PULLMAN, Wash. – Another sluggish offensive effort by the sixth-ranked Colorado women's basketball team was overcome through the second-half play of Frida Formann en route to a 63-57 road win over the Washington State Cougars (15-7, 4-5) late Friday night.
The victory was the eighth in ten conference games thus far for CU, pushing their overall record to 18-3. And with No. 15 USC upsetting No. 4 Stanford on Friday as well, the Buffs (via tiebreak) now stand alongside the Cardinal at the top of the Pac-12.
Formann tied a career-high with 27 points on the evening, 20 of which were in the second half. She erupted from distance as the game wore on, making five 3-pointers in the game's closing two periods. The Danish guard accounted for all six of Colorado's triples.
Combining with the senior for 47 of the black and gold's 63 points was Aaronette Vonleh with 20. The junior center also added eight rebounds and two blocks.
It was a mighty struggle for the rest of CU's offensive options to get going, with no one besides Formann and Vonleh scoring more than five points. However, Quay Miller led another dominant night for the Buffs on the glass. She grabbed 15 rebounds despite another poor scoring effort (3.7 points/game on 20% shooting in her last three games).
As a team, the Buffaloes had 50 or more boards for the second consecutive game. 14 of those rebounds were offensive, translating into 15 second-chance points.
For WSU, junior Tara Wallack led the way with 19 points and five rebounds. The young guard duo of Astera Tuhina and Eleonora Villa also added 15 points each.
The last time Colorado faced Wazzu, they were shut down in the second round of last season's Pac-12 tournament. In that game, guard Charlisse Leger-Walker led the Cougars with 15 points. However, the star senior suffered a season-ending ACL injury against UCLA last Sunday.
"They lost one of their best players," said Formann regarding Leger-Walker. "We knew they were going to come out and play for her."
The Buffs and Cougs went back-and-forth in a mostly sloppy first half, knotted at 15 after one quarter and looked to be tied at the break before a Wallack 3 near the buzzer put WSU up 28-25.
In those opening two periods, both teams shot a combined 23-for-64 (35.9%) and just 3-for-19 (15.8%) from beyond the arc.
CU was not able to get the lead back until there were two minutes left in the third quarter, their offense continuing the snail's pace that has plagued the last few weeks of play. What put the Buffs ahead at that point, however, truly turned the contest's tide.
Formann nailed not one, not two, but three 3-pointers in a row to flip a six-point deficit into a lead within a minute and fifteen seconds. A flurry of six more points from Vonleh and point guard Jaylyn Sherrod in the quarter's closing ten seconds put the Buffaloes up 45-42 heading into the fourth.
In the final quarter, the Cougars hung tough. They forced four CU turnovers, a bit of a theme throughout (14-8 in favor of WSU) in the period's first three minutes, including a shot clock violation.
Wazzu briefly took the lead back with 5:53 to play, but another massive Formann 3 on the next possession gave the Buffs a lead that would never change hands again. Sherrod nailed a critical jumper to extend the lead to 58-54 with 1:02 remaining, and Frida capped her career night off with five win-clinching points at the free throw line.
"Road games are always going to be like that," Formann added. "But I think we also made it a little tougher for ourselves than we probably needed to, especially in the first half. But I'm proud of us for digging ourselves out of it and playing a really gritty team."
Colorado has now scored 63 or fewer points in each of their last four games, a slump it has not seen since the 2020-21 season. It was also their lowest-scoring half this season, with just 25 points through the opening 20 minutes. However, the black and gold have managed to go 3-1 during this offensive drought, a testament to how their defensive identity can carry the load when shots aren't falling.
"I don't want us to start overthinking anything," CU head coach JR Payne said following the win. "We have everything we need to be as good as we want to be but sometimes, are we thinking about it too much? Sometimes that'll mess with you more than missing shots."
The Buffs now travel to Seattle for the first time since their memorable Sweet 16 appearance last season, instead for the closing contest of their road trip against the Washington Huskies (13-7, 3-6). Tip-off from Alaska Airlines Arena is set for 1 p.m. MT.
Cover photo by CUBuffsWBB/X
Comments