Buffs Turn Focus to Falcons
BOULDER—Learn to expect the unexpected is taking on a whole new meaning of late. It's no different for the Colorado women's basketball team, who had planned on playing Air Force at 2 p.m. on Saturday.
A late wrench got thrown into those plans when the Colorado football game was canceled against Southern California and it was announced the Buffaloes would host San Diego State at Folsom Field at 3 p.m. MT, overlapping with the contest set to take place at the CU Events Center.
Rather than going as scheduled. The basketball game was moved up to a noon tip-off, hoping to avoid any conflicts for staffing both events during the Thanksgiving weekend.
Colorado (1-0) opened the season with a 77-50 win over Western Colorado on Wednesday. The Buffs dominated much of the contest, limiting the Mountaineers' ability to do much of anything. CU outscored WCU 20-6 in the first quarter, using a 10-0 run to close the quarter.
The Buffs defense kept a lid on the opposing basket in the first half, setting a school record for lowest opponent field goal percentage in a half (.097). Colorado limited Western's offense to just 3-for-31 in the first half, while matching the effort on offense to take a 39-15 lead at the half.
Senior Mya Hollingshed posted her ninth career double-double, closing with a game-highs in points (19) and rebounds (11). Freshman Frida Formann enjoyed her first taste of college basketball, shooting 3-for-8 from deep and finishing with 13 points. 10 of CU's 11 players got into the points column and all 11 had a rebound.
"I don't know if I would use the word 'pretty' to describe them," head coach JR Payne said. "I thought we played hard and I thought at times we really executed. It was fun to be able to play everybody who was healthy and eligible. We played meaningful minutes and lots of different lineups. It was fun to see Annika Jank out there rebounding like that and Mya scoring. We had three different people run the point guard tonight and there were a lot of good things that we can take from this."
Air Force (0-1) also had its first opportunity to hit the court on Wednesday. The Falcons dropped their opener to future Colorado opponent Denver, 72-56. Briana Autrey-Thompson led the Falcons with a 25-point showing, marking a career-high. AFA shot 31 percent from the floor but was just 2-for-22 from 3-point range.
Series History: Colorado owns a 5-0 record against the Falcons. The two in-state schools last played on Dec. 15, 2017. CU walked away with a 68-43 win on the day.