CORAL GABLES, Fla. – For the first time this season, the Colorado women’s basketball team has tasted defeat.
No. 21 Miami raced past the Buffaloes in the second half for a 73-58 victory at Watsco Center on Sunday.
CU (6-1) hit just 34.8 percent of its shots, while the host Hurricanes (7-2) hit 53.1 percent. An over-reliance on the 3-pointer doomed the Buffs, as they went just 5-for-28 from beyond the arc.
“It was a tough road game against a very good basketball team,” CU head coach JR Payne said in a press release from the school. “I thought we competed on the glass, even though we did end up getting out-rebounded. We forced a lot of turnovers. We just did not get to the free-throw line enough. They took twice as many free throws as we did. We probably took too many 3’s. I think that many (28) is too many for our team. There are some things that we need to improve on. That is our goal; to keep getting better and better throughout the preseason. This will give us an opportunity to do so.”
Freshman Sirena “Peanut” Tuitele led the Buffs with 15 points. Senior Kennedy Leonard had just six points, but tied her career high with 13 assists.
Senior Alexis Robinson scored 13 points and topped the 1,000-point mark for her career. The 31st player in CU to reach that milestone, Robinson now has 1,006 points.
CU took a one-point lead, 36-35, on a Robinson layup with 7 minutes, 53 seconds to play in the third quarter, but Miami quickly responded with a 13-1 run. That gave the Hurricanes an 11-point lead, and — over the last 13 minutes— the Buffs never got the deficit under seven.
A 7-0 spurt in the fourth quarter gave Miami its biggest lead, 62-46.
CU held Miami forwards Emese Hof and Beatrice Mompremier to a combined 22 points, but guard Laura Cornelius poured in a game-high 26, going 8-for-11 from the floor.
“Props to them,” Leonard said. “They are a really good team. We stopped their two post players who are their go-to players. The point guard (Cornelius) kind of went off. We have to stop them all. We did a good job stopping the posts; we just could not stop her.”
The Buffs return home to CU Events Center on Thursday to face San Jose State at 7 p.m.
Miami 73, Colorado 58
COLORADO (6-1)
Caylao-Do 2-11 1-2 6, Robinson 6-16 0-0 13, Leonard 2-9 2-4 6, Hollingshed 5-11 0-0 12, Tuitele 5-11 4-4 15, Clarke 1-2 0-0 2, Finau 0-2 0-0 0, Diop 0-0 0-0 0, Jank 2-4 0-0 4. Totals 23-66 7-10 58.
MIAMI (7-2)
Hof 2-4 3-4 7, Mompremier 7-14 1-4 15, Cornelius 8-11 6-6 26, Gray 3-5 1-2 8, Marshall 4-8 0-2 9, Banks 2-5 2-2 8, Mortensen 0-0 0-0 0, Mason 0-1 0-0 0, Huston 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 26-49 13-20 73.
Colorado 15 14 13 16 – 58
Miami 19 12 20 22 – 73
3-point goals – Colorado 5-28 (Hollingshed 2-6, Robinson 1-8, Caylao-Do 1-3, Tuitele 1-3, Leonard 0-4, Finau 0-2, Clarke 0-1, Jank 0-1), Miami 8-16 (Cornelius 4-6, Banks 2-3, Marshall 1-4, Gray 1-2, Mason 0-1). Rebounds – Colorado 33 (Hollingshed 7), Miami 38 (Hof 10). Assists – Colorado 17 (Leonard 13), Miami 13 (Hof, Cornelius 3). Steals – Colorado 10 (Leonard 3), Miami 9 (Banks 3). Turnovers – Colorado 19, Miami 23. Total fouls – Colorado 22, Miami 14. Fouled out – None. A – 896.
