Fast break
Why the Buffs won: They played good defense throughout the night and got the offense going late to pull away in the fourth quarter.
Three stars:
1. Quay Miller: She shook off a slow start shooting to post her second straight double-double, scoring 12 points and pulling down 12 rebounds.
2. Aaronette Vonleh: Scored a game-high 19 points and pulled down four rebounds.
3. Frida Formann: Finished with 14 points, all in the second half, including sinking 4-of-7 from 3-point range.
Up next: The Buffs will host No. 8 Stanford on Sunday at noon.
Colorado expected California would put up a good fight on Friday.
The Golden Bears certainly did, but the fifth-ranked Buffaloes pulled away in the fourth quarter and rolled to a 76-61 victory at the CU Events Center.
Aaronette Vonleh had 19 points, Frida Formann had 14 and Quay Miller posted her second consecutive double-double (12 points, 12 rebounds) as the Buffs (14-1, 4-0 Pac-12) won their eighth consecutive game.
“Really proud of our team,” CU head coach JR Payne said. “I was really worried about this game. I think our team knew it. Mostly because I feel like Cal is a really dangerous team. … Just a great game. Every night in the Pac-12 is gonna be tough, it’s gonna be physical, it’s gonna be hard and I thought we really sorta stepped up when we needed to.”
CU is 4-0 in conference play for the first time since the 1994-95 team that went 14-0 in the Big Eight. They got there by wearing down the Golden Bears (12-4, 2-2), who stayed in the game for most of the first three quarters.
The Buffs controlled the paint, got hot from 3-point range (going 9-for-18, including 8-for-15 in the second half) and played good defense all night. They also had a 36-29 advantage in rebounds.
“I think every day we’re still striving to be better,” Miller said. “We still have areas we can attack and be better in. I wouldn’t say this is our best. I think we’re just gonna go back, watch the film and learn from everything that we did in this game.
“We played well tonight, but I think we can play much, much better.”
The Buffs were rather dominant in crunch time, though.
After Cal pulled within 49-45 with 1 minute, 29 seconds left in the third quarter, CU went on an 8-0 run to close the quarter. Back-to-back 3-pointers by Maddie Nolan and Tameiya Sadler sparked that surge.
Cal pulled within 61-52 early in the fourth, but Vonleh hit her first 3-pointer of the season and Formann hit two 3s in a row to highlight an 11-0 run that put the game away.
“I thought we really sort of took hold of the momentum,” Payne said. “We just did a great job of putting our foot on the gas pedal.”
It was a slow start for the Buffs, who took a brief 5-2 lead, but then fell behind 9-5 after Cal’s Marta Suarez drained a 3-pointer. From there, the Buffs closed the first quarter on a 10-0 run, sparked by three steals and capped by a layup from Kindyll Wetta.
In the second quarter, Miller and Vonleh got the Buffs going, combining for 12 points in the frame. A 3-pointer by Wetta gave the Buffs their biggest lead of the half, 34-23, but Cal’s McKayla Williams drained a 3 just before the buzzer and CU took a 34-26 lead into the break.
Cal kept the momentum going into the third quarter, going on an early 7-0 run to pull within 37-33. It remained a tight game until CU’s 8-0 run to finish the quarter. That gave the Buffs a 12-point lead that they increased to 14 early in the fourth and to 20 midway through the fourth.
CU held Cal to .357 (18-of-28) shooting and forced 11 turnovers in the first half. Overall, Cal made just 37.9% of its shots, while the Buffs shot 52.6%, including 54.8% after halftime.
The Buffs played without Sara-Rose Smith, who missed the game with a mild concussion but that didn’t seem to bother them. Neither did knowing that No. 8 Stanford is coming to town on Sunday.
“It is not in our DNA (to look ahead),” Payne said. “If we didn’t handle our business and keep all of our effort and focus on Cal, then we probably don’t play the way we played tonight.”
No. 5 Colorado 76, California 61
CALIFORNIA (12-4, 2-2 Pac-12)
McIntosh 3-10 2-2 10, Suarez 6-11 0-0 14, Lane 0 0-0 0, Williams 4-6 0-0 10, Krimili 3-11 5-5 11, Onyiah 0-1 0-0 0, Laditan-Twidale 0-3 2-2 2, Martin 4-9 1-2 11, Mastrov 0-4 0-0 0, Langarita 1-2 0-0 3. Totals 21-57 10-11 61.
COLORADO (14-1, 4-0 Pac-12)
Sherrod 2-6 0-2 4, Formann 5-11 0-0 14, Miller 4-9 3-4 12, Vonleh 7-10 4-6 19, Nolan 2-4 0-0 5, Atchison 0-0 0-0 0, Sadler 4-10 0-0 9, Wetta 3-4 0-0 7, McLeod 2-2 0-0 4, Whittaker 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 30-57 7-12 76.
California 9 17 19 16 – 61
Colorado 15 19 23 19 – 76
3-point goals – California 9-27 (McIntosh 2-6, Martin 2-5, Williams 2-4, Suarez 2-3, Langarita 1-2, Krimili 0-3, Mastrov 0-2, Laditan-Twidale 0-2), Colorado 9-18 (Formann 4-7, Sadler 1-3, Nolan 1-2, Miller 1-2, Vonleh 1-1, Wetta 1-1, Sherrod 0-2). Rebounds – California 29 (Suarez 9), Colorado 36 (Miller 12). Assists – California 8 (Krimili 3), Colorado 20 (Sherrod 5). Steals – California 9 (Onyiah, Martin 2), Colorado 9 (Sherrod, Nolan 3). Turnovers – California 15, Colorado 15. Total fouls – California 12, Colorado 12. Fouled out – None. Attendance – 3,540.