Fast break
Why the Buffs won: They were composed in crunch time, making big plays on offense and defense down the stretch to overcome some miscues early in the game. In particular, CU limited late turnovers and went 8-for-15 from the floor in the fourth quarter.
Three stars:
1. CU’s Tabitha Betson: Had the best game of her freshman season, with a season-high 16 points, as well as seven rebounds.
2. CU’s Kennedy Sanders: She was clutch late, scoring seven of her 14 points in the fourth quarter. She also had two assists and two rebounds.
3. Arizona’s Skylar Jones: Finished with a game-high 17 points.
Up next: The Buffs will face top-seeded and No. 8-ranked TCU in the quarterfinals of the Big 12 Tournament in Kansas City, Mo., on Friday (12:30 p.m. MT, ESPNU).
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – There were plenty of moments on Thursday afternoon when the Colorado women’s basketball team appeared to be headed for a disappointing defeat.
This game, however, might be remembered as the moment when a few of the young Buffs grew up.
Freshmen Tabitha Betson and Kennedy Sanders were exceptional, especially in crunch time, to lead CU to a come-from-behind 61-58 victory against Arizona in the second round of the Big 12 Tournament at T-Mobile Center.
The ninth-seeded Buffs (20-11) will face top-seeded TCU (28-3) in Friday’s quarterfinals.
“I’m just so excited, so proud of our team,” CU head coach JR Payne said. “Total team win. So many different key plays from different players at different moments, whether it was Kennedy hitting a 3, or Tabitha making a game-winning free throw, or Grace (Oliver’s) rebounds, or (Sara-Rose Smith) coming in playing very injured or Kindyll (Wetta) playing with four fouls.
“Honest to goodness, I could name every player on the team and what they did to contribute to today’s victory. And I’m just really, really, really proud of our team and our resilience, and excited for tomorrow’s game.”
Betson scored a season-high 16 points and led the Buffs with seven rebounds. Sanders scored 14 points off the bench. And, seniors Sara-Rose Smith and Lior Garzon were key at different times to rally their team.
Against the eighth-seeded Wildcats, CU twice trailed by double digits, including a 10-point deficit after Arizona’s Skylar Jones scored on a put-back with 9 minutes, 19 seconds left in the fourth.
CU, which committed a dismal 33 turnovers in Wednesday’s win against Houston, opened the fourth quarter with its 18th turnover of the game. The Buffs didn’t have another one in the last 9:30, outscoring the Wildcats 21-8.
“We talked about being all in it together, and I think we were today,” Sanders said. “We kind of talked about not leaving each other on the island, and played really well as a team. And we also switched up our press break and worked on it a lot, but just having everyone be able to be confident, dribble with the ball on the floor, being there for each other.”
The tide turned when Garzon hit a layup with 8:31 to go while drawing a third foul on Jones. Garzon, who had 21 points on Wednesday, was scoreless until that layup, but she scored nine points in CU’s rally.
Garzon also hit a 3-pointer to slice the Arizona lead to three with 6:22 to play and then gave CU a 58-56 lead with a jumper with 1:28 to play. She drew a foul on that one, too, although she missed the ensuing free throw.
“I thought Lior’s and-one on the elbow jumper was just one of the biggest plays of the game,” Payne said. “It takes a tremendous amount of composure to make that shot.”
Composure is not a quality CU displayed much on Wednesday or for big parts of Thursday, but Sanders and Betson provided a lot of it.
Sanders, a redshirt freshman, scored seven points in the fourth and Betson capped her day with a free throw with 15.9 seconds left to boost the lead to three.
“I think a big thing was trust in this game,” Betson said. “There’s been other times where it’s been crunch and we’ve kind of been like, ‘Who do we turn to?’ Kind of looking at each other, like, ‘What do we do?’ But I think today was a big step for us. And looking at each other and being like, ‘I trust you to handle the ball.’ We trust each other to be there as we need each other. So I think that’s a big thing.”
CU struggled out of the gate, falling behind 14-3, while going 1-for-8 from the floor and committing six turnovers in the first eight minutes. The Buffs rallied to tie the game, 26-26, at halftime, though, as Smith came off the bench to score seven points and shift momentum.
The Buffs then piled up seven turnovers in the third quarter, but regained composure for the stretch run.
“I think we’ve shown our resilience all year long, with different people being injured and out, different lineups, people playing out of position, having to go from maybe eight minutes a game to 35 minutes a game,” Payne said. “I mean, it’s a very, very resilient group. I think that’s the biggest strength of our team.”
Colorado 61, Arizona 58
COLORADO (20-11)
Garzon 4-9 0-2 9, Masogayo 2-8 1-2 5, Betson 7-11 1-2 16, Wetta 1-5 2-2 4, Teder 1-3 0-0 3, Oliver 1-3 0-2 2, Johnson 0-1 0-0 0, Sanders 5-9 2-2 14, Smith 3-5 0-0 7, Powell 0-0 1-2 1. Totals 24-54 7-14 61.
ARIZONA (19-13)
Cunningham 2-7 0-0 4, Beh 4-8 1-2 9, Williams 5-11 1-2 13, Jones 7-10 3-4 17, Paris 1-6 0-0 2, Knezevic 2-5 0-0 5, Rolf 1-3 0-0 2, Swann 2-6 0-0 6. Totals 24-56 5-8 58.
Colorado 7 19 14 21 – 61
Arizona 14 12 22 10 – 58
3-point goals – Colorado 6-17 (Sanders 2-4, Garzon 1-5, Betson 1-4, Teder 1-2, Smith 1-1, Oliver 0-1), Arizona 5-20 (Williams 2-6, Swann 2-5, Knezevic 1-1, Paris 0-4, Beh 0-2, Jones 0-2). Rebounds – Colorado 33 (Betson 7), Arizona 37 (Beh 14). Assists – Colorado 15 (Wetta 5), Arizona 13 (Williams 5). Steals – Colorado 7 (Teder 3), Arizona 7 (Beh 3). Turnovers – Colorado 18, Arizona 18. Total fouls – Colorado 13, Arizona 21. Fouled out – Rolf.
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