Fast break
Why the Buffs lost: Too many missed open shots, especially at the rim, cost the Buffs. They also got beat on the boards (30-27) and racked up too many turnovers (17).
Three stars:
1. OSU’s Talia von Oelhoffen: Hit just 3-of-11 shots from the floor, but was 9-of-9 at the free throw line and finished with 16 points, four assists and two steals.
2. OSU’s Donovyn Hunter: The freshman, who averages 5.3 points, scored a season-high 16 and added four assists.
3. CU’s Jaylyn Sherrod: Posted a game-high 19 points, along with five rebounds, three steals and two assists.
Up next: CU visits Oregon on Sunday at 1 p.m. MT in Eugene, Ore.
CORVALLIS, Ore. – The best version of the Colorado women’s basketball team – the version that has knocked off three top-10 opponents and been dominant most nights – didn’t show up at Gill Coliseum on Friday night.
Fortunately for CU, the version that did take the court doesn’t show up often.
An inspired Oregon State squad, which jumped into the national rankings at No. 25 earlier this week, took the third-ranked Buffaloes out of their game in pulling off the 68-62 upset in front of its home crowd.
“Very uncharacteristic,” CU head coach JR Payne said of her team’s performance. “Just so many things we’re going to look at and be like, wow. Just things that we don’t do. Just like missing bunnies (layups) and traveling at the rim when we don’t need to. Stuff like that.
“Itap really not the end of the world. Letap look at it, letap learn from it, letap figure it out.”
Jaylyn Sherrod had 19 points and Frida Formann 13 for the Buffs (16-3, 6-2 Pac-12), but it wasn’t nearly enough as Oregon State (16-3, 5-3) extended its home winning streak to 14 games. The Beavers were 0-3 against ranked opponents before Friday’s win.
In what was a close game throughout, the momentum shifted to OSU late in the third quarter.
CU was down 43-40 and had the ball going into the final seconds of the third quarter, but turned it over. OSU’s Talia von Oelhoffen collected the ball, dribbled and then tried a half-court heave at the buzzer. The shot was off, but CU’s Aaronette Vonleh put her hand on von Oelhoffen’s back just before she shot the ball.
It didn’t appear that Vonleh shoved von Oelhoffen, but officials ruled it was not only a shooting foul, but an intentional foul. Von Oelhoffen drained all three free throws to push the lead to six, allowing OSU to close the quarter on an 8-2 run.
“I’d have to watch it,” Payne said. “There’s no way it was an intentional foul. Aaronette Vonleh is not wired that way. … She probably did have her hands on her back, but to give her the three shots and then the ball, huge moment.”
The foul was Vonleh’s fourth, as well, which limited her in the fourth quarter. Then OSU quickly increased the lead to 48-40 early in the final quarter.
“I think it was very pivotal,” Payne said of that sequence. “That was obviously a huge play.”
CU never fully recovered on a night when the offense sputtered. The Buffs finished with their second-lowest point total of the season and second-lowest field goal percentage (.396), along with season lows in rebounds (27) and assists (seven) and their fifth-highest turnover total (17).
“Yeah, lots of layups (missed),” Payne said. “We’ll probably count them up and discover that there were a lot of missed layups at the rim. And then a lot of turnovers: travels, things that I thought were pretty self-inflicted. Not that (the Beavers) weren’t defending well, but just traveling, things that we don’t typically do. I’m not sure why we would have turned the ball over like we did, so that was frustrating because that made it difficult to get any sort of offensive rhythm and flow.”
Defensively, the Buffs contained OSU star center Raegan Beers, holding her to six points and nine rebounds – well below her averages of 19.4 points and 11.6 rebounds – but von Oelhoffen and Donovyn Hunter, who average 15.7 points as a duo, combined for 32.
“Definitely did our best (on Beers), but we just let these other kids hurt us in ways that we didn’t adjust quick enough,” Payne said. “That ended up being the story of the game.”
Notable
CU started the game 11-for-18 from the floor and led by 10 in the second quarter. Over the last 26 minutes, however, the Buffs went 8-for-30 and got outscored by 16. … CU is 1-54 in its last 55 games against Top 25 opponents on the road. … OSU is 9-2 all-time against CU in Corvallis. … CU had been 4-0 on the road before Friday’s loss.
No. 25 Oregon State 68, No. 3 Colorado 62
COLORADO (16-3, 6-2 Pac-12)
Sherrod 7-14 4-5 19, Forman 3-5 6-6 13, Miller 1-7 2-2 4, Vonleh 3-6 6-6 12, Nolan 1-2 0-0 3, Sadler 2-4 0-0 4, Smith 1-2 0-0 2, Wetta 1-6 3-4 5, McLeod 0-1 0-0 0, Whittaker 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 19-48 21-23 62.
OREGON STATE (16-3, 5-3 Pac-12)
Hunter 7-14 1-2 16, Marotte 4-5 0-0 10, Beers 3-7 0-2 6, von Oelhoffen 3-11 9-9 16, Rees 3-3 0-0 7, Shuler 1-1 0-0 2, Hansford 0-0 0-0 0, Paurova 0-0 0-0 0, Blacklock 1-4 0-2 3, Gardiner 3-7 2-2 8, Heide 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 25-52 12-17 68.
Colorado 20 10 10 22 – 62
Oregon State 14 18 14 22 – 68
3-point field goals – Colorado 3-11 (Sherrod 1-3, Formann 1-2, Nolan 1-1, Wetta 0-3, Miller 0-2), OSU 6-15 (Marotte 2-2, von Oelhoffen 1-5, Hunter 1-3, Blacklock 1-2, Rees 1-1, Gardiner 0-2). Rebounds – Colorado 27 (Miller 8), OSU 30 (Beers 9). Assists – Colorado 7 (Sherrod 2), OSU 14 (Hunter, von Oelhoffen 4). Steals – Colorado 9 (Sherrod, Formann 3), OSU 9 (Beers 3). Turnovers – Colorado 17, OSU 19. Total fouls – Colorado 20, OSU 17. Fouled out – Sherrod. Attendance – 5,262.
