Buffs fall just short in double OT thriller against Stanford

BOULDER – With March on the horizon, the madness has officially begun.

In a riveting, back-and-forth battle between two top 25 teams, the No. 21 CU Buffs (21-7, 12-5 Pac-12) fell short against No. 3 Stanford (27-3, 15-2 Pac-12) in double overtime, 73-62. 

“It really hurts to lose a game like this, but (I’m) incredibly proud of how we played and how we competed,” said head coach JR Payne postgame.

The Buffs traded punches with the powerhouse Cardinal throughout the afternoon, proving time and time again that they belong on this stage and that they can compete with any team in the country. In the end, however, Stanford was able to do what they do best to hold off a pesky CU squad.

The Cardinal, who rank third in the country in rebounding margin with their plethora of bigs, won the battle on the glass against CU 53-42. 21 of those rebounds came on the offensive glass, creating 15 second chance points for Stanford.

The Buffs’ depth was also tested today without junior guard Frida Formann (illness), as five players logged 38 or more minutes. In the end, it was too much for CU against a deep Stanford front line. 

“I thought (Stanford big) Lauren Betts was absolutely incredible tonight,” said Payne. “She came in for a large part of the game when Cameron (Brink) went out, but they’re just so good and so big and so deep inside, it’s kind of like ‘we’ll just bring in the next 6’6” kid.’”

The Buffs came out like their hair was on fire in the first quarter, flying around and putting on a dominant showing on the defensive end of the floor, holding the Pac-12’s second-ranked scoring offense to just five points in the opening period. The Cardinal didn’t get on the board until the 1:14 mark of the quarter, and finished the period just 1/16 from the field.

However, Stanford has a championship pedigree, and were able to steady themselves in the second quarter. They locked in defensively, hit a few timely shots, and cut the Buffs lead to just six heading into halftime.

“They’re really hard to score against because they’re so big at every position,” said Payne. “So that makes it challenging, of course. I would’ve loved to have had a huge lead and been able to capitalize more on (the Buffs’ defense).”

After the intermission, CU had to take the first Stanford punch of the afternoon. The Buffs stalled offensively, and the Cardinal rattled off the first nine points of the third to take their first lead of the game. However, the onslaught didn’t stop there. Stanford continued to apply pressure, and took a six-point advantage into the fourth quarter.

The final quarter of regulation was a dogfight, with CU finally coming back and evening the score with 2:40 to play on a pair of Quay Miller free throws. After the Cardinal pulled back in front, Jaylyn Sherrod drove down the right side of the lane and finished at the rim to force an extra period. 

The first overtime was a seesaw battle that saw five lead changes and seven ties. When the dust settled, after plenty of trips to the free throw line on both sides, the score remained knotted up at 60, and the teams headed to double overtime.

It was in the second overtime period that the Buffs began to run out of steam. Stanford scored the first five points of the period, and then closed the game out on an 8-0 run over the final two and a half minutes to secure the victory.

“In the second overtime, we just weren’t hitting shots and they were. That’s all you can really say,” said Sherrod.

Sherrod led the Buffs with 19 points for the game, once again coming alive after halftime, scoring 17 of those in the second half and overtime. She added five rebounds and four assists in 45 minutes.

The Buffs missed Formann for depth purposes, but also missed her as a threat from the outside to space the floor. Without her presence on the perimeter, the Cardinal bigs were able to swarm the paint with constant traps and double teams, and held the Buffs’ interior duo of Quay Miller and Aaronette Vonleh to just 7/28 shooting.

On the Stanford side, star guard Haley Jones showed why she is one of the elite players in college basketball, stuffing the stat sheet with 23 points, 11 rebounds, and seven assists. Jones never came out of the game, playing all 50 minutes of action. She picked up the slack for star big Cameron Brink, who struggled with foul trouble all night and could never get into a rhythm.

This loss will certainly sting for the Buffs, but they can come away from this game with confidence in who they are, how far they’ve come, and who they can still become.

“What anyone who watched this game saw, on full display, wasn’t a bunch of superstars,” said Payne. “It was a team that’s tough and gritty and fights and scraps for every single possession they have, and that’s who we are.”

They will have a chance to get right on Saturday against Cal before heading to Las Vegas for the Pac-12 Tournament next week. Tip-off for senior day against the Golden Bears will be at noon.