On the brink of finals week at the University of Colorado, the Colorado women’s basketball team has failed their first road test of the season in back-to-back losses. Last Sunday they lost to Iowa in Iowa City 78-63, and Friday night the Buffaloes dropped their second consecutive road game to the Missouri Tigers in Columbia, MO, 53-50.
After a near-flawless first half left Colorado leading by 12, the Buffaloes extended that lead to 15 early in the second half. But it was all downhill from there, as Missouri capitalized on seven Colorado fouls in the first 10 minutes of the second half to tie the game at 40-40. Colorado struggled mightily to score in the second half, and after scoring 33 in the first half they failed to even eclipse 20 in the second half, managing only 17 points. The Buffaloes finished the game with 19 fouls after fouling only six times in the first half.
Trailing 52-50 with 21 seconds left in the game, Colorado came out of a timeout looking to score on the last possession of the game when senior forward Jen Reese got fouled on a loose ball and went to the free throw line for a one-and-one. Reese missed the free throw, and a foul on the subsequent loose ball sent Missouri to the charity stripe on the other end. Senior guard Bree Fowler made one of two free throws for the Tigers, giving Colorado possession, down 53-50, with nine seconds left.
On that last possession of the game, a pass from senior guard Lexy Kresl to sophomore guard Lauren Huggins was tipped out of bounds by the Tigers, leaving Colorado to inbound the ball under the basket with 1.4 seconds left. The subsequent inbounds to Kresl gave her no option but to take a deep 3-pointer in front of the scorer’s table, which missed as time expired.
Kresl led Colorado with 17 points, which ties for her second highest total of the season behind her 20 points against Western Kentucky on November 17. 15 of her 17 points came off of 3-pointers, and she was five-for-11 from 3-point range in the game. Jen Reese, who has led the team with 16.0 points-per-game so far this season, scored only six points but led the team with 11 rebounds.
The Buffaloes pushed the pace and got ahead of the Tigers early, outscoring Missouri 33-21 while limiting them to only two field goals in the final 10 minutes of the half. Missouri led 17-16 at the 10:35 mark before Colorado went on a 17-4 run to end the half. Nine Colorado players scored points in the first half, and they shot 43.3% in the half, including 57.1% from 3-point range (four for seven). Kresl led Colorado with eight first-half points.
This was the 70th meeting all-time between Colorado and Missouri, who were both members of the Big eight/Big 12 before 2012, when Colorado joined the Pac-12 and Missouri the SEC. The Buffaloes lead the all-time series at 42-28.
Colorado (6-3) returns home to host Wyoming (5-4) in the Coors Events Center on December 21, tip-off at 2 p.m.
Contact CU Independent Assistant Sports Editor Sam Routhier at samuel.routhier@colorado.edu and follow him on twitter @samrouthier.
