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TUCSON, Ariz. -- Chucky Jeffery is in the midst of her biggest slump on offense in two years.
Yet, when the Colorado women's basketball team needed a bucket on Sunday afternoon, the junior came through.
Jeffery hit a jumper with 17.7 seconds to play, helping the Buffs snap a three-game losing streak with a 56-54 win over Arizona at the McKale Center.
"I was more than happy when coach called my number," said Jeffery, who finished with just seven points.
Jeffery made just three of nine shots and scored all seven of her points in the second half. She has only 18 points in the past three games combined, hitting eight of 30 shots in that time (26.7 percent). It's the first time she's been held in single digits three straight games since the last three games of her freshman year.
Still, her jumper provided the only two points CU (14-4, 3-4 Pac-12) scored in the final 41/2 minutes.
Arizona (13-6, 2-5) was down five with 4:30 to go, but tied the game to force Jeffery's heroics.
"Chucky had a lot of confidence and turned around and you knew it was going to go in with how she came across there," CU head coach Linda Lappe said. "She wanted the ball and it was a huge shot by Chucky Jeffery."
After Jeffery's bucket, Arizona missed a jumper and then got the rebound out of bounds with 1.7 seconds to play.
The Wildcats called timeout to set up a play, but could not get the ball in bounds against CU's defense, so they called another timeout. Again, the Wildcats couldn't find an opening in the CU defense, so they called a third consecutive timeout.
Coming out of that timeout, the only shot Arizona got was a heave by Candice Warthen from more than 5 feet beyond the 3-part arc. The shot was an airball.
"We knew we needed one," Jeffery said. "The whole game we were going back-and-forth, back-and-forth. We were really glad to get this win."
It came just three days after the Buffs were embarrassed in Tempe, by Arizona State. They responded the way Lappe hoped they would.
"It was a lot of fun," she said. "I'm so proud of our team for stepping up and defending. Our offense, we still didn't make a lot of outside shots, but we did different things. We got to the rim in the first half, we pushed in transition and we got stops."
Brittany Wilson had a great game for the Buffs, leading them with 15 points. She also played exceptional defense throughout, including defending the in-bounds pass on the last play.
Freshman Jen Reese got her first start of the year and provided a spark with 12 points and seven rebounds. Julie Seabrook broke out of a scoring slump with 10 points, to go with five rebounds.
Reiko Thomas led Arizona with 16 points, but the Wildcats' top scorer, Davellyn Whyte was held to just eight points -- 11.7 below her average.
Jeffery had a lot to do with that. Although her scoring wasn't there, she had six rebounds, four assists and three blocks and kept Whyte quiet on offense.
"I knew what my job was," Jeffery said. "I knew I had to keep Davellyn Whyte under control. It wasn't my best shooting game, but I stepped up in a lot of other areas."
So did Wilson, who had her best scoring game since netting 22 in the season opener on Nov. 11.
"It was a battle," she said. "We knew that we had to fight and we needed this game on the road."
Next up for the Buffs is a home game on Thursday against USC.
Notable
Sunday marked the fourth consecutive game in which the Buffs had at least one stretch of 6 minutes or more without a point. ... CU was out-rebounded by 21 (51-30) for the first time since Seton Hall had a plus-28 advantage on Dec. 9, 2008. ... An 11-2 run midway through the second half gave the Buffs a six-point lead and they never trailed again. ... Jeffery has just four first-half points in the last three games combined. ... The Buffs were 2-of-18 from 3-point range and are 7-for-50 from beyond the arc in the past three games. ... One game after a season-high 27 turnovers, CU had a season-low 13 turnovers. ... The Buffs held Arizona to a season-low point total. ... Lappe used her bench for a season-low 35 minutes.
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