CORVALLIS, Oreg. – Coming off of an extremely emotional last few weeks of Pac-12 play in front of historic home crowds, the third-ranked Colorado women's basketball team suffered a bit of a letdown on the road against the No. 25-ranked Oregon State Beavers Friday night, falling 68-62.
The loss was the third of CU's season and their second in three games. The Buffs' record now drops to 16-3 and 6-2 in conference play. All three of these losses have come against other ranked opponents.
The Beavers, impressively, now have the same overall record as Colorado (16-3) while only trailing in Pac-12 play by a game (5-3).
After a strong opening quarter and a half, the black and gold fell flat offensively and had several dismal stretches of play amid the contest's final 25 minutes. After an 8-for-13 first quarter from the field, CU shot just 11-for-35 (31.4%) and 1-for-9 (11.1%) from three for the rest of the night.
While they hung around until the final buzzer, what truly doomed the Buffs were season-lows in both rebounds (27) and assists (seven), along with their second-lowest total field goal percentage this season (39.6%).
"It played out similarly to what I might have envisioned, just two really good teams in a very difficult environment," head coach JR Payne said following the loss. "I thought we competed. We never quit. We battled and did a lot of things with different players that haven't played in a couple of weeks and sometimes that feels a little bit discombobulated."
Jaylyn Sherrod led the Buffaloes with 19 points, five rebounds, and three steals. The graduate point guard did her best (13 second half points) to get the offense out of its funk, but once again struggled to get teammates involved. She has just five assists in her last three games.
What kept Colorado in the contest was defense and free throw shooting.
Star Beaver forward Raegan Beers (19.4 points/game) was limited to just six points, her season low. CU forced 19 turnovers, including nine steals. The squad also compiled 21 free throw makes on 23 attempts.
However, steady scoring from other OSU options, lack of bench production, and foul trouble counteracted the Buffaloes' advantages.
Freshman guard Donovyn Hunter and junior guard Talia von Oelhoffen each tallied season-highs with 16 points each. Junior AJ Marotte also added 10 off the bench, hitting both of her three-point attempts in crucial spots.
Colorado had just 11 bench points on the night. Additionally, with starters Quay Miller and Maddie Nolan struggling to put the ball in the basket, production from subs was sorely missed. Sara-Rose Smith (concussion) returned to action Friday, though logged just seven minutes on the floor.
Junior center Aaronette Vonleh had CU's best plus/minus (+12) and got into a rhythm during the third quarter (eight of her 12 points), but she and Miller's foul troubles disallowed the Buffs' frontcourt from establishing any sustained form of superiority. Sherrod also fouled out in the game's closing moments, a sour note to end on for Colorado's all-around rough night at Gill Coliseum.
"This is a group that loves to learn," Payne mentioned. "This is an opportunity and of course, we wanted to win the game, but we're going to be able to watch the film and be a better basketball team by tomorrow afternoon because of the experience we had tonight."
The No. 3 Buffs now look to turn the page on arguably the ugliest night of an otherwise magical season. They stay in-state for a clash with the Oregon Ducks (11-10, 2-6 in conference play) on Sunday. Tip-off is scheduled for 1 p.m. MT.
Cover photo by CUBuffsWBB/X
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