In the first game of the CSU double header, the women’s basketball team decimated the CSU Rams 72-46 and increased its season record to 7-0 at the Coors Events Center Wednesday evening.
The last time Rams beat the Buffs was on Dec. 11, 2009; however, for three years the Buffs have had effortless wins.
Freshman Arielle Roberson runs through CSU defender on her way to the basket. Roberson scored 8 points durring the first half. (Amy Leder/CU Independent)
“We felt like we had to come out early — its CSU, it’s our rivalry game,” said junior Brittany Wilson. “We knew we had to come out strong in the beginning.”
The lady Buffs played aggressively both on offensive and defensive, owning 24 offensive boards and 35 on defense. Also, their solid man-to-man defense put up five steals.
“You look at your rebounding both offensively and defensively,” coach Linda Lappe said. “We showed a lot of toughness. We showed a lot of hustle. Rebounding is all hustle, it’s all heart.”
Senior Chucky Jeffery posted four points, four assists, two steals and 12 blocks. Jeffery led the team in blocks and has already passed her season high for rebounding.
Freshman Arielle Roberson, who has earned three Pac-12 Conference freshman of the week awards, put up ten points. Three other Buffs made it into double digits: Jen Reese (11), Jamee Swan (11) and Brittany Wilson (13).
CU shot 39.5 percent and 42.9 percent from behind the arc after the first half.
The Buffs had a bit of a height advantage over the Rams, which brought some nice post presence. The forwards fought extremely hard in the post. Down low, the Buffs were often double teamed or even triple teamed. This gave CU the easy kick-out, which provided them with most of their points.
At just under the 12-minute mark of the first half, the Buffs were shooting over 50 percent and limited the Rams to fewer than 22 percent.
With less than 20 seconds left in the half, the Buffs had the ball out-of-bounds. With a well-executed play, they put up another two points before the half ended. The Buffs had a commanding lead with 20 points going into half at 37-17.
The bench proved to be very beneficial for the Buffs as they put up 33 points compared to CSU’s five bench points.
Caitlyn Duffy led for the Rams with 19 points.
Less than eight minutes into the second half, back-to-back three pointers were drained by freshman Lauren Huggins and senior Meagan Malcom-Peck. After a time out, Huggins returned to the floor to hit yet another basket from behind the arc.
There was no turning back for the Buffs. Their explosive offensive and tenacious defense held a 30-point lead with a minute left of play.
The next lady Buffs basketball game with be at 7 p.m. Dec. 11 against Denver University.
Contact CU Independent Staff Writer Jessica Malknecht at Jessica.melknecht@colorado.edu.
