The University of Colorado women’s basketball team tacked on their first road win in the Pac-12 on Sunday afternoon, when they beat the University of Utah Utes in Salt Lake City, 73-54.
The win was Colorado’s second win over Utah in consecutive games and marks the Buffaloes’ second conference win of the season. While it took an overtime period for the Buffs to eventually overtake Utah last Wednesday in Boulder, on Sunday the result was never in doubt midway through the second half, as Colorado finished the game up 19 points on the Utes.
Colorado impressed early, jumping out to an 8-0 lead over the Utes. Even so–Utah battled back–going on a 15-4 run to take a 17-16 lead. The Buffs regained their form going into halftime and retook the lead 27-24 behind senior guard Lexy Kresl’s nine first half points.
Kresl, who led Colorado in points for the second straight game with 18 after she had 26 against Utah last Wednesday, also notched five rebounds and four assists. Fellow starters sophomore guard/forward Haley Smith and junior forward Jamee Swan also snached double-digit points for the Buffaloes, with 11 and ten respectively.
It didn’t take very long in the second half for Colorado to put some distance between themselves and the Utes. Behind solid 3-point shooting from Kresl and sophomore guard Lauren Huggins, the Buffaloes took a 50-40 lead at 8:49 in the second, and kept a lead of at least ten points for the remainder of the game. Huggins would finish the game with nine points on three-for-six 3-point shooting, good for a 50 percent 3-point percentage on the day.
After losing the first four games of their 2014-15 conference schedule, the Buffs have recovered to win their last two and push their conference record to 2-4. The sweep over Utah also puts Colorado’s overall record back over .500 at 9-8.
The Buffaloes didn’t shoot many free throws on Sunday, but when they did they found the bottom of the net, managing an impressive 13 free throws made on 14 attempts. Utah was not far behind, with 12 free throws made on 14 attempts.
Whereas turnovers have plagued Colorado this season, they kept them in check in this game with only nine, the first time this season that the Buffaloes have kept that number in single-digits.
Colorado continues their road trip this Friday in Seattle, where they will take on the University of Washington Huskies. Tipoff is at 8 p.m.
Contact CU Independent Assistant Sports Editor Sam Routhier at Samuel.routhier@colorado.edu, or follow him on twitter @samrouthier.
