BOULDER – At the end of the basketball regular season, five different Colorado Buffaloes were mentioned in the women’s basketball Pac-12 awards.
Jaylyn Sherrod and Aaronette Vonleh led Colorado to a 22-9 (11-7 Pac-12) record. Both Vonleh and Sherrod received All-Pac-12 honors for their contribution in leading the Buffaloes to the No. 18 ranked team in the country.
Vonleh, a junior from West Linn, Oregon, averaged a team-high 14.1 points and 1.1 blocks per game. Her presence has been valuable for the buffs on both sides of the court for the past two years. Last season, Vonleh was an honorable mention for All-Pac-12 honors, which helped motivate her to keep putting in the work.
Vonleh was named the 2023 Co-Pac-12 Most Improved Player last year, averaging 12.2 points and 4.5 rebounds per game. Her impact for the Buffaloes has been unmatched these past two seasons.
With another All-Pac-12 selection, Sherrod now has been named All-Pac-12 in both of the last two seasons. She led the Buffaloes in assists and steals the past two years and has been a top-four team scorer as well.
Sherrod led the Pac-12 last year in steals per game with 5.1, averaging over one or more steals per game than anyone else. This year, Sherrod is tied with Leilani McIntosh for the second-most assists in the Pac-12 with 4.9 per game.
In Colorado’s 21-point routing of UT Arlington, Sherrod dished out a career-high 13 assists to go along with five rebounds and two steals.
Sherrod has suited up in the black and gold for five seasons and will graduate this spring. In her tenure as a Buffalo, she has won countless awards and displayed a type of leadership many people do not possess.
The Buffaloes’ Frida Formann and Quay Miller were both named All-Pac-12 honorable mentions.
Miller, a graduate student from Renton, Washington, transferred to Colorado after her first two seasons at the University of Washington. Last year, she led the Buffaloes with 13.1 points and 8.9 rebounds (4.4 more than any other Buff) per game. Her dominance on the court was noticed conference-wide and led to her being named All-Pac-12.
Miller’s stats slightly declined this year, as she averaged nine points and 7.5 rebounds per game. The Washington native played a smaller role this year, as seen by her average of 31.6 minutes per game in 2023 (led buffs), compared to her 26.7 minutes this season.
Despite lower overall totals this season, Miller made her impact known on the court, especially early in the season against UT Arlington, when she went off for 21 points, four threes made, and three steals (all season-highs).
The other All-Pac-12 honorable mention, Formann, is a senior guard, playing in her fourth season for the Buffaloes. The guard from Bagsværd, Denmark, is a sniper from deep, leading the Buffaloes with 2.5 threes made per game, tied for the third most in the Pac-12.
Formann was also an All-Pac-12 honorable mention last year, averaging 12 points and 2.3 threes made per game. She has helped spread the floor for the Buffaloes, creating opportunities for her teammates to score.
Although the fourth-year guard is an offensive specialist, she also puts in work on the defensive end of the court. Her best defensive game of the season was at SMU, where Formann recorded season-highs in rebounds (5) and blocks (3).
Sherrod has led the team in steals for four out of her five seasons as a Buff, explaining her being named to the Pac-12 All-Defensive team for the third time this year. She is currently tied with Stanford’s Cameron Brink for the most current All-Defensive selections.
Sherrod is just the sixth guard in Pac-12 history to be named to three Pac-12 All-Defensive teams and is the only women's player from CU to be selected to more than one All-Defensive team. Sherrod constantly proves that height is just a number and has been the Buffs' best defensive player year after year, standing at five feet and seven inches.
Another guard who made a statement on the defensive side of the ball was third-year Buffalo Kindyll Wetta. The junior from Castle Rock, Colorado, was named a Pac-12 All-Defensive team honorable mention, averaging 3.9 assists and 1.7 steals per game, both second on the team to Sherrod.
In her first year at college, Wetta was named to the Pac-12 All-freshman team in 2021-22 and was the only Buffalo named to the Pac-12 All-defensive team that same year. She led the Buffaloes with 2.1 steals per game as a freshman and trailed the Pac-12 leader Lexie Hull by 0.1.
Since Sherrod is graduating this year, the Buffaloes are looking for a star guard who can fill her shoes offensively and defensively. Soon to be a senior, Wetta possesses many of the same traits as the talented and experienced Sherrod, giving Wetta the best shot at replacing Sherrod without a major decline in production.
All five Buffaloes mentioned in the Pac-12 awards combined for the five most minutes averaged per game for Colorado this season. Formann led the way for the Buffs with 27.8 minutes per game, followed closely by Sherrod (27.2) and Miller (26.7).
The Colorado Buffaloes have now had three consecutive seasons with 22 wins or more for the first time since 2000-04. Sherrod and company look to take their regular season dominance into the upcoming March Madness tournament.
The Buffs have made the elite eight three times, but have never made it to the final four. The 2000-01 season was the last time the Buffs were featured in the elite eight, leaving the current Buffaloes due for a deep tournament run.
Cover Photo by Roberto Patrick Gerra/Sko Buffs Sports
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