WATCH: Colorado rallies after a shaky first quarter to take care of Northern Colorado, 78-56.
BOULDER – The No. 8-ranked Colorado Buffaloes women's basketball team erased a 14-0 opening deficit to pick up another resounding win over the Northern Colorado Bears (4-5) on Thursday afternoon, 78-56.
The victory pushed the Buffs' record to 10-1 (5-0 at home) and was the final contest on CU's non-conference schedule.
Graduate point guard Jaylyn Sherrod led the way with 16 points, 13 of which were scored in the game's crucial second quarter, in which the black and gold outscored Northern Colorado 26-14. She also hit two three-pointers in the first half after coming into the game just 1-for-19 from distance on the season.
Junior center Aaronette Vonleh had a career day of her own, adding 14 points with a career-high five blocks. The five blocks were the most in any game by a Buff since 2017.
Kindyll Wetta and Tameiya Sadler also finished with important contributions off the bench, especially with Sadler playing in relief for the first time this season. The decision to bench Sadler for Maddie Nolan was due both to the ankle injury she suffered against UT Arlington and the Bears' zone defense, per CU head coach JR Payne.
Sadler scored 10 and led the team with five steals, while Wetta scored 11, seven of which came in the second quarter.
A growing trend within some of these non-conference contests has been slow Colorado starts, and this game was no exception. Particularly, this contest was the first for the Buffs in over two weeks, so a bit of rust could have been expected.
The Bears started the afternoon flaming hot, knocking down their first four threes to open the game on a 14-0 run. This rally was led by senior forward Delaynie Byrne, who had 11 points in the first quarter and led all scorers on the afternoon with 21.
"A two-week break, as wonderful as it was, is a really difficult thing to navigate for a team," said Payne after the win. "In 23 years of coaching, I've never had to navigate that before so I think we saw that in the first few minutes of the game."
However, CU also managed to follow their strongest early-season trend, responding with a 10-2 run of their own late in the first quarter led by Vonleh and Quay Miller.
Vonleh and Miller's interior presence keyed what would be a demolition by Colorado on the inside, as they outscored Northern Colorado 48-14 in the paint on the afternoon.
After the opening period ended 21-15 in favor of the Bears, Jaylyn Sherrod went into takeover mode. She led a battle that still saw the Bears ahead by one with less than a minute left in the first half before her emphatic and-one basket gave the Buffs a lead that they would never look back from.
The point guard added two more layups in the half's final two possessions to give CU a 41-35 advantage.
The second half was when Colorado's defense truly locked in, giving up just 21 points compared to 37 of their own. Sadler and Vonleh led the way down the stretch with 10 points each, while stifling defense all around held the Bears to just 26.1% shooting.
Frida Formann also nailed two triples to help the black and gold pull away.
"The great thing about a veteran team is that everybody in the locker room almost knows what to expect when they come back," added Payne.
Vonleh's defensive performance was especially promising, as she made up for an uncharacteristic team discrepancy in rebounding (36-28 in favor of the Bears) by protecting the rim at an elite level.
CU's ability to respond and bounce back from slow starts will be tested in short order, as they open their final season of Pac-12 play on Dec. 30 against No. 11 Utah. That game will be in the CU Events Center at 1 p.m. MST.
The Buffs once again get a nine-day period of rest for the holiday season, but look to lock in quickly on the Utes, as they may not be able to afford the slow starts they've had against lesser non-conference competition.
"Every team in our league is so good and we're starting with maybe the best. I don't know, everybody's good," said Payne regarding Utah. "So we will be super dialed in from the jump."
Cover photo by Lily Ezrow/Sko Buffs Sports
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