Upsetting No. 14 Arizona in second round of the tournament

Last time the Buffs met with Arizona it ended in a 19 point Buffs loss. Now in the Pac-12 tournament, the squad squeezed a 45-43 win out of the Wildcats.

Down to the wire the Buffs and the Wildcats went with an impactful defensive game resulting in the low scores. 

In the first half, Colorado’s disruptive defense prevented the Wildcats from putting down all of their desired shots as they had a 27% field goal percentage. Lauren Ware however took charge for the Wildcats going 2-2 from the field and cashing in 5 out of 6 of her free throws. 

The Wildcats were only 2 points behind Colorado at the end of the half, the Wildcats were reading CU’s offense well forcing nine turnovers and only allowing seven buckets from the field. 

As the tournament and CU basketball pans out, the action erupted in the second half. 

Arizona and Colorado went bucket for bucket. The Buffs clinched the lead in the third with two Mya Hollingshed threes and Jaylyn Sherrod’s and Kendall Wetta’s aggression on defense. Arizona only scored four points in that quarter.

This is Sherrod’s first Pac-12 tournament as she was unable to play last year with a hip injury. “I had two early fouls..I had to get it together mentally,” she said in the postgame interview. “They are a very good team defensively, me and Kendall both took a lot of responsibility.”

Arizona heated up in the fourth as CU was entering foul trouble. Wildcat Lauren Ware put up four points from the line and Taylor Chavez made her two inching closer to the Buffs. The Wildcats followed up with three layups taking their first lead out of the half, 41-38.

Frida Formann turned it on with a layup and a 3-pointer with 2:00 minutes left on the clock, but a personal foul on Peanut Tuitele brought Shina Pellington to the line. The score was 45-43 with 52 seconds left.

Head coach JR Payne called a timeout with 4 seconds. Out of the timeout the Buffs had possession, but Lauren Ware had the steal with 2 seconds.

With just two seconds, Pellington put up a last attempt three that bounced off the rim producing a glorious tournament upset.

“We are both really proud of each other,” Payne said. “I am proud of how she [Sherrod] responded and all of her teammates. Onto the next round.”

In the Pac-12 postgame interview Jaylyn Sherrod said, “Tam brings so much to our team…she brings a lot of life, not to have her hear we definitely feel it.” The CU squad yelled we love and miss you on the broadcast. 💛🖤 https://t.co/hgBjNxsyrr

— Sko Buffs Sports (@SBS_CU) March 3, 2022

“She told us before the game that we got to do it for her and we did so I’m just really happy and excited,” Sherrod said. “Hopefully she can get here tomorrow to see us play Stanford…oh Stanford or Oregon State.”

Stanford beat Oregon State 57-44. The Buffs will play Stanford in the semifinals on March 4 at 7:00 p.m. MST.