The Colorado women’s basketball team burst onto the scene this college basketball season with its huge upset over No. 1 LSU, then followed it up with a dominant 59-point win over Le Moyne. But they weren’t all going to be that pretty.

The Buffs scrapped and struggled for much of Sunday afternoon against a feisty Oklahoma State squad, but played an excellent fourth quarter to grab a come-from-behind 86-75 victory in front of their home fans.

“Really proud of how we never splintered,” head coach JR Payne said postgame. “Things were not necessarily going the way we wanted, but no one went on their own. Everyone stuck together, everyone was just focused on doing what we needed to do to be successful. Different people with really big plays down the stretch. So yeah, very proud of our team today.”

It looked like it was going to be smooth sailing for Payne and company after a first quarter in which Colorado forced 10 turnovers and scored inside at will, giving them a 24-16 lead after one. But the Cowgirls were feisty and battled back to begin quarter two, as the Buffs’ intensity dropped and Oklahoma State began to heat up.

For the next two quarters, the Cowgirls refused to cool down. They knocked down tough shot after tough shot, and the Buffs couldn’t respond on the other end. Colorado got sped up and played out of control, leading to many frantic possessions. On top of that, while Oklahoma State knocked down shot after shot, Colorado went ice cold as its lead slowly slipped into a 3-point deficit with just 10 minutes to play. However, the veteran Buffs were ready to adjust.

“They were putting so much pressure on us defensively from the 3-point line that it was hard,” Payne said. “The biggest adjustment we made was we just went smaller, so that we could maybe guard the three point line with switching a little more effectively.”

In the fourth quarter, the Buffs showed their mettle, both schematically and by executing with extreme precision time and time again. They made a clear adjustment to get the ball inside in a multitude of ways, whether it be by cutting, driving, throwing it in the post or crashing the offensive glass, and it paid off. The Buffs dominated offensively in the fourth quarter, pouring in 30 points on over 70% shooting and getting to the line 11 times.

Defensively, they mixed up different looks and coverages, even sprinkling in a zone at times to throw off the Oklahoma State offense and complete the comeback. In the fourth quarter, the Buffs held the Cowgirls under 50% from the field, didn’t send them to the free-throw line at all, and forced five turnovers.

Colorado finished the game with five scorers in double figures, led by Aaronette Vonleh with 18. Jaylyn Sherrod struggled with turnovers and some early foul trouble in Sunday’s game, but still stuffed the stat sheet with 16 points, nine assists, and five steals.

Quay Miller notched her first double-double of the season, scoring 14 points to go with 10 rebounds. The fifth-year senior’s back-to-back putbacks to start the fourth quarter were somewhat of a turning point, as they got the CU Events Center crowd rocking and gave the Buffs their first lead since before halftime.

“Those were huge momentum plays,” Payne said. “I thought Quay was just incredible during that stretch. (She) almost single-handedly got us going energywise and everybody fed off of that.”

The unsung hero for the Buffs may have been Kindyll Wetta, who was phenomenal in the middle of Colorado's small lineups in the fourth quarter. The Colorado native scored eight of her 15 points in the final frame, including a stretch where she knocked down a three, jumped in a passing lane to grab a steal, and finished the fastbreak with a layup to extend the CU lead from five to 10 with 2 minutes left.

Oklahoma State’s guards showed up to play Sunday, led by senior Anna Gret Asi who racked up 25 points to lead all scorers. Lior Garzon and Stailee Heard both added 17 points each to fuel the Cowgirls’ attack. As a team, OSU had a stellar day from the outside, knocking down 15 of their 28 three point attempts.

The Buffs dominated the rebounding battle and the free-throw tally in this one, outrebounding the Cowgirls 38-24 and grabbing 13 offensive boards that they turned into 12 second-chance points. Colorado also got to the free-throw line 25 times to Oklahoma State’s six, and knocked them down at an 80% clip.

The win moved the Buffs to 3-0 after the opening week in front of a raucous home crowd. The 3,931 fans that filled the CU Events Center were the most for a Buffs nonconference women’s basketball game since December of 2012. They will now get some much-needed time off before hitting the road to take on SMU next Saturday at 7 p.m. MST.