LOS ANGELES, Calif. – Yet another grueling, marquee conference affair on the road resulted in a loss for the 13th-ranked Colorado women's basketball team, this time to the No. 8 UCLA Bruins (22-5, 11-5) Monday night by a shockingly-low score of 53-45.
Despite a better second-half showing and a continuous battle down the stretch, the Buffs were held to just seven points in the first quarter and without a field goal in the closing 7:37 of play. The squad's 45 points and 28.6% field goal percentage were both season-lows.
After just one Buff shot under 50% from the field in Friday's loss to USC, not a single Buff shot over 50% on Monday night. Jaylyn Sherrod made the most statistical impact with 10 points, seven rebounds, and four steals, but could not escape a trend of sluggish inefficiency that was the biggest factor in Colorado's loss at Pauley Pavilion.
The defeat was CU's fourth in a row, dropping their record in conference play to 10-6 (20-7 overall). After placing as high as No. 3 in the Associated Press poll this season and being a projected No. 1 seed in next month's NCAA Tournament, the black and gold now place fifth in the hyper-competitive Pac-12 with two games left in the regular season.
Colorado's recent slide also puts them at high risk of losing a first-round bye in this season's upcoming conference tournament, as well as the possibility of homecourt advantage in the opening two rounds of March Madness.
"Our only thought always is to figure things out," noted CU head coach JR Payne. "Put your head down and work and figure out how we can be better. That’s really the only solution."
Payne's group looked out of sync early on, failing to make any of their first nine field goal attempts and scoring just seven in the first period. However, junior guard Frida Formann's steady shooting temporarily kept the Buffs on their feet before a 12-4 Bruin run to close the second quarter pushed the deficit to ten. Formann led a season-low 19 Colorado points at the half with nine (3-of-5 3PT) heading into the locker room.
CU felt outmatched from a physicality standpoint all night long, as the usually productive guard-center duo of Sherrod and Aaronette Vonleh combined for just 1-for-6 shooting through 20 minutes. Sherrod seemed a bit out of control, while Vonleh lacked aggressiveness and once again struggled to gain the upper hand in the post against Lauren Betts of the Bruins. As a team, Colorado shot just 6-for-28 (21.4%) in the first half.
Despite this, the Buffaloes opened the second half refreshed, opening on a 13-2 run to take a 32-31 lead halfway through the third quarter. They finally got out in transition and worked in some creative offensive sets, with power forward Quay Miller leading the charge with seven straight points.
What helped gauge the Buffs up for this latter-half push was their relentlessness in defending the paint, not letting Betts conduct UCLA's top-scoring offense in the Pac-12 (80.3 points/game) by disrupting nearly every dribble-handoff or pick-and-roll the Bruins presented. After scoring 20 in her first clash this season against CU on January 19, the star sophomore scored just one basket (two points) on four attempts.
Unfortunately for Colorado, UCLA's backcourt made up for this effort. Kiki Rice and Charisma Osborne handled the ball against the Buffs' elite defensive guards with ease and used the attention drawn by Betts to open up driving lanes and space for jumpers.
Rice, in particular, did it all. The sophomore finished with 20 points, nine rebounds, four assists, three blocks, and two steals. Osborne added 14, including a back-breaking three with 1:28 to play that snapped a nearly four-minute scoreless streak by both sides and extended the Bruins' lead to six.
Colorado's offensive pace once again came to a screeching halt in the fourth. The Bruins battered the long, winding sets Payne would draw up to create tough looks that simply could not break the lid off the basket after a Vonleh layup with 7:37 to play.
Production in the halfcourt was incredibly hard to come by for either side in the second half, as CU forced a whopping 24 turnovers throughout, but UCLA ultimately stood tall to close out a win that now gives them a share of second place in the Pac-12.
"No matter what, no matter when, no matter where, we’re going to compete and fight and continue to play hard and things like that. But again, it’s frustrating," added Payne. "It’s very frustrating to make a run and feel really good but then [get] answered."
The reeling Buffs now must regroup and gain some steam in preparation for March 6-10's Pac-12 tournament. Thankfully for them, their dismally winless road trip against ranked opponents comes to an end for it. Not so thankfully, they get only two days of rest to prepare for what could be their final weekend at the CU Events Center this season. On Thursday, the Buffaloes take on the Washington Huskies (15-12, 5-11) with tipoff set for 7 p.m. MT.
Cover photo by CUBuffsWBB/X
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