No. 8 Colorado women recover from 14-0 deficit to start game in a 78-56 win over Northern Colorado

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This article was published 21/12/2023 (1018 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

BOULDER, Colo. (AP) — Jaylyn Sherrod scored 13 of her 16 points in the second quarter, Aaronette Vonleh added 14 and the No. 8 Colorado women recovered from a 14-0 deficit to start the game to beat Northern Colorado 78-56 on Thursday.

The Buffaloes (10-1) showed signs of rust in their first contest since a 95-74 win over UT Arlington on Dec. 5. Colorado missed its opening six shots before settling into a rhythm. The Buffaloes took their first lead on a three-point play by Sherrod with 45.7 seconds before halftime and never trailed again.

“You don’t want it to start that way,” Colorado coach JR Payne said. “But I knew that we would weather the storm and get ourselves together, stay together, and find a way back.”

Sherrod’s jumper led the surge back. She scored all 16 of her points in the first half along with hitting two 3-pointers (she was 1 for 19 entering the game).

Payne chalked that up to one thing — Sherrod’s aggressiveness.

“I told the team it’s honest-to-goodness this simple — everything for us aggressive is good. Everything that’s not aggressive is bad,” Payne said. “That’s what it was, she was aggressive during that spurt.”

The Buffaloes dominated down low and had a 48-14 advantage in points in the paint. They also led in bench points by a 24-0 margin.

Delaynie Byrne led the Bears (4-5) with 21 points, while Seneca Hackley had 15. Northern Colorado finished with 28 turnovers.

“It’s Colorado. They deservedly have a lot of recognition right now,” Northern Colorado coach Kristen Mattio said. “We wanted to make sure that this game was as competitive as possible.”

The Buffaloes have won all 10 of their games this season by 10 or more points. But this didn’t have blowout written on it early.

Northern Colorado rode the sizzling long-range shooting of Byrne to a 14-0 advantage as the senior forward hit three 3-pointers. It quieted the crowd, which has a tradition of standing until the Buffaloes score their first point. It took until the 5:33 mark of the first quarter — and through a timeout — before the fans could sit after Frida Formann knocked in a layup.

Colorado switched up the starting lineup for the first time this season, inserting Maddie Nolan and bringing in Tameiya Sadler off the bench. Nolan finished with six points and Sadler provided a spark with 10 points and four assists.

“I do not care about starting. You’re never going to win or lose the game, as evidenced today, in the first three minutes of the ballgame,” Payne said. “To me, I actually love having one of our aggressive scorers or aggressive rebounders or aggressive defense — love a player like that off the bench. Because it’s someone who can come in and give us a shot in the arm if we need it.”

BIG PICTURE

Northern Colorado: The Bears have lost 11 straight in the series against Colorado. Their last win over the Buffaloes was on Jan. 27, 1978.

Colorado: The Buffaloes had 22 assists. They entered the game averaging 21.4 per game.

UP NEXT

Northern Colorado: Start Big Sky Conference play on Dec. 30 at Northern Arizona.

Colorado: Begins Pac-12 play on Dec. 30 against No. 11 Utah.

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AP women’s college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-womens-college-basketball-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/womens-college-basketball