely something new,” junior Kindyll Wetta mentioned. “It’s clearly not very best, however we’re comfy in that spot simply figuring out that simply because we’re down early doesn’t imply we are able to’t come again.”
Wetta had a career-high 16 factors, Aaronette Vonleh posted a double-double (18 factors, 10 rebounds) and Jaylyn Sherrod had 16 factors and eight assists to assist the Buffs (23-9) earn a second-round matchup towards fourth-seeded Kansas State (26-7) on Sunday. The host Wildcats defeated Portland 78-65 earlier on Friday.
“Simply actually happy with how we performed tonight,” CU head coach JR Payne mentioned. “I assumed we had an incredible type of week and a half of follow and preparation. Drake is such and such a special workforce. I used to be very nervous about this recreation, not that I didn’t assume we have been succesful, it’s simply such a special fashion. We now have not performed a workforce like Drake all yr. So I’m actually happy with how our workforce ready.”
Regardless of that prep, Drake (29-6), the champions of the Missouri Valley Convention and winners of 14 straight video games coming in, jumped to a 9-0 lead simply two minutes into the sport.
As soon as the Buffs bought on the board, although – with a Quay Miller 3-pointer 2:16 into the competition – they discovered their rhythm. CU outscored the Bulldogs 86-63 within the final 38 minutes.
The nine-point deficit was the second-largest in a victory in CU’s NCAA match historical past, solely behind a 10-point comeback towards Stanford on March 25, 1993.
“Shoot, I want I knew so I may replicate it if we’re ever in that state of affairs,” Payne joked when requested what she mentioned to the workforce throughout a timeout when the rating was 11-3. “I believe it was actually extra simply, ‘All people take a deep breath, relax, let’s execute, let’s speak defensively.’ Simply primary stuff. I’m not essentially the most magical speaker. We normally simply preserve it fairly easy.”
It might have been easy, however it was dominant when it wanted to be, and the third quarter proved to be pivotal.
Drake, which hit 65.2% of its photographs (15-of-23) within the first half, pulled inside 42-41 with 2:31 to play within the half and CU’s lead was simply 5, 46-41 at intermission.
The Buffs opened the third quarter with a 14-3 run to bust the sport open and their lead by no means dipped under 11 the remainder of the way in which. Drake made simply 38.5% of its photographs (10-of-26) within the second half.
“I believe simply having the ability to regulate and see what was working for us and what wasn’t,” Vonleh mentioned of the distinction within the third quarter. “Simply specializing in the issues that have been working is simply what gave us confidence to maintain the lead and construct off of it.”
CU led by as many as 19 factors in taking step one in what they hope is a long term within the NCAA Event.
“I believe we simply form of have an expectation for ourselves to carry out and we all know we’re workforce and we are able to come out and compete with nearly anyone,” Wetta mentioned. “I felt like we had an incredible recreation, so (now it’s) simply going into the following recreation, taking this momentum into that recreation.”
No. 17 Colorado 86, Drake 72
DRAKE (29-6)
Miller 1-7 1-4 3, Becker 5-5 3-4 14, Berg 3-6 1-2 7, McAuley 3-6 5-6 13, Dinnebier 9-15 3-3 24, Fornshell 1-3 0-0 2, Hawthorne 1-3 0-0 3, Meyer 1-2 0-0 3, Ilams 1-1 0-0 3, Dailey 0-1 0-0 0, Brown 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 25-49 13-19 72.
COLORADO (23-9)
Vonleh 8-17 2-3 18, Miller 3-6 1-2 8, Sherrod 7-11 2-3 16, Formann 1-1 0-0 2, Nolan 5-10 0-0 12, Smith 2-3 0-0 5, Wetta 7-10 0-0 16, Whittaker 0-2 0-0 0, Sadler 3-4 0-0 7, McLeod 0-0 2-2 2, Johnson 0-1 0-0 0, Gerber 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 36-65 7-10 86.
Drake 21 20 12 19 – 72
Colorado 24 22 25 15 – 86
3-point objectives – Drake 9-24 (Dinnebier 3-7, McAuley 2-5, Hawthorne 1-2, Meyer 1-2, Becker 1-1, Ilams 1-1, Miller 0-3, Fornshell 0-2, Dailey 0-1), Colorado 7-17 (Nolan 2-7, Wetta 2-3, Miller 1-3, Smith 1-1, Sadler 1-1, Sherrod 0-2). Rebounds – Drake 18 (McAuley 4), Colorado 39 (Vonleh 10). Assists – Drake 18 (Dinnebier 7), Colorado 20 (Sherrod 8). Steals – Drake 14 (Becker 5), Colorado 7 (Sherrod 3). Turnovers – Drake 19, Colorado 19. Whole fouls – Drake 12, Colorado 21. Fouled out – None. Attendance – 9,642.