Games thread- Women's bball hosts UCLA (Fri., 2/8, 7:00 MT) and USC (Sunday, 2/10, 1:00)

Buffs host the Bruins and Trojans. Fight them hard and smart Buffs!

Note- looks like, before Sunday's game, there will be some cool opportunities (especially I assume for those with school-age daughters) starting at 11:00 related to the National Girls & Women in Sports Day (NGWSD).



UCLA game preview -


Direct link - https://cubuffs.com/news/2019/2/6/womens-basketball-buffs-remain-positive-in-tough-stretch.aspx

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BOULDER – Successes for the Colorado women's basketball team have been tough to come by of late. Despite a tough few weeks, the team has continued to stay positive and focused.

The Buffaloes look to get back on track when they return to the CU Events Center this week. CU hosts UCLA on Friday (7 p.m.) and Southern California on Sunday (1 p.m.).

Colorado head coach JR Payne and her coaching staff have seen improvements, even if it does not reflect in the team's record.

"The way we have to measure success right now is different than what the scoreboard says at the end of the game," Payne explained. "We are having success, it is just not showing up in the win column. It's been about our individual growth. It's the things we focus on in practice that week and if we are able to maintain consistency. That's success for us."

The Buffs were dealt a deafening blow with the loss of senior point guard Kennedy Leonard. CU has played its last seven games without its all-time assist leader. Colorado was 10-4 with Leonard in the lineup, averaging 71.1 points and 14.4 assists per game. The team has gone 0-7 with Leonard sidelined, averaging 57.4 points and 9.6 assists per game.

Leonard, who remains day-to-day, continues to work non-stop to get back on the court. Meanwhile, her teammates have fought through the growing pains.
...

While no definite timeline has been set for Leonard's return the team is hopeful she will be back by season's end.

"She will be back," Payne stated. "We are a better basketball team now than when she first got injured. We will only be better when we get to add her back into the mix."

Friday's game is CU's annual pink game. The Buffs have partnered with the Kay Yow Cancer Fund and are participating in the Play4Kay National Free Throw Challenge. The Buffs are competing against other schools to help raise money for the fight against cancer throughout February. Fans can make a pledge per free throw or a one-time donation. For more information on how to donate visit CUBUffs.com/PLAY4KAY.

The Game: Colorado and UCLA meet up for the 16th time in series history on Friday. The Buffs are still in search of their first Pac-12 win, while the Bruins have won their last four games, sweeping the Arizona and Washington schools.

About the Buffaloes: Colorado's loss at Oregon dropped the Buffs below .500 (10-11) for the first time this season. The Buffs have four players averaging double-figure scoring this season. Senior Kennedy Leonard (14.1 ppg) leads the group. Senior Alexis Robinson (11.7), junior Quinessa Caylao-Do (11.2) and sophomore Mya Hollingshed (11.7 ppg) round out the top-scorers.

About UCLA: The Bruins got out to a 3-5 start to the season and have since gone 10-4. UCLA started Pac-12 play 2-0 before dropping its next four. The Bruins have bounced back with four straight wins to get to 6-4 in the conference.
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Game notes (UCLA) - https://cubuffs.com/documents/2019/2/6//UCLA.pdf

Media links -
Live stats (Both games) - https://cubuffs.com/sidearmstats/wbball/summary

Vs. UCLA (Friday, 7:00 PM MT)
Live video - Game is being shown live on the Pac 12 LA. channel. For those whose Cable/ Satellite/ Cord Cutting subscription includes access to that Pac 12 channel, believe the game can also be streamed through a link at https://pac-12.com/womens-basketball/event/2019/02/08/ucla-colorado .

Live audio (Stream of the radio (AM 630) broadcast.) - https://cubuffs.com/watch/?Live=2259&type=Live

Vs. USC (Sunday, 1:00 PM MT)
Live video (Free live stream.) - https://pac-12.com/live/cubuffs

Live audio (Stream of the radio (AM 630) broadcast.) - https://cubuffs.com/watch/?Live=2260&type=Live

The tweet celebrating National Girls and Women in Sports Day is very special.

I attended games at Balch back in the day. I'm in the audience in the 2nd photo. I remember when the team used to gather at center court and spell COLORADO. Now I watch from a distance.

Go Buffs

I received an email from Dish today reminding me that my 6 months of multi-sports at half price is expiring. This season I am not going to pay full price for one month. I see the home games with the Washington schools are CU live video, not Pac-12 network broadcasts. I don't enjoy the Pac-12 announcers and sync it to the radio broadcast. I will listen to the radio broadcast after next weekend.

nice half. Need to close out this game

Tough loss, but team obviously fighting hard. Keep the effort up Buffs- take it to the Trojans on Sunday.

Disappointing. This was a winnable game tonight if only Lex had gotten a little more help.

BeBe said:

Disappointing. This was a winnable game tonight if only Lex had gotten a little more help.

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She scored a ton of points, but struggled a bit in the last few minutes. She was the only Buff in double figures.

Watching on TV, it seemed the Buffs played with a lot of grit and determination, but obviously that wasn't enough to get the win.

USC, in theory, is a winnable game, but they did win at Utah tonight.

Lexi needed more help in the scoring department. Basketball is a team game. This team, aside from Lexi, Kennedy, Q and Mya, can not be counted on to score points.

The team did play better. Lexi scored 33 points but no other player was in double figures. Lex shot her free throws well, too. But it's a team game and that means scoring as a team.

somebody has to score besides 1 person. They need Mya, Q and Peanut to be consistent double digit scores and not 20 one night and none the next. Lexi had a great game but they only scored 60 and she scored over half. That should have been a good win

Mya was in foul trouble most of the game and was being closely guarded.

Peanut had missed two weeks of practice with her back. While she did practice this week, she didn't play a lot of minutes last night.

It's game day , with the National Girls and Women in Sports Day events scheduled to start at the top of the hour, and the game a little over 2 hours away.

(Note- I probably won't be able to game updates today.)

buffgal said:

Mya was in foul trouble most of the game and was being closely guarded.

Peanut had missed two weeks of practice with her back. While she did practice this week, she didn't play a lot of minutes last night.

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gotta get a way for somebody to score other than Lexi or get Jank to find he old form. Somebody has to be a threat

Good first half, now to have a good second half and win a game

Close, close, close.

So very happy for the team.

CONGRATS BUFFS!!!

This team has not quit on the season and this fan will not quit on the team.

#GoBuffs

Monkey off back.

**** USC!

Oregon beat Stanford by 40 points at Maples this afternoon. Puts a different perspective on that loss. Maybe Graves didn't go all out against CU when he knew it would not be a close game. Oregon is just that good.

Happy to see the Buffs get more players scoring and to see Peanut grab 11 boards, even though she didn't score much. In a game that close, every player did their share to contribute to the win.

Finally!!! That was the most complete game I've seen from CU WBB in quite some time. Players who all (mostly) looked like they knew what they were doing, taking and making a good percentage of good shots, going for rebounds, limiting the silly mistakes, making the hustle plays, etc.
Great win for the team after they have been getting better but not having the W to show for it.

All in all a good weekend for the team. If they can build on it and get a some more It will put more at ease. just like with the men's team, 1 win does not change a season. Congrats to the team

Congrats again to the team!

Various media after the win.

Article-


Direct link - https://cubuffs.com/news/2019/2/10/...-robinson-lead-buffs-to-first-pac-12-win.aspx

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February 10, 2019 | Seth Pringle, Assistant SID

BOULDER – The Colorado women's basketball team avoided the wrong side of history of Sunday. The Buffaloes snapped its 11-game losing streak with an 81-76 win over Southern California at the CU Events Center.

Alexis Robinson drilled a 3-pointer with 32.7 seconds remaining to give Colorado a five-point lead, and the Buffs held on for an 81-76 win over the Women of Troy.

"I say every game how proud I am of this team," head coach JR Payne stated after the win. "I'm really proud of our effort today. Four players in double figures, only 12 turnovers and a few of them were late in the game against a team that forces a lot of turnovers. We outrebounded them by 12. I think every hustle category we won today and I'm really, really proud of our team tonight."

CU had four players score in double figures. Mya Hollingshed hit a pair of free throws with 17 seconds to play to give the Buffs the five-point cushion. She Colorado with 21 points. Hollingshed and Robinson (16 points) combined for 37 on the afternoon, and freshmen Lesila Finau and Emma Clarke had 14 and 10 points, respectively.

It was CU's first Pac-12 win of the season as the Buffs improved to 11-12 overall and 1-11 in conference play. USC falls to 14-8 and 4-8 in the Pac-12.

"I feel like we've been knocking on the door so many times," Payne added. "The first two conference games at home were two, three- or four-point games and Friday night's game was a four-point game. We've had a lot of really good games, we just haven't been able to come out with a victory. For me, I'm most excited for these guys to be able to celebrate, to be able to reap the reward of all their hard work tonight, and we'll just continue to work hard keep getting better."

Freshman Peanut Tuitele was giant on the glass for Colorado. She snagged a game-high 11 rebounds. Sophomore Annika Jank aided with seven points and eight boards in relief.

Mariya Moore led Southern California with a game-high 22 points.
...

TURNING POINT: Caylao-Do's 3 with at the 8:34 mark of the fourth quarter gave CU a 10-point lead, 68-58, early on in the fourth. For Caylao-Do it snapped a 0-for-7 shooting slump. She struggled through the first three quarters and went on to finish 3-for-12 from the field. Her three field goals could not have come at a better time though. She went 3-for-3 to start the fourth quarter, helping CU get its largest lead of the game—a lead that was just enough for the Buffs to close out the win.

WHAT IT MEANS: CU avoided the programs first-ever 12-game losing streak. The Buffs' win also means that Colorado avoids its first-ever winless conference season.

KEY STATISTICS: CU's bench outscored USC, 21-8. All nine players that entered the contest for Colorado got in the scoring column.

NOTEWORTHY: Colorado was without senior Kennedy Leonard for the ninth consecutive game…she continues to be day-to-day…CU's 29-point first quarter was the highest-scoring quarter of the season…the Buffs 43 first-half points were the most in a Pac-12 game this season… Colorado outrebounded USC 44-32…Caylao-Do tied her career-high with six assists…Robinson's 16 points give her 1,237 for her career…

QUOTEWORTHY: "I thought we had a great weekend of basketball. I thought we had a great week of practice. I just told the team in the locker room that a lot of teams that have been through the adversity that we have in the past couple months would have splintered and gone their own way or turned on each other. This group remains to be close and really hard working. I just love that about this group. I think it speaks to their character and I think it speaks to where we're going as a team."– CU's JR Payne

"They [Jank and Clarke] were both instrumental in our success tonight. I thought Emma's effort on the offensive glass was phenomenal. She was in there mixing it up with older, bigger, more athletic kids and played fearlessly. Annika did the same thing on the defensive end of the floor; her rebounding was great. I just think that everybody on the team was fantastic today, nobody was perfect. We don't ever ask for perfection other than in our effort. Even some that didn't get a chance to play as much were great on the bench and we just did a great job today." – CU's JR Payne

"Every game we say that we're going to play hard and compete no matter what the score is. We've just got to keep our foot on the gas and compete." – CU's Mya Hollingshed

"It felt great, I had a feeling when I woke up this morning that we were going to win. I don't know how to describe it, It just feels great" – CU's Lesila Finau

NEXT UP: Colorado will look to carry its success out on the road next week. The Buffs will visit Arizona State and Arizona in a pair of early season rematches.
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Box score - https://cubuffs.com/boxscore.aspx?path=wbball&id=12625

BeBe said:

Great win for the team after they have been getting better but not having the W to show for it.

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They were so close to beating UCLA. I hope this is a confidence builder for a few more wins, particularly when the Washington schools come to Boulder.