The Colorado Buffaloes women’s basketball team took on the No. 11 Oregon State Beavers on Sunday evening hoping to erase a five-game losing streak.
The Buffs hung around in the first quarter, but by halftime, the team trailed by nine and Oregon State’s ability to shut down sophomore guard Kennedy Leonard paved the Beavers’ route to victory. Colorado trailed by double digits for the entire second half.
After falling behind 7-2 in the early minutes of the game, the Buffaloes cut their deficit. A jumper by sophomore guard Alexis Robinson with 5:25 remaining in the opening quarter put the Buffaloes within three, although they trailed 11-8.
A three-pointer by sophomore forward Makenzie Ellis at the 3:50 mark brought Colorado within two and 44 seconds later, senior forward Zoe Beard-Fails nailed a shot from deep, giving the Buffs their first lead of the game, a 14-13 advantage, with 3:06 left on the clock.
The Buffs and Beavers exchanged baskets in the final minutes of the opening quarter and Oregon State held a 20-17 advantage after ten minutes of play.
The Buffaloes did not make their first shot of the second quarter until the 6:56 mark, at which point Oregon State had built up a 25-17 lead. A three-pointer by Robinson and a jumper by sophomore guard Ariana Freeman brought CU to within three with 6:07 left before halftime.
With just 3:54 left, Freeman made a layup to make the score 27-24 in favor of OSU, but after that basket, the Beavers outscored the Buffs 11-5 and took a 39-28 lead into the locker rooms after 20 minutes of play. Robinson led the Buffaloes with ten points in the first half.
The second half of the game was ugly for Colorado, which was unable to match the Beavers’ offensive output. On the night, CU managed just a 32 percent make rate from the floor, compared to Oregon State, which made about 47 percent of its shots. Colorado was decent from long range, making 7-of-21 shots from deep.
Leonard, noticeably quiet in the game, went just 2-of-10 from the floor and scored just six points.
The Buffs were bullied near the rim, with Oregon State snagging 48 rebounds compared to CU’s 31. The Buffs sent the Beavers to the foul line 17 times in the game, of which OSU made 13.
After just about a minute of play in the third quarter, Oregon State began to increase its lead. With 7:26 remaining in the quarter, Colorado trailed 47-36. The Buffs first faced a 20-point plus deficit with about three minutes remaining in the quarter.
By the end of the quarter, Colorado trailed 66-47. In the final ten minutes, the Buffaloes managed just ten points.
Robinson led the team with 18 points with senior guard/forward Haley Smith leading the team in rebounds with ten. With the loss, the Buffs drop to 11-8 and 1-7 in Pac-12 Conference play.
Up next for the CU women’s basketball team is a home game vs. the Utah Utes on Wednesday, January 25. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. MST. The Buffs and Utes will play each other in consecutive games; Colorado will travel to Salt Lake City this Saturday for a rematch.
Contact CU Independent Head Sports Editor Justin Guerriero at justin.guerriero@colorado.edu and follow him on Twitter @TheHungry_Hippo
