Coming off of its first loss of the season last week in the Virgin Islands, Colorado came out flat in its return to Boulder Tuesday night, but pulled away late to secure a 95-65 victory over Boston University.
“Wow, glad we had a fourth quarter,” head coach JR Payne said postgame. “Just stagnant, kind of passive in the first three quarters of the game. They didn’t guard us any differently in the fourth quarter, we just made a decision that we were gonna be more aggressive and got the ball inside more effectively. But also on the perimeter, just penetrating and collapsing and moving the defense a little bit made all the difference in the world. So, really proud of our team for being able to not put our heads down and be upset about it, but to be able to figure it out. You’ve gotta be able to figure it out, and we did.”
The Buffs came into this one as 31.5-point favorites, but you never would’ve been able to tell as the Terriers made Payne’s group uncomfortable from the opening tip. Hounding the paint with a 2-3 zone, Boston dared the Buffs to knock down shots from the outside, something that Colorado struggled to do throughout most of the night.
On the offensive end, Boston U struggled with turnovers all night long, but was efficient from the field in the early going to keep pace with the Colorado offense. Despite six first quarter giveaways, the Terriers made more than 50% of their shot attempts to stay tied at 16 after one.
In the second, the Buffs started to establish themselves. Frida Formann started the quarter off with two consecutive 3-pointers and three free throws to put the Buffs in front, a lead that they would hold onto throughout the frame. Boston cooled off from the field in the second, allowing the Buffs to take an 8-point lead into halftime.
But Boston wasn’t done battling. It came out with a newfound sense of urgency in the third quarter, knocking down shots and getting back to making the Buffs uncomfortable inside. Late in the third, a pair of free throws by star big Caitlin Weimar gave Boston U a 50-47 lead and filled the CU Events Center with tension and angst.
Those free throws would be the end of the Terriers’ upset bid. The Buffs flipped the proverbial switch at that moment, and ran Boston U out of the gym from that point on. The Buffs ratcheted up the defensive pressure, got the ball inside, and rode on the back of a newfound touch from the outside, outscoring Boston 38-5 over the final 12:20 of the ballgame.
“In a lot of ways, we have a really mature team to be able to handle that and be able to not really go off the rails, because we were not playing well on either side of the ball,” Payne said. “So to be able to sort of stay the course, refocus in timeouts, refocus on what we need to do, refocus on what our coverage is, make sure we’re all on the same page. I think that’s a very mature group.”
Formann led the way for the Buffs with 22 points in this one, and was a big factor with eight points during the late run. The Danish guard was also a factor defensively, finishing with six steals. In the first half, Formann surpassed 1,000 points for her career, the 34th Buffs player to reach that mark.
“It feels really great,” Formann said about passing the 1,000-point mark. “I think it’s something you obviously dream of, scoring a lot of points and contributing to the program, so I’m really happy that I got to do that. Especially here at CU, that means a lot to me to have been here for these three, four years and do that.”
The dynamic post duo of Aaronette Vonleh and Quay Miller were back at it again in Tuesday’s game against a Terrier team that was more than up to the task. Vonleh continued her efficient scoring with 18 points on 8-for-9 shooting, and Miller nearly notched a double-double with 12 points and nine rebounds. Jaylyn Sherrod was a driving force behind the Buffs’ offensive uptick in the second half, running the show and controlling the tempo as usual. The senior point guard finished with 14 points, four assists and three steals.
For Boston U, Weimar recorded her fourth double-double of the season with 16 points and 12 boards, while guard Alex Giannaros matched her for the team-high with 16 of her own. The Terriers just couldn’t quite keep their level up in the fourth quarter, making just one field goal and turning the ball over 10 times in the final frame.
The story in Tuesday’s contest was the possession game. Colorado collected 10 more offensive rebounds than Boston and forced 27 turnovers while only giving it away eight times. This resulted in Colorado taking 26 more shots than Boston from the floor, a difference that was just too much for the underdogs to overcome.
“We really trust ourselves defensively, we know that we can guard,” Payne said. “In the first half we were missing a lot of shots, so we talked about really being aggressive on the offensive glass. A lot of rebounds to be had if we’re not necessarily making all of our shots, so I think we needed those… Both of those things were huge down the stretch.”
The Buffs are back in action on Saturday in Colorado Springs, where they will head out on the road for an in-state duel with Air Force. Tip-off will be at 1 p.m. MST.
