BOULDER – In what appeared to be a day to celebrate and prepare ahead of what looks to be one of the most important postseasons in the history of Colorado women's basketball, the 13th-ranked Buffs ended the regular season on an extremely somber note.
On Saturday afternoon, CU suffered perhaps their most brutal loss of the year, falling 72-63 to the Washington State Cougars (18-13, 7-11 Pac-12) after a 14-0 Cougar run in the final two and a half minutes of play.
The defeat is the fifth in the Buffaloes' last six games, their first of the season to an unranked opponent, and a massive blow to their chances of opening their much-anticipated NCAA Tournament run at home. They will need a strong showing at the Pac-12 Tournament in Las Vegas next week in order to keep their hopes of attaining a top-four seed in the Big Dance alive.
Ultimately, the black and gold finish the regular season in fifth place in the Pac-12, 21-8 overall and 11-7 in conference play.
Saturday was a day of heavy emotion, as six Buffs were celebrated for Senior Day. Among those honored was point guard Jaylyn Sherrod, who led the squad with 18 points and six assists. The graduate student also logged her 128th career start with Colorado, breaking the program record.
"Jaylyn and I have really grown up together," head coach JR Payne reflected. "We've just been through a lot together. Lots of wins, lots of big moments, lots of key moments, lots of developing, lots of long talks, hard talks, and challenging each other to be great."
CU started the contest slow, shooting 3-for-12 from the field and allowing Cougar guard Eleonora Villa to score eight of her team-leading 20 points in the opening three minutes. Washington State led 14-8 with three minutes to go in the first quarter, but a 7-0 run then trimmed the deficit to 16-15 at the end of the period.
The Buffs then followed up a strong finish of the first to control early in the second, building the run to 16-4 through excellent defensive communication and Sherrod's relentless attacks of the basket.
The Birmingham, Alabama native shot just 3-for-16 from the field on the afternoon but drew repetitive contact on drives to the rim and buried 11 of her 12 free throws.
Wazzu would not go away, however, not letting CU increase their lead further than eight, and cutting it to five (31-26) heading into the locker room.
While Colorado found nine points in the third quarter from Aaronette Vonleh, it was a massive struggle to remain in control without Sherrod on the floor. While she was out for just nine of the game's 40 minutes, the rest of the black and gold's core could not maintain the lead, as the Cougars went up 43-42 with 2:54 remaining in the third. Sherrod then willed the Buffaloes back into the lead with a buzzer-beating three to close the quarter.
The game remained on skates throughout much of the fourth, as CU and WSU traded 6-0 runs on three-point baskets. From this point on, however, Colorado had one poor offensive possession after another. Back-to-back layups put the Buffs ahead by five with 2:56 to play, but these would be the last points they would score.
The Cougars then nailed two more threes and a layup, surging into the lead in the span of 59 seconds. Sophomore guard Astera Tuhina then threw up a prayer that was answered, a long-distance three to increase Washington State's advantage to six and thrust a dagger into the hearts of CU players and fans alike with 44.8 seconds to play.
Tuhina, a 42.6% three-point shooter, went 4-of-4 from distance in the second half en route to 14 points.
The suddenly desperately Buffs then threw up three shots from beyond the arc out of a timeout, though none of them found their mark. CU's historic regular season, just like that, had come to a tumultuous close.
"I thought they got some really clean looks from three, in our man and our zone, and I think we had some costly turnovers probably down the stretch, and maybe just not as organized as we needed to be," noted Payne. "The combination of those things, on both sides of the floor, I think led to us not scoring and not getting stops."
A bittersweet Senior Day ceremony then followed as Sherrod, Quay Miller, Tameiya Sadler, Maddie Nolan, Charlotte Whitaker, and Sophie Gerber all earned standing ovations from the crowd for their various contributions to Colorado basketball.
The slumping Buffaloes now must recover from their fourth-quarter collapse and prepare for Las Vegas and next week's Pac-12 tournament. Due to Washington's upset win over No. 18 Utah, they are locked in as a fifth seed in the tourney, set to take on the 12th-seeded Oregon Ducks on Wednesday at 1 p.m. MT.
"We got more games to play and more to prove," said a teary-eyed Sherrod. "This game sucks now, but [if] we achieve our goals in the future, then it's all a part of the journey."
Cover photo by Roberto Patrick Gerra/Sko Buffs Sports
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