WACO, Texas – Typically, the Colorado women’s basketball team isn’t one that will back down after falling into a hole.
On Saturday, the Buffaloes once again proved their grit with a couple of big rallies, but they couldn’t muster a third.
Fueled by a run late in the third quarter, Baylor cruised past the Buffs 76-62 on Saturday at Foster Pavilion.
The Buffs (10-4, 1-2 Big 12) trailed by as many as 19 points late in the game as they finished off an 0-2 week in Texas. They also lost at No. 11 TCU on Wednesday.
“Proud of the way our team battled,” CU head coach JR Payne said. “We were down double digits two times. Brought it back to three points. Brought it back to four points. It shows that this team has a lot of fight. But they were better than us for the part of the game that mattered most.”
Darianna Littlepage-Buggs had a double-double (16 points, 10 rebounds) to lead Baylor, while former Buffs star Aaronette Vonleh had 15 points and three steals against her former team.
CU was led by Jade Masogayo’s 13 points and six rebounds and an impressive performance off the bench by true freshman Grace Oliver (seven points, nine rebounds).
The Buffs led throughout the first quarter but fell behind 35-26 late in the second. Back-to-back 3-pointers from Kindyll Wetta and Johanna Teder sliced the Baylor lead to 35-32 at intermission, but CU was outscored 12-4 in the first 3:08 of the third quarter.
Over the next 3:40, CU went on an 8-0 run to claw within 47-44. That changed in a hurry, though.
Baylor’s Jada Walker hit a 3-pointer while the Buffs were whistled for a foul away from the play. Bella Fontleroy hit both free throws to convert a five-point play for the Bears. One minute and two CU turnovers later, the Baylor lead was back up to 12.
“I think the biggest change in the game was the five-point play; when we brought it all the way back to three points, and then that’s just a dagger,” Payne said. “But that’s no excuse. I mean, it’s a five-point play. It went from three to eight, and the game is not out of reach at that point.
“We have to be able to take something negative like that and be able to reset, refocus, make sure we’re on the same page and keep moving forward. We can’t allow something like that to sort of derail us.”
CU never fully recovered from that sequence, though, and trailed by at least 10 points throughout the final 12 minutes.
Coming off a humbling, 23-point loss at home to Oklahoma State on Wednesday, Baylor got itself back on track. Now the Buffs will look to do the same as they head home to face Central Florida on Wednesday.
“Everything for us this year is just brand new – new travel, new teams, new opponents, new faces, new styles of play – and we’re just going to have to embrace it, learn from it, and move on,” Payne said. “I think we have the team that can compete with any team in our conference, but it is a really great conference, and so having a short memory, as far as, what did we do well, what did we not do well, we have to learn how to fix it. And then we got to move on and prepare for the next one because everything comes so quickly.”
Notable
CU finished with a season-low nine assists, ending a streak of 20 consecutive games with double-digit assists, dating back to last season. … Senior Frida Formann, who made at least two 3-pointers in each of her first eight games this season, went 0-for-9 from beyond the arc on this week’s two-game road trip. She did have 10 points against Baylor, however, after scoring just one at TCU.
Fast break
Why the Buffs lost: Offensively, the Buffs made just 38.6% of their shots and posted 20 turnovers. Those turnovers, as well as foul trouble, contributed to Baylor going on several little runs to put the game away.
Three stars:
1. Baylor’s Darianna Littlepage-Buggs: She gave the Buffs trouble all afternoon, leading all players with 16 points and 10 rebounds. She also had three assists and two blocked shots.
2. Baylor’s Sarah Andrews: Ran off the offense well all day, finishing with 12 points, seven assists and three rebounds.
3. CU’s Grace Oliver: The freshman came off the bench to lead CU with nine rebounds. She also had seven points on 3-of-4 shooting, and two steals.
Up next: CU returns home to host Central Florida on Wednesday at the CU Events Center (7 p.m., ESPN+).
Baylor 76, Colorado 62
COLORADO (10-4, 1-2 Big 12)
Formann 5-16 0-0 10, Smith 1-3 0-0 2, Garzon 2-8 0-0 5, Masogayo 5-9 3-6 13, Wetta 2-5 2-2 7, Johnson 1-1 2-5 4, Sanders 0-1 0-0 0, Powell 0-0 0-0 0, Diew 2-6 4-4 9, Betson 0-2 2-2 2, Teder 1-2 0-0 3, Oliver 3-4 0-1 7. Totals 22-57 13-20 62.
BAYLOR (12-3, 2-1 Big 12)
Littlepage-Buggs 8-13 0-0 16, Walker 4-8 2-2 11, Vonleh 6-11 3-5 15, Fontleroy 5-12 4-4 15, Andrews 3-8 4-4 12, Felder 1-3 4-5 6, Bartley 0-0 1-2 1, Jennings 0-1 0-0 0, Nelms 0-1 0-0 0, Matharu 0-0 0-0 0, Abraham 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 27-58 18-22 76.
Colorado 17 15 14 16 – 62
Baylor 16 19 24 17 – 76
3-point goals – Colorado 5-19 (Diew 1-3, Garzon 1-2, Wetta 1-2, Oliver 1-2, Teder 1-1, Formann 0-7, Smith 0-1, Betson 0-1), Baylor 4-14 (Andrews 2-4, Fontleroy 1-5, Walker 1-2, Littlepage-Buggs 0-2, Felder 0-1). Rebounds – Colorado 35 (Oliver 9), Baylor 34 (Littlepage-Buggs 10). Assists – Colorado 9 (Formann, Wetta 2), Baylor 16 (Andrews 7). Steals – Colorado 9 (Formann 4), Baylor 8 (Vonleh 3). Turnovers – Colorado 20, Baylor 16. Total fouls – Colorado 24, Baylor 15. Fouled out – None. Attendance – 3,764.
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