Fast break
Why the Buffs won: It wasn’t a particularly great game for the Buffs, but they won because they’re the better team and their best players – Jaylyn Sherrod, Quay Miller and Frida Formann – showed up and played well.
Three stars:
1. Frida Formann: She had 23 points and tied the school record with seven three-pointers (7-for-10).
2. Quay Miller: Posted a double-double with 21 points and 11 rebounds, while shooting well (7-for-11) and hitting four 3-pointers.
3. Jaylyn Sherrod: Had the second double-double of her career, with 11 points and a career-high 13 assists. Also had five rebounds.
Up next: CU has a long break before its next contest, at home against Northern Colorado on Dec. 21.
It says a lot about the growth of the Colorado women’s basketball program that it can cruise to a win and nearly hit the century mark and view it as an off game.
On Tuesday, the No. 8-ranked Buffaloes weren’t particularly sharp, but were never threatened, either, in rolling to a 95-74 win against UT-Arlington at the CU Events Center.
“We’ve come a long ways when you can be not on could nine winning by 20,” CU head coach JR Payne said. “But again, I think it speaks to, as far as coaches, we just are wired to figure out how can we be our best? And I think, especially … the upperclassmen that have really been here, we expect ourselves to be really good. And we expect to do our job and do it at a high level and all those things. So I think we have big goals and big dreams for the season, so we want to continue to be better every night.
“I’m also smart enough to be able to celebrate the really great things that we did, as well. So proud of lots of things in the stat sheet and excited for some opportunity to focus on ourselves (during the break).”
In the final game before a 16-day break, the Buffs (9-1) got through what wasn’t their best performance by relying on their veterans to lead a dominant effort.
Frida Formann scored 23 points and tied the school-record with seven 3-pointers. Quay Miller had season highs in points (21) and rebounds (11). Jaylyn Sherrod had a career-high 13 assists to go along with 11 points for her second career double-double. And, Aaronette Vonleh scored 14 points.
That group helped the Buffs put on an entertaining show for a crowd of 2,673 that included roughly 1,000 kids who showed up for the 11 a.m. tipoff on Field Trip Day.
“I’m not a morning person, so I told the guards in our (pregame) breakdown, ‘Feed off the kids’ energy if you have to because kids, they’re just going to bring high energy,’” Sherrod said. “They’re just excited to be here, so I think itap our responsibility to come out and still play with great energy and feed off of that. So I think it was great.
“Me and Frida kind of went to the kids after the game just thanking them for coming out. Because I mean, no matter who’s in the stands, old, young, whatever, itap always good to have people in the stands supporting, so I just thanked them. Itap our responsibility to go out and give them a good game and show gratefulness.”
The Buffs missed too many layups for their liking, allowed UT-Arlington (1-8) to get too comfortable on offense, especially early, and didn’t pull away as much as might have been expected.
However, they set the tone with a 29-point first quarter and took a 51-36 lead into halftime after Formann drained her sixth 3-pointer of the half – the most in a half in CU history.
“I was just feeling it,” said Formann, who made 7-of-10 3-pointers on the day. “I think itap always really fun with the kids because they just scream and they’re just so energetic and really fun to play in front of. The minute you do something cool, they hype you up, so that was fun.”
CU’s lead grew to 29 points in the third and it coasted to the finish line against a Mavericks team that had its second-best shooting percentage of the season (.426) and forced 15 turnovers with 10 steals.
“We also know that we’re a top team in the country, so we’re gonna get everybody’s best,” Sherrod said. “I think thatap just a tribute to the team. Nobody’s going to just lay down because they’re playing us or expect not to compete. So I just think thatap a testament to just who we are as a ball club and in the respect that we’ve been given.”
Notable
The previous record for 3-pointers in a half was five, done seven times, most recently by Emma Clarke on Dec. 12, 2019. … Formann’s game total was the 10th time a Buff has made seven 3s in a game. She was the last to do it, on Nov. 6 against LSU in the opener. … Sherrod finished just two assists shy of tying the school record.
No. 8 Colorado 95, UT-Arlington 74
UT-ARLINGTON (1-8)
Threatt 1-8 4-5 6, Brittingham 3-5 2-4 10, Adams 7-18 0-0 15, Clark 4-9 1-2 11, Valkova 1-1 0-0 2, Haizlip 1-4 2-2 5, Lee 6-7 5-6 18, Humphrey 2-4 0-0 5, Perkins 1-3 0-0 2, Perry 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 26-61 14-19 74.
COLORADO (9-1)
Sherrod 5-11 1-2 11, Sadler 0-2 0-0 0, Formann 8-12 0-0 23, Miller 7-11 3-3 21, Vonleh 5-10 4-7 14, Atchison 3-3 0-0 6, Smith 2-4 0-0 4, Wetta 1-9 0-0 2, Sanders 0-4 0-0 0, Nolan 3-7 0-0 8, McLeod 2-5 0-0 4, Whittaker 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 37-80 8-12 95.
UT-Arlington 23 13 19 19 – 74
Colorado 29 22 26 18 – 95
3-point goals – UTA 8-17 (Clark 2-4, Brittingham 2-2, Adams 1-3, Haizlip 1-2, Lee 1-2, Humphrey 1-2, Threatt 0-2), Colorado 13-30 (Formann 7-10, Miller 4-7, Nolan 2-6, Wetta 0-3, Sanders 0-2, Smith 0-1, Sherrod 0-1). Rebounds – UTA 31 (Brittingham, Clark 6), Colorado 49 (Miller 11). Assists – UTA 10 (Threatt 3), Colorado 28 (Sherrod 13). Steals – UTA 10 (Brittingham 3), Colorado 9 (Miller 3). Turnovers – UTA 12, Colorado 15. Total fouls – UTA 12, Colorado 13. Fouled out – None. Attendance – 2,673.
