Buffs Beat Oregon State In Annual Pink Game
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BOULDER - Colorado senior guard Chucky Jeffery recorded her 1,500th career point and 26th career double-double on Friday night to lead the CU women to a 61-47 win over Oregon State.
Jeffery, moving into 10th place on the school's career scoring list, led the Buffs with 22 points, added 11 rebounds and a season-high three blocks. CU sophomore forward Jen Reese also scored in double figures with 10 points, while redshirt freshman forward Arielle Roberson added nine.
With the win, CU improves to 17-5 overall, 6-5 in the Pac-12 Conference, while OSU falls to 9-14 and 3-8 in conference play.
It was a long-awaited return to the Coors Events Center for the Buffs, who dropped three of four games in California over the past two weeks. CU lost to Top 25 opponents Stanford, Cal and UCLA but defeated Southern California.
The Buffs wore pink-accented uniforms on Friday night in honor of the annual "Play 4 Kay" game to support breast cancer awareness. Breast cancer survivors were recognized at halftime, and fans were invited to donate to the Boulder Community Hospital Auxiliary's Breast Cancer Fund to aid local cancer patients.
"It was breast cancer week, and coach talked about attacking because that's what the women with breast cancer have to do," said junior guard Brittany Wilson, who had a game-high five steals. "They have to attack, they have to fight. So we came down, we attacked, we came after loose balls, and I think that's what forced them into those (24) turnovers."
CU put the heat on the visitors early on, going on a 9-0 run before OSU scored its first basket of the game with 14:09 left in the half.
Wilson said that solid start was crucial for the Buffs, as they were battling a strong defensive team ranked sixth in the nation in blocks at 6.1 per game.
"We knew we had to come out and set a statement or they would keep coming at us," Wilson said, "and you can't give a team like that confidence."
The Beavers answered with four three-pointers in five minutes to make it 21-16 with six minutes remaining in the first half. But CU was opportunistic at the free throw line (78.6 percent) and maintained its five-point lead (28-23) at the break.
"Oregon State is a good team, they hustle and they scrap the entire game," Jeffery said. "They weren't going away, so we knew we had to go on a run and we had to get it up a little bit . . . that was huge for us to get this win."
The second half began in a similar fashion to the first as the Buffs went on a 7-0 run with five straight points by Jeffery and two made free throws by Roberson.
This time, though, the momentum stuck.
Colorado built its largest lead of the game - 15 points - with eight minutes to play. From there, the Beavers would not pull closer than eight.
Shooting 7-of-10 free throws to end the game, the Buffs widened the gap back to 14 and closed out the visitors, who were led by freshman guard Jamie Weisner with 22 points and seven rebounds. She was the only OSU player with more than seven points.
"Weisner's tough," said CU head coach Linda Lappe. "She plays so hard, she's physical, she never quits. She's a tough matchup for anybody in the league, so you've got to give her a lot of credit. She kept them in the game."
Colorado returns to the Coors Events Center Sunday at 1:30 p.m. to take on Oregon. After falling to Utah 67-47 Friday night, the Ducks are ranked last in the Pac-12 at 1-10.
In fact, the Buffs have just one opponent remaining (Washington) in the regular season that is currently ranked higher in the conference standings.
Wilson, however, said her team won't get comfortable just yet.
"Being in the Pac-12, you never know what team is going to come out," Wilson said. "You have to play every team and respect them. This is a bottom-to-top hard conference to play, and if you give a team confidence, they'll keep shooting and keep coming back at you. You don't want to relax too much."