Snapshot: CU Buffs women 67, Oregon State 48
Turning point: Frida Formann scored eight points in the first five minutes to help the Buffs jump to a 16-2 lead that set the tone for the day. CU led by as many as 22 and the lead never dipped below 14 points after that initial surge.
Buff of the game: Jaylyn Sherrod. The senior point guard had 15 points, seven assists, matched her career high with seven steals and committed just one turnover in 30 minutes. The Buffs were plus-24 with her on the court.
What’s next?: The Buffs return home to host Washington State on Friday at 7 p.m.
CORVALLIS, Ore. – Jaylyn Sherrod didn’t hesitate when asked if she and the Colorado women’s basketball team like playing on the road.
“No,” she said emphatically. “Absolutely not.”
The Buffaloes certainly know how to handle the road, however.
On Sunday, Sherrod set the tone for a dominant performance as the Buffs rolled past Oregon State, 67-48, at Gill Coliseum.
It matched the largest margin of victory in a Pac-12 road game in the Buffs’ 12 seasons in the conference. It also improved the Buffs’ conference road record to 5-2 this season as they completed an impressive weekend sweep of the Oregon schools. CU (18-5, 9-3 Pac-12) is guaranteed a winning record in Pac-12 road games for the first time since 2012-13.
“I think we still have the underdog mentality of just who this team is, from a respect level,” Sherrod said of going on the road. “I think going into this game and going into any game on the road, you’re coming into a hostile environment, you’ve got to create your own energy.”
Sherrod sparked the Buffs early and finished with 15 points, seven assists and a career-high tying seven steals. She had four steals and five assists in the first quarter as the Buffs jumped to an early 16-2 lead and 21-6 advantage by the end of the first quarter. CU’s lead stretched to 28-6 midway into the second quarter.
“Jaylyn I think set the tone for us defensively early, which kick-started our transition offense,” CU head coach JR Payne said. “All of that I thought was really important and she kind of started that.”
CU had lost seven straight at Gill Coliseum, including a heart-breaking overtime defeat a year ago. Sherrod, who had been 0-3 in this building, didn’t forget last year, when she made just 2-of-9 shots, scored four points, had one assist and no steals.
“I kind of took today personal,” she said. “We only play them once (this season) and last year just left a bad taste in my mouth. I just wanted to come out here with a lot of energy. … I know my best attribute to this team is my energy, so I just take that personally and come out here with a lot of it.”
Sherrod’s teammates followed her lead. Quay Miller struggled with her shot (6-of-21), but still finished with 15 points and a career-high 19 rebounds. Frida Formann scored eight points in the Buffs’ opening surge and finished with 13, along with seven rebounds.
Meanwhile, the Buffs locked down defensively all afternoon.
OSU’s top two scorers, Talia von Oelhoffen and Raegan Beers, finished with zero and eight points, respectively, on a combined 3-of-15 shooting. Payne credited her players for their preparation and execution.
“(The Beavers) run so much stuff (offensively), so our staff really decided, ‘Let’s show (CU’s players) the main ones; the things we think we’re going to see but we can’t feed them everything,’” Payne said. “Our team just locked in and said, ‘We’re defending. We’re gonna guard,’ and did a great job of that.
“We knew we wanted to try to be disruptive as best we could, but that was, like, next level disruption, so I was really proud of that.”
Keeping it up for 40 minutes was equally impressive, as Oregon State has rallied before. On Friday, the Beavers were down by 18 against No. 7 Utah before forcing overtime in a loss.
“Oregon State seems to always find a way to come back,” Sherrod said. “We kept that in the back of our minds the whole game.”
CU wouldn’t let the Beavers (11-12, 3-9) back into this one, as it completed an important and pivotal weekend sweep to remain in the top three of the conference standings.
“It’s huge,” Payne said. “We just want to win out. We want to win every game and we think we’re capable of that. But to do it on the road … you can’t try to Jedi mind trick your kids. Everybody knows it’s hard to win on the road for a lot of reasons, so to do that Friday (and Sunday) was awesome. So incredible.”
Notable
Miller posted her third double-double in the last four games. … Aaronette Vonleh finished with eight points before fouling out. That snapped a streak of 17 consecutive games of scoring in double figures. … The Buffs are 9-3 in their last l2 conference road games. They were 10-55 in the 65 before this stretch. … This was only the sixth two-game weekend road sweep for the Buffs in Pac-12 play (in 45 tries) since joining the conference.
Colorado 67, Oregon State 48
COLORADO (18-5, 9-3 Pac-12)
Sherrod 5-10 4-6 15, Jones 1-4 0-0 2, Formann 4-9 2-2 13, Miller 6-21 1-1 15, Vonleh 3-7 2-2 8, Sadler 1-2 0-0 2, Wetta 1-2 0-0 2, Wynn 2-5 0-0 6, McLeod 0-0 0-0 0, Whittaker 2-3 0-0 4. Totals 25-63 9-11 67.
OREGON STATE (11-12, 3-9 Pac-12)
Yeaney 2-6 3-4 7, Mannen 0-3 0-0 0, Mitrovic 1-4 0-0 2, von Oelhoffen 0-8 0-0 0, Gardiner 4-7 3-4 13, Aaron 1-1 0-0 3, Hansford 1-3 0-0 3, Marotte 0-2 0-0 0, Beers 3-7 2-3 8, Blacklock 3-5 0-0 9, PIetsch 1-3 1-2 3. Totals 16-49 9-15 48.
Colorado 21 14 16 16 – 67
Oregon State 6 14 13 15 – 48
3-point goals – Colorado 8-20 (Formann 3-5, Miller 2-6, Wynn 2-4, Sherrod 1-4, Whittaker 0-1), OSU 7-20 (Blacklock 3-4, Gardiner 2-4, Hansford 1-3, Aaron 1-1, von Oelhoffen 0-3, Yeaney 0-2, Mannen 0-1, Marotte 0-1, Pietsch 0-1). Rebounds – Colorado 46 (Miller 19), OSU 26 (Beers 10). Assists – Colorado 14 (Sherrod 7), OSU 11 (Yeaney, von Oelhoffen, Pietsch 3). Steals – Colorado 8 (Sherrod 7), OSU 3 (3 players with 1). Turnovers – Colorado 13, OSU 13. Total fouls – Colorado 22, OSU 11. Fouled out – Vonleh, Whittaker. Technical fouls – OSU coach. A – 4,338.
