Quick break
Why the Buffs gained: They performed good protection all through the night time and received the offense going late to tug away within the fourth quarter.
Three stars:
1. Quay Miller: She shook off a sluggish begin taking pictures to submit her second straight double-double, scoring 12 factors and knocking down 12 rebounds.
2. Aaronette Vonleh: Scored a game-high 19 factors and pulled down 4 rebounds.
3. Frida Formann: Completed with 14 factors, all within the second half, together with sinking 4-of-7 from 3-point vary.
Up subsequent: The Buffs will host No. 8 Stanford on Sunday at midday.
Colorado anticipated California would put up a great battle on Friday.
The Golden Bears definitely did, however the fifth-ranked Buffaloes pulled away within the fourth quarter and rolled to a 76-61 victory on the CU Occasions Middle.
Aaronette Vonleh had 19 factors, Frida Formann had 14 and Quay Miller posted her second consecutive double-double (12 factors, 12 rebounds) because the Buffs (14-1, 4-0 Pac-12) gained their eighth consecutive sport.
“Actually happy with our group,” CU head coach JR Payne stated. “I used to be actually anxious about this sport. I feel our group knew it. Principally as a result of I really feel like Cal is a extremely harmful group. … Only a nice sport. Each night time within the Pac-12 is gonna be powerful, it’s gonna be bodily, it’s gonna be laborious and I assumed we actually sorta stepped up after we wanted to.”
CU is 4-0 in convention play for the primary time for the reason that 1994-95 group that went 14-0 within the Huge Eight. They received there by sporting down the Golden Bears (12-4, 2-2), who stayed within the sport for many of the first three quarters.
The Buffs managed the paint, received sizzling from 3-point vary (going 9-for-18, together with 8-for-15 within the second half) and performed good protection all night time. Additionally they had a 36-29 benefit in rebounds.
“I feel day by day we’re nonetheless striving to be higher,” Miller stated. “We nonetheless have areas we are able to assault and be higher in. I wouldn’t say that is our greatest. I feel we’re simply gonna return, watch the movie and study from every thing that we did on this sport.
“We performed effectively tonight, however I feel we are able to play a lot, significantly better.”
The Buffs have been slightly dominant in crunch time, although.
After Cal pulled inside 49-45 with 1 minute, 29 seconds left within the third quarter, CU went on an 8-0 run to shut the quarter. Again-to-back 3-pointers by Maddie Nolan and Tameiya Sadler sparked that surge.
Cal pulled inside 61-52 early within the fourth, however Vonleh hit her first 3-pointer of the season and Formann hit two 3s in a row to focus on an 11-0 run that put the sport away.
“I assumed we actually form of took maintain of the momentum,” Payne stated. “We simply did an awesome job of placing our foot on the gasoline pedal.”
It was a sluggish begin for the Buffs, who took a short 5-2 lead, however then fell behind 9-5 after Cal’s Marta Suarez drained a 3-pointer. From there, the Buffs closed the primary quarter on a 10-0 run, sparked by three steals and capped by a layup from Kindyll Wetta.
Within the second quarter, Miller and Vonleh received the Buffs going, combining for 12 factors within the body. A 3-pointer by Wetta gave the Buffs their greatest lead of the half, 34-23, however Cal’s McKayla Williams drained a 3 simply earlier than the buzzer and CU took a 34-26 lead into the break.
Cal stored the momentum going into the third quarter, happening an early 7-0 run to tug inside 37-33. It remained a decent sport till CU’s 8-0 run to complete the quarter. That gave the Buffs a 12-point lead that they elevated to 14 early within the fourth and to twenty halfway by means of the fourth.
CU held Cal to .357 (18-of-28) taking pictures and compelled 11 turnovers within the first half. Total, Cal made simply 37.9% of its photographs, whereas the Buffs shot 52.6%, together with 54.8% after halftime.
The Buffs performed with out Sara-Rose Smith, who missed the sport with a light concussion however that didn’t appear to trouble them. Neither did understanding that No. 8 Stanford is coming to city on Sunday.
“It isn’t in our DNA (to look forward),” Payne stated. “If we didn’t deal with our enterprise and preserve all of our effort and concentrate on Cal, then we most likely don’t play the way in which we performed tonight.”
No. 5 Colorado 76, California 61
CALIFORNIA (12-4, 2-2 Pac-12)
McIntosh 3-10 2-2 10, Suarez 6-11 0-0 14, Lane 0 0-0 0, Williams 4-6 0-0 10, Krimili 3-11 5-5 11, Onyiah 0-1 0-0 0, Laditan-Twidale 0-3 2-2 2, Martin 4-9 1-2 11, Mastrov 0-4 0-0 0, Langarita 1-2 0-0 3. Totals 21-57 10-11 61.
COLORADO (14-1, 4-0 Pac-12)
Sherrod 2-6 0-2 4, Formann 5-11 0-0 14, Miller 4-9 3-4 12, Vonleh 7-10 4-6 19, Nolan 2-4 0-0 5, Atchison 0-0 0-0 0, Sadler 4-10 0-0 9, Wetta 3-4 0-0 7, McLeod 2-2 0-0 4, Whittaker 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 30-57 7-12 76.
California 9 17 19 16 – 61
Colorado 15 19 23 19 – 76
3-point targets – California 9-27 (McIntosh 2-6, Martin 2-5, Williams 2-4, Suarez 2-3, Langarita 1-2, Krimili 0-3, Mastrov 0-2, Laditan-Twidale 0-2), Colorado 9-18 (Formann 4-7, Sadler 1-3, Nolan 1-2, Miller 1-2, Vonleh 1-1, Wetta 1-1, Sherrod 0-2). Rebounds – California 29 (Suarez 9), Colorado 36 (Miller 12). Assists – California 8 (Krimili 3), Colorado 20 (Sherrod 5). Steals – California 9 (Onyiah, Martin 2), Colorado 9 (Sherrod, Nolan 3). Turnovers – California 15, Colorado 15. Whole fouls – California 12, Colorado 12. Fouled out – None. Attendance – 3,540.