Sometimes, when things aren’t going your way, it’s just good to get back in the win column any way possible.

That was the mantra for the Colorado women’s basketball team coming into Thursday's game after four straight road losses against top-20 teams. It wasn’t always pretty, but the Buffs were able to battle through and get their 21st win of the season with a 68-62 victory over Washington.

“We definitely needed to be in the win column again,” head coach JR Payne said after the game. “Even though we’ve played really well at times. We played really well offensively at USC and really, really well defensively at UCLA, it still didn’t translate into a win. So certainly we’re all gonna feel better with getting that out of the way, and now we just really want to dial in and continue to get better.”

A slow, sloppy first quarter was quickly turned into a spectacular shooting display in the early going by Maddie Nolan. The first five minutes featured a lot of ugly offense, as the two teams exchanged foolish turnovers. But the Washington defense couldn’t keep up with Nolan, who broke free for three 3-pointers, continuing her hot shooting from the last home stand. That boost was enough to give the Buffs an 18-12 lead after one.

In the second quarter, both offenses started to find their flow. Frida Formann started the quarter with a pair of buckets for the Buffs, and then Jaylyn Sherrod made an athletic leaping block on a 3-point attempt in the corner, leading to a Nolan layup to give the Buffs an 8-point lead. The teams traded buckets for the rest of the period before Nolan knocked down yet another 3, her fourth of the half, to put Colorado up 39-28 at the break.

“It definitely felt nice,” Nolan said of her hot shooting performance. “My teammates, as always, do a great job of always finding me. ... It’s nice to play with people that know where you are on the floor and are always looking for you.”

The second half started on a sour note for the Buffs, as Sherrod took a shot to the face just a few minutes into the third and was taken back to the locker room. The Buffs promptly responded without their leader, as Kindyll Wetta and Nolan splashed back-to-back 3s to stretch the CU lead to 15, its biggest of the evening.

After that, however, the Buffs’ offense began to falter. The defense held onto the lead throughout the rest of the third and the beginning of the fourth quarter, but after an Aaronette Vonleh layup with 5:57 remaining, the CU attack completely fell apart. Turnovers and bad shot selection, especially early in the shot clock, plagued the Buffs as the Huskies slowly crept back into the game. Finally, a Sayvia Sellers steal and layup with 46 seconds to go cut the Colorado lead to just five, the closest the game had been since the first half.

Then, after sitting on the bench with ice on her face for most of the second half, Sherrod popped off the bench and checked back in to a roaring ovation from the CU Events Center crowd. The CU point guard knocked down a couple of free throws and Quay Miller collected a huge offensive rebound to officially put things to bed.

“Really happy with how we played in spurts,” Payne said. “Certainly not 40 minutes, but we played really, really well in some spurts on both sides of the floor, and just pushing through fatigue and some injury and things like that.”

Nolan finished with six 3-pointers and a season-high 20 points on the night, constantly breaking away from the Washington defense and making them pay nearly every time. Formann had a solid night scoring as well, finishing with 12 and hitting a pair of triples herself. The Buffs also gained an advantage on the glass, collecting 10 offensive boards as a part of a plus-7 overall rebound margin, and turned those extra chances into 13 points.

Lauren Schwartz led the Huskies with 18 points, and knocked down all four of her 3-point attempts to get there. Elle Ladine racked up 16 thanks to a stellar second half. The lack of bench production eventually did the Huskies in, as they didn’t get a single point from their reserve unit while the Buffs got 15.

This win is big for the confidence of the Buffs, who now have just one game left before heading to the Pac-12 Tournament in Las Vegas next week. They’ll welcome Washington State to Boulder for senior day Saturday afternoon. Tipoff at CU Events Center will be at 1 p.m.