BOULDER – Coming off a successful road trip to Arizona, the No. 5 Colorado women’s basketball team returned home in grand fashion, beating the California Golden Bears 76-61 for their eighth win in a row.
“Really proud of our team,” Colorado head coach JR Payne said after the game. “...I love it when a box score is so balanced and so many people contributing.”
The Buffs frontcourt dominated the contest as Aaronette Vonleh scored a game-high 19 points on 7-of-10 shooting from the field while Quay Miller scored 12 points and grabbed 12 rebounds in her fifth double-double of the year. With Sara-Rose Smith injured, Brianna McLeod stepped up in her place, scoring four points, grabbing five rebounds, and blocking two shots.
“It was important for us to execute on every level,” Miller said, “3’s, executed plays, offensively, defensively, just being able to be on the same page and communicate.”
The Friday night matchup started slow, as both teams started a combined 6-of-18 from the field. With four minutes left in the first quarter, however, Charlotte Whittaker nailed a long jump shot at the end of the shot clock, sparking a 10-0 run to end the quarter for CU. With six Buffs on the board, Colorado led Cal 15-9 after one quarter of play.
With the momentum in their favor, Colorado continued to play aggressively as they forced 11 turnovers in the first half. Vonleh, who had five points in the first quarter, added seven more in the second for 12 first half points on one missed shot.
Still, Cal wasn’t going out without a fight as they kept the lead within reaching distance thanks to their top three scorers on the season Leilani McIntosh (eight points), Marta Suares (seven points), and McKayla Williams (seven points) combining for 22 of the Golden Bears’ 26 first half points. They also gave the Buffs a run on the glass as they only trailed by one in the rebound battle.
As the halftime buzzer sounded, Colorado led Cal 34-26.
Coming out of the break, however, the Golden Bears got off to a hot start as they went on a 7-0 run early in the quarter. With the lead cut to four, the Buffs’ lead was in danger despite five 3-point makes and a 19-13 rebound advantage in the quarter.
“To be honest, I was really worried about this game, mostly because I feel like Cal is a really dangerous team,” Payne said, “a lot of different people that score in ways that we haven’t necessarily guarded that well this year.”
Similarly to the first quarter, though, Colorado ended the period on an 8-0 run thanks to back-to-back threes by Maddie Nolan and Tameiya Sadler. Nolan and Sadler combined for 14 of the Buffs’ 22 bench points in the win.
With Colorado up 57-45 to end the third, they never looked back as they went on to outscore Cal 19-16 in the final quarter on their way to a resounding 15-point win to maintain their undefeated start to Pac-12 play.
“I thought we really sort of took hold of the momentum,” Payne said. “Like I thought we started being a bit more aggressive in transition.”
In the win, Colorado shot a scorching 9-of-18 from deep as Frida Formann hit four 3-pointers. They also won the rebound battle by seven (36-29) while dishing out 20 assists.
With their eyes now set on the No. 8 Stanford Cardinal, the No. 5 Buffs will have a day off before the Sunday afternoon matchup. Tipoff is set for noon MST at the CU Events Center.
“Stanford’s a really good team, they have really good guards and post-play,” Vonleh said, “so we’re just going to have to spend tomorrow just getting locked in and having a game plan to be able to play well against them.”
Cover photo by Nate Montague/Sko Buffs Sports
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