Snapshot: Washington State 61, CU Buffs women 49
Turning point: After CU tied the game at 41-41 in the fourth quarter, WSU went on a 9-0 run.
Buff of the game: Jaylyn Sherrod. She had 13 points, six assists, six steals and five rebounds.
What’s next?: The Buffs await Selection Sunday, March 12.
LAS VEGAS – The No. 2 and No. 4 seeds were knocked out on Thursday. The No. 1 was eliminated on Friday evening.
By the time the Colorado women’s basketball team hit the floor late Friday night at Michelob Ultra Arena, it was the highest seed still alive, and the stars were seemingly aligned for the third-seeded Buffaloes.
This has been an unpredictable Pac-12 Tournament, however, and like the other top seeds, the Buffaloes saw their run come to an end earlier than expected.
Washington State kept its momentum going with a gritty 61-49 upset of the Buffs.
The seventh-seeded Cougars (22-10) advanced to Sunday’s championship game against fifth-seeded UCLA. It’s the first time in the 12-year history of the event that none of the top four seeds reached the finals, and Washington State is the lowest seed to ever get there. The Cougars will be making their first title game appearance.
“Disappointed with the outcome, disappointed with some things that we could have executed more effectively, things that we really felt like we needed to do to win the game,” CU head coach JR Payne said. “But this time of year every team can beat every team and I think we know that and unfortunately learned it firsthand today. But proud of the season we’ve had so far and very excited for the season that will continue to happen in the next week or two.”
Ranked 20th nationally, Colorado (23-8) is a lock to make the NCAA Tournament and now awaits Selection Sunday, March 15, to find out its next opponent.
Against the Cougars, Aaronette Vonleh had 18 points to lead the Buffs, while Jaylyn Sherrod had 13 points, six assists and five rebounds and Frida Formann had 11 points.
As a team, however, the Buffs hit just 37% of their shots and never led. They did have one big comeback in the tank, but couldn’t come up with a second one.
Down by 16 points two minutes into the third quarter, CU went on a 20-4 run to tie the game at 38-38 going into the fourth.
The game was knotted at 41-41 early in the fourth, but Washington State’s Ula Motuga hit a 3-pointer with 6:15 to play to spark a 9-0 run that buried the Buffs. WSU outscored the Buffs 20-8 in the last 6:15.
“It’s a hard, emotional game to play when you’re down for so long,” Formann said. “You have to keep reminding yourself, ‘We’re good, we’re good, we’ve got it.’ And then finally making a push – and then you’ve gotta sustain it. So it’s just emotional and mentally it’s really tough to play like that. And, that of course just speaks to you have to be ready from the start or you make it more difficult for yourself.”
CU wasn’t nearly as ready as Washington State, which upset No. 2 seed Utah, which is ranked No. 3 nationally, in Thursday’s quarterfinals. The Cougars led 9-2 after the first four minutes and stormed to a 20-6 lead three minutes into the second quarter.
WSU scored only 27 points in the first half, but CU had just 16 – the lowest-scoring half by the Buffs in their Pac-12 Tournament history. The WSU lead reached 16 points early in the third.
Suddenly, the Buffs locked in. They closed the third quarter on a 12-0 run to tie the game at 38-38.
“I just think no matter what, we’re not going to quit,” said Sherrod, who had seven points in the third quarter. “And I think it was a lot of times in the game we could have just laid down and quit, but we stayed together, talked about not going on our islands and just staying together as a team. That’s something we were working on all season. So I think that run really came from us just being connected and not really worried about what the score was and just do what we do.”
The score was tied at 41-41 after a Sherrod free throw with 7:40 to play in the fourth quarter, but Motuga had two big 3-pointers that put a dagger in the Buffs.
Charlisse Leger-Walker led WSU with 15 points, while Bella Murekatete had 12 and Astera Tuhina 10. But, it was Motuga’s nine points and timely 3s that hurt.
There’s always a player on every team I’ll say to the team during scout, ‘Man, I love that kid,’” Payne said. “I think she’s phenomenal. She does everything for them. She can guard, she can score, she can rebound, she can knock down timely shots. She’s an incredible passer. I think she’s definitely an X-factor for them.”
While Motuga and the Cougars move on, the Buffs will look ahead after losing in the semifinals for the second consecutive season.
“I feel like you just learn from it,” Sherrod said. “There’s nothing we can do to change the outcome right now. But all we can do is learn from it, learn from our mistakes, see how we can be better and move on. It’s always an opportunity in any game you play, so it sucks, the outcome. But you’ve just got to learn from it.”
Washington State 61, No. 20 Colorado 49
WASHINGTON STATE (22-10)
Motuga 3-4 0-0 9, Murekatete 6-10 0-1 12, Wallack 1-3 5-6 7, Leger-Walker 6-17 2-2 15, Teder 0-2 0-0 0, Tuhina 3-8 2-2 10, Clarke 3-3 0-0 6, Sarver 1-2 0-0 2, Glazier 0-0 0-0 0, Gardner 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 23-49 9-11 61.
COLORADO (23-8)
Vonleh 9-11 0-0 18, Miller 0-7 0-0 0, Sherrod 5-14 3-6 13, Jones 0-1 0-0 0, Formann 3-12 2-2 11, Sadler 1-3 0-0 2, Wetta 2-5 0-0 5, Wynn 0-1 0-0 0, Whittaker 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 20-54 5-8 49.
Washington State 14 13 11 23 – 61
Colorado 6 10 22 11 – 49
3-point goals – WSU 6-13 (Motuga 3-4, Tuhina 2-4, Leger-Walker 1-4, Wallack 0-1), Colorado 4-18 (Formann 3-9, Wetta 1-1, Sherrod 0-4, Miller 0-2, Sadler 0-1, Wynn 0-1). Rebounds – WSU 33 (Murekatete 8), Colorado 30 (Wetta 6). Assists – WSU 14 (Teder 5), Colorado 12 (Sherrod 6). Steals – WSU 9 (Motuga, Wallack, Clarke 2), Colorado 11 (Sherrod 6). Turnovers – WSU 16, Colorado 14. Total fouls – WSU 15, Colorado 13. Fouled out – Teder. Technical fouls – WSU bench. A – 5,071.
