Hollingshed's 22 Points Not Enough For Buffaloes
BOULDER — Senior Mya Hollingshed led a quartet of Buffaloes in double figures, but the Buffaloes were unable to hold off the visiting Oregon State Beavers, falling 72-62 on Friday.
Hollingshed scored a game-high 22 points, going 8-for-18 from the field and a season-high four assists. Freshman Frida Formann hit four 3-pointers on her way to 13 points, while junior Lesila Finau finished with 11 points. Junior Aubrey Knight rounded out the group with 11 points and four assists.
Colorado (6-8, 4-7 Pac-12) was outmatched on the glass on Friday. The Buffs got outrebounded 34-24, by the much bigger Oregon State squad. The Beavers outscored CU 11-0 on second-chance points.
"They are a great rebounding team," head coach JR Payne stated. "There aren't a ton of teams who outrebound us significantly. This team has outrebounded us the last several times we have played them. They are bigger than us at most every position on the floor. We were even on the offensive glass. At times I think our fatigue kept us off the offensive glass. We want to crash one through five and at times we weren't doing that as much as we needed to."
Oregon State (5-5, 3-5 Pac-12) was led by Aleah Goodman and her 21 points. OSU shot 52.6 percent from 3-point range, making 10-of-19 on the night.
The Buffs played without sophomore Jaylyn Sherrod for the second consecutive game. Colorado will have to adjust for the rest of the season without Sherrod who had surgery last week, ending her second season short.
"It's just an adjustment," Knight said about Sherrod. "Someone could go down any day, any of us. We just have to try and adjust to what we're given. Unfortunately, she's not able to play again this season, but that's a decision she had to make. It was a tough decision and injuries suck. I know that from a personal perspective. But we just have to deal with what we're given and play behind Sila (Finau) and we can work with that."
HOW IT HAPPENED: Colorado's offense consisted of Hollingshed early and often in the first quarter. The Buffs jumped out to an early 13-5 lead with the senior scoring 11 of the 13 points. Hollingshed went 5-for-8 from the field in the period, totaling eight straight points in the opening run.
Oregon State's offense kicked in under the four-minute mark. A Goodman 3 sparked a 12-3 run for the Beavers, taking a 17-16 lead after the first quarter.
The Beavers limited Hollingshed to just five points in the second quarter, forcing the Buffs to score from other spots on the floor. Six different players found the basket for CU in the second. Fromann started the quarter with a CU 3, giving Buffs back the lead 19-17.
OSU tied the score at 19 and then again at 22. Another 3 from Goodman put the Beavers in front, 25-24, following a Hollingshed bucket for the Buffs. The Beavers hit 4-of-6 from behind the arc in the quarter, gaining as much as an eight-point lead, 39-31. The Buffs closed the half on an 8-2 run, narrowing the deficit to 41-39.
"Some of the 3's they hit were very deep," Payne noted. "On the scouting report, it said, 'They shoot deep 3's and these two kids will shoot off the bounce.' That is what they did. There wasn't anything surprising about what they did. They didn't run anything different. We just didn't guard it the way we needed to."
Neither team could get the offense going in the third quarter. The Beavers kept the slight edge over the Buffs, outscoring CU 12-11 in the frame. CU tied the game at 48 and then again at 50. A Talia Von Oelhoffen 3 closed the quarter, giving OSU the 53-50 lead.
"I think it was 12-11 as far as scoring in the third quarter," Payne recalled. "Neither team went on a run but neither team was really thriving either. At least it was a close back and forth. It was those first few minutes of the fourth quarter I thought that really hurt us."
Those first few minutes of the fourth quarter resulted in an 11-2 run for Oregon State, extending its lead to 64=52. Colorado suffered through an 0-for-9 shooting slump from the end of the third quarter into the fourth quarter. CU's lone points in the run came off a pair of Hollingshed free throws.
Finau put an end to the CU shooting slump, hitting the Buffs' first field goal of the quarter at the 4:02 mark. Colorado would finish the quarter shooting 4-for its last-5, but could not close the gap to less than six points.
TURNING POINT: The 11-2 fourth-quarter run for OSU was the beginning of the end. CU found themselves down 12 twice in the quarter, the latter with 2:17 left to play. Formann hit back-to-back 3's that cut the OSU lead to 66-60 with 1:13 to go, but the hole was too big to climb out.
KEY STATISTICS: CU's rebounding deficit (-10) was its largest of the season. The Buffs have only been outboarded five times this season, all within seven rebounds.
NOTES: Hollingshed's 22 points give her 1,123 for her career, moving past Haley Smith (1,102), Julie Hoehing (1,107) and Lexy Kresl (1,109) for 25th all-time on the CU scoring list…Hollingshed has now scored in double figures in 13 of CU's 14 games this season…Friday marked Hollingshed's third 20-point game of the season and 12 of her career…CU has lost its last 10 in a row to OSU, dating back to Mar. 6, 2015…Colorado got just five points off the bench, getting outscored 21-5…Oregon State's 10 3FGM was the second time the Beavers have hit 10 against the Buffs this season…It's also the fifth time an opponent has hit 10 or more 3's against CU this season.
NEXT UP: Colorado's scheduled game against Oregon on Sunday was postponed on Friday. CU will next be in action on Friday, Feb. 5, when they visit Stanford.