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Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports
The Buffs couldn’t contain the freshman phenom.
The 11th ranked Colorado Buffaloes lost their third straight game on Friday night, this time to the 7th ranked USC Trojans in Los Angeles.
While Colorado was recently outmuscled by Oregon State and Utah in low-scoring matches, this was a high-scoring affair where the Buffs did everything they could to keep up with a hot shooting opponent.
It’s not often Colorado shoots 57% from the field and 53% from three and loses, but that’s what happened in the Galen Center. USC was absurdly efficient, as they shot 56% from the field, 68% from three on nineteen attempts (!) and made 24 of 25 free throws.
Colorado did everything they could to stop freshman star JuJu Watkins. JR Payne sent everyone at Watkins and tried to get the ball out of her hands. That worked well last time — the Buffs held her to 20 points on 22 shots — but that swarming defense left a lot of open shooters.
This time, JuJu got her buckets, made 18/18 shots from the line and her teammates made those open shots. McKenzie Forbes and Kayla Padilla combined for 36 points (and 9 assists) on 9/11 three-point shooting. Maybe the Buffs could have figured out a different scheme, but there’s little chance of winning any game where the other team is that hot.
Colorado did well to keep up. Jaylyn Sherrod ran a well-balanced offense, pushing the pace and getting everyone touches. Aaronnette Vonleh carried the offense early through her low post mastery, while Kindyll Wetta, Quay Miller and the bench mob all hit their shots.
Next up for the Buffs is a road game against the UCLA Bruins on Monday night. Colorado will look to avenge their previous loss to UCLA to remain a top-4 seed in the NCAA Tournament — meaning they will host tournament games in Boulder.
by Sam Metivier
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