SEATTLE – Even with a 19-point lead in the second half, the Colorado women’s basketball team knew closing out a conference win on the road wouldn’t be easy.
It wasn’t, but the Buffaloes found a way to get the job done at Alaska Airlines Arena on Friday, knocking off the Washington Huskies, 64-56.
CU (11-3, 1-1 Pac-12) overcame a late rally by the Huskies (9-3, 1-1) to snag its first conference win of the season.
“In mostly every Pac-12 game, teams are gonna go on runs,” sophomore Kindyll Wetta said. “That’s just what happens. Being able to just stay calm and stay collected during those runs is important.”
Back-to-back 3-pointers by Wetta gave the Buffs a commanding 52-33 lead with 3 minutes, 40 second to play in the third quarter. But, the Buffs didn’t hit another field goal for more than nine minutes, as the Huskies went on a 13-1 run to pull within 53-46.
The Buffs made enough plays down the stretch, however, to get out of Seattle with a win.
“I wish the full 40 minutes had looked like the first 20, but that doesn’t always happen,” CU head coach JR Payne said. “So, when it’s ugly, when it’s not going your way, when you’re not doing what you necessarily need to do, to find a way to get it done sometimes it’s enough. For today it was enough. Another day, it may not be, but I thought we sort of dug in and did what we need to do.”
Former Huskies Quay Miller and Tameiya Sadler had plenty to do with the result. Both transferred from Washington to CU a year ago and were playing in Seattle as visitors for the first time.
Miller had a team-high 14 points and eight rebounds, along with four assists, three blocks and three steals. Sadler came off the bench and shot just twice, scoring three points, but added six steals, three rebounds and a block.
Wetta contributed with 12 points, including a career-high three 3-pointers, while Jaylyn Sherrod had 10 points and six assists, Aaronette Vonleh had 10 points and Tayanna Jones had six points and six boards.
“It’s incredible and I love that we have that type of balance to have different people (contribute) and a pretty unselfish group,” Payne said. “For Tameiya to play as hard as she was to have six steals and only took two shots in 24 minutes, finding a way to contribute and impact the game besides just scoring is very unselfish. And I love that about our team.”
For Wetta, it was a much-needed performance. During the first 44 games of her career before Friday, she was 9-of-43 on 3-pointers (20.9%). She made her first three attempts on Friday.
“It felt really good,” she said. “I’ve been working a lot on my shot, it just hasn’t been falling. To be able to hit three 3s today really gives me a boost of confidence and hopefully I can carry that into other games.”
The Buffs are hoping this type of result can carry over to other games. They lost their Pac-12 opener, 85-58, at No. 11 Utah on Dec. 14, but put together a much better effort on both ends of the floor Friday.
“Especially after Utah, that was a tough, tough first road game,” Wetta said. “But then also a tough first road loss, so to come on the road a second straight time and get a win feels pretty awesome.”
Next up is a trip to Pullman, Wash., to face Washington State, and Payne is happy her Buffs got the road trip started on the right foot.
“It’s huge,” Payne said. “To not really play your best and still win on the road, it’s tough to do that in this league. We’ve just got to make sure that we don’t have those lapses (on offense and defense) because it’s hard to do that against the teams in this conference.”
Notable
CU blocked a season-high seven shots. It was the most by a CU team since having seven against Texas Southern on Nov. 23, 2021. … Washington’s only lead was 2-0 and that lasted for only 35 seconds. … CU has won its last three against the Huskies and five of its past six. This was CU’s second consecutive win in Seattle. Washington is scheduled to face the Buffs in Boulder on Feb. 12.
Snapshot: CU Buffs at Washington
Turning point: Although CU had to weather a late Washington run, the main turning point came midway through the second quarter. UW had pulled within 25-20 and CU responded with a 13-3 run to close the half, highlighted by five points from Aaronette Vonleh.
Buff of the game: Quay Miller. The former Husky had 14 points, eight rebounds, four assists, three steals and three blocks against her former team.
What’s next?: The Buffs visit Washington State on Sunday at 5 p.m. MT.
Colorado 64, Washington 56
COLORADO (11-3, 1-1 Pac-12)
Sherrod 3-10 4-4 10, Jones 3-6 0-0 6, Formann 3-8 0-0 7, Miller 6-9 1-2 14, Vonleh 4-9 2-3 10, Sadler 1-2 0-0 3, Wetta 3-5 3-4 12, Wynn 1-1 0-0 2, Whittaker 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 24-52 10-13 64.
WASHINGTON (9-3, 1-1 Pac-12)
Schwartz 4-6 3-4 12, Noble 5-9 0-0 14, Van Dyke 3-8 0-0 7, Daniels 4-7 1-2 9, Oliver 0-2 0-0 0, Stines 1-4 2-2 4, Brown 1-2 0-0 3, Grothaus 2-4 1-2 5, Ladine 1-7 0-0 2, Rees 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 21-50 7-10 56.
Colorado 20 18 15 11 – 64
Washington 14 9 16 17 – 56
3-point goals – CU 6-14 (Wetta 3-4, Formann 1-5, Miller 1-3, Sadler 1-1, Sherrod 0-1), Washington 7-24 (Noble 4-6, Van Dyke 1-5, Schwartz 1-3, Brown 1-2, Ladine 0-5, Stines 0-2, Grothaus 0-1). Rebounds – CU 26 (Miller 8), Washington 32 (Noble 6). Assists – CU 15 (Sherrod 6), Washington 14 (Noble 5). Steals – CU 14 (Sadler 6), Washington 6 (Schwartz, Van Dyke 2). Turnovers – CU 15, Washington 22. Total fouls – CU 17, Washington 13. Fouled out – None. A – 2,318.
