Contact CU Independent Staff Writer Jake Mauff at jacob.mauff@colorado.edu
The University of Colorado women’s basketball team (7-21) could not pull out a victory against the Washington State Cougars (14-14) Thursday night in a 83-70 loss. This loss further entrenches Colorado in last place of the Pac-12 conference.
The Buffs were down by seven when the first quarter ended. After a rally, the team got within three, 30-27, halfway through the second. Washington State pulled away from there. It was a 15-6 run by the Cougars to close the half, 45-33.
The performance was not up to par defensively for the Buffs. They couldn’t buy a stop in this matchup, allowing 52.7 percent of Washington State’s shots to sink. This includes a particularly effective night from behind the arc. An astounding 10 of the Cougars’ 18 three-pointers went through the hoop.
Freshman forward Borislava Hristova led Washington State with 17 points. She was one of five Cougars who scored in double digits.
Colorado couldn’t overcome this type of team performance. This comes despite the fact that freshman guard Kennedy Leonard had a spectacular night. She led the team with 20 points and seven assists. The freshman also hauled in seven rebounds and two steals. All the while, Leonard was not whistled for a foul once.
It wasn’t all sunshine and roses for the guard. She coughed the ball up five times, which led the team.
Another three players scored in double digits for Colorado. They counted for 62 of the team’s 70 total points. The bench for the Buffs only scored eight points. Six of these points came from junior forward Lauren Huggins, who sunk two shots from deep. Washington State’s bench added 31 points to the score.
Fouling certainly didn’t help Colorado. Three players sported at least four fouls by the final buzzer, highlighted by freshman guard Alexis Robinson, who fouled out. But before she did so, she added 11 points for the Buffs.
This led to 17 free throw attempts from the Cougars. The Buffs couldn’t counteract this, only making three of their six attempts from the charity stripe.
Colorado did not have a good offensive night. The Buffs shot 40.5 percent on the night. Three players couldn’t find the net while Huggins took 10 shots, making only two.
This was one of the reasons the Buffs did not have a lead at any point in the game. Washington State made their first field goal, a three, seven seconds into the game, and they never looked back.
Colorado will look to end the season on a high note when they travel to face Washington on Saturday. Tipoff is scheduled for 2 p.m. (MST).
