WATCH: The No. 5 Buffs win a nail-biter against the Arizona Wildcats on the road, 75-74.
TUCSON, Ariz. – As the clock hit zero, freshman Arizona forward Breya Cunningham's jumper in the lane missed just strong, hitting the back of the rim and falling into the relieved hands of Colorado forward Aaronette Vonleh.
With that missed shot, the No. 5-ranked CU women's basketball team could exhale. They picked up the win over the Arizona Wildcats on Friday night, 75-74.
The hard-fought victory moved the black and gold's record to 12-1, 2-0 against conference opponents. This is just the second season in the last 17 that the Buffs have started Pac-12 play 2-0.
The Wildcats, meanwhile, drop to 1-1 in conference play and 9-5 overall despite their admirable showing. All five of their losses have come against ranked opponents.
Colorado's win also came on the road at the McKale Center, a venue the Buffs had not won in since 2015. CU managed to conquer one of college basketball's best homecourt advantages after a devastating 61-42 loss at McKale just last season.
"We've never won here before [as a group]," explained graduate Buff point guard Jaylyn Sherrod. "We already knew the fans were into it and that's their sixth man. We just had to stick together and that's what I told the group."
Coming off of a career day against Utah and a week full of national recognition, Sherrod once again led the way. She tallied 18 points, four assists and four steals. Her play in the final three minutes of the game was critical in giving the Buffaloes the win, as two of her assists and another two of her steals came in the fourth quarter.
Quay Miller also had an excellent bounce-back performance, putting up 16 points and nine rebounds. She also led CU in plus/minus on the night at +11.
"I thought Quay really carried us early," Buffs head coach JR Payne said following the win. "She was on the glass, finishing inside and shooting a couple of nice threes. She was just playing like Quay, she's a great player and experienced."
Another Colorado positive was their thorough domination on the glass all night, grabbing 41 rebounds to Arizona's 21.
17 of these boards were offensive as well, translating into 10 second chance points. The Wildcats had just three offensive rebounds on the night, with two points coming on their limited extra possessions.
What hampered the Buffaloes' control of the contest were turnovers and struggles in the paint on both ends.
CU turned the ball over 19 times, 13 of which came in the first half. They also surrendered an uncharacteristic 48 points in the paint to the Wildcats, the most they have given up all season.
Arizona managed to shoot 55.2% from the field, led by sophomore guard Kailyn Gilbert with 19 points. This was just the second time in the last four seasons that Colorado had given up 55% shooting or more to an opponent.
It was a back-and-forth contest through and through, and the lead changed hands between the Buffs and Wildcats 10 times, along with 11 ties.
To end the third quarter though, Arizona went on a 13-2 run. Once again, CU found themselves trailing going into the final quarter.
It was not a good performance by any No. 5 team in the country's standards, but the black and gold managed to lock in.
Junior foward Aaronette Vonleh struggled to find the basket all night, but led the team's 23-point fourth quarter effort with six points. Senior forward Sara-Rose Smith added five points and five massive rebounds in the quarter to continue her impressive play to start the season.
The Buffs turned the ball over in the period just twice on a night in which they had struggled mightily to play clean. They also shot 64.3% (9-for-14) from the field as a team and got to the free throw line for five more points on six attempts.
After an Arizona jumper extended the Wildcats' second-half run to 15-2, CU rallied to trim the deficit to one in the next three minutes.
Back-to-back layups by Vonleh then gave the Buffaloes the lead with 4:25 to play, and while the Wildcats managed to take the lead back one more time with 2:08 left, Sherrod scored the Buffs' final four points and led the defensive effort to keep Arizona just short of the win.
CU now gets a brief moment to rest before traveling in-state to Tempe for a matchup against the Arizona State Sun Devils (8-6, 0-2 in Pac-12 play) on Sunday. That game will tip-off at noon MST.
Cover photo by Grace Trejo/Tucson.com
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