Gregory Fisher-Imagn Images
The Colorado Buffaloes had a night to forget on Wednesday, falling to the Baylor Bears by a score of 84-62 in a Big 12 battle.
The cards were stacked against the Buffs, with four of their best five players sitting due to injury in Frida Formann, Kindyll Wetta, Lior Garzon and Sara-Rose Smith. Nineteenth-ranked Baylor didn’t hold back despite Colorado’s injury struggles, handing CU a decisive 22-point loss.
Things didn’t start bad for the Buffaloes to open the first quarter, as their defense was swarming Baylor. The Buffs held the Bears to only 3-13 shooting from the field to start the game, while Colorado shot 4-9 on FGs. Baylor and Colorado fought back and forth until BU’s Jada Walker hit a half-court buzzer-beater to put the Bears up 22-14 after the first frame.
To start the second quarter, Colorado completely unraveled from the seams. The Buffs couldn’t hit shots to save their life, going only 4-12 in the period. Meanwhile, Baylor began going nuclear. The Bears found their footing, making eight of their 16 attempts from the floor, including three triples. Colorado’s offensive struggles, paired with their seven second-quarter turnovers and Baylor's ability to finish at the rim, dug them into a deep hole and they headed to halftime down 47-24.
The game was essentially over and lost for Colorado by halftime, but that didn’t stop Baylor from twisting the knife. The Bears continued their scoring onslaught, making six of their nine attempts from three in the third quarter, to extend their lead even further. Colorado’s offensive struggles continued, as they hit only five of their 13 FG attempts and went 0-4 from beyond the arc.
Despite a commanding 30-point deficit hanging over their head, the Buffs didn’t back down. Colorado used the elevation to finally find their footing against Baylor, outscoring the Bears 24-8 in the fourth quarter and finishing the game shooting 7-7 from the floor.
Unfortunately, it was too little too late for the Buffs. The absence of Formann and Garzon was greatly felt, as Colorado shot only 44.2% [23-52] from the floor and a measly 21.4% [3-14] from deep. The fact that the Buffs were bitten by the turnover bug didn’t help either, as CU coughed up the ball 20 times on Wednesday night.
The only silver lining to Wednesday is that Colorado’s freshman got a great development opportunity. Freshman forward Erin Powell looked good against the Bears, as she was a disrupter on the defensive floor all night and finished with six rebounds and seven points.
Jade Masagayo and Johanna Teder acted as CU’s leaders on the floor, finishing with a combined 30 points. Teder had some impressive buckets while working underneath the rim, banking in some impressive no-look layups. Masagayo was Colorado’s rock, making seven of her none attempts from the floor, but only played 18 minutes due to foul trouble.
Former Colorado great and currently Baylor center had herself night against her old team, scoring 10 points and snagging eight boards at the CU Event Center. Vonleh would have played more and almost certainly have got a double-double, but Baylor coach Nicki Collen chose to limit her playtime to only 18 minutes due to the blowout nature of the game.
With the loss, the Buffs move to a record of 17-9 on the season and 8-7 in conference play. Next up will be a tough battle with #24 Oklahoma State in Stillwater. Thankfully, they’ll have Kindyll Wetta back against the Cowgirls. Tipoff will be at 1:00 pm local on ESPN+.
by RylandScholes
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