Buffs finish season strong

The Colorado Buffaloes women’s basketball team gave senior forward Julie Seabrook a happy send-off.

The Buffs beat the Oregon State University Beavers 67-57 in their final regular season game at the Coors Events Center on Saturday afternoon. Colorado finished the season 17-12 (6-12 Pac-12) and Oregon State ended at 18-11 (9-9 Pac-12).

The sole senior Buff, Julie Seabrook, speaks after the game on Saturday night at the Coors Event Center. Seabrook finished her at-home college career with 11 points and 10 rebounds during a 67-57 win over Oregon State. (CU Independent/Annie Rumbles)

“I thought that was a good win for our team, for our program, for Julie Seabrook,” said Colorado head coach Linda Lappe. “Everybody stepped up, played well, played within the system, but everybody played just a little bit better.”

Colorado shot 41.8 percent from the floor, making 6-of-12 three pointers and 15-of-27 free throws.

The Beavers shot 32.1 percent, hitting 8-of-22 from behind the three-point arc and 13-of-16 from the foul line.

Buffs freshman guard Lexy Kresl led all scorers with 20 points, including all six of Colorado’s three-pointers. Junior guard Chucky Jeffery scored 13 points with seven assists. Seabrook finished her senior season off with her first career double-double, scoring 11 points and grabbing 10 rebounds.

Oregon State senior forward Earlysia Marchbanks led the Beavers with 16 points, grabbing nine rebounds and seven assists. Junior guard Sage Indendi scored 12 points, and freshman guard Ali Gibson scored 10.

Things were even early on, as the Buffs and the Beavers traded leads. Jeffery scored with 14:50 left in the half to make it 9-7, and the Buffs never looked back, stretching their lead to as much as ten points. The Beavers hung around though, cutting the Buffs’ lead to four with 1:27 left.

Junior forward Meagan Malcolm-Peck made a layup with less than a minute remaining, making it 27-21 in favor of the Buffs. CU would take that lead into the locker room at halftime.

The Beavers started off the second half as the hotter team, hitting threes and cutting the Buffs lead to two with 12:52 left in the game. The Buffs regained some of their momentum though, and Kresl hit some long jumpers to push the Buffs’ lead to 11 with 3:16 left.

From there, the Buffs looked comfortable and held off any sort of Beavers run. The clock wound down, and as the buzzer sounded, the Buffs finished their season off on a high note.

Seabrook praised the Buffs’ teamwork after the game.

“I don’t really care how I play, just as long as we get a W,” Seabrook said. “We all played together and we played as a team, and that’s the most important thing.”

Lappe said she was very happy with the defense the Buffs played on Saturday.

“We were solid,” Lappe said. “We didn’t make a lot of mental mistakes, and when we did make mistakes, they took advantage of it. When we were solid, when we didn’t reach, when we didn’t foul, and just moved our feet and had the right assignments defensively, then a lot of times they didn’t score.”

The Buffs travel next to the Staples Center in Los Angeles for the Pac-12 Tournament. They will take on the University of Utah Utes at 6 p.m. on March 7.

Kresl said the players would like to prove in the tournament that they are better than their conference record shows.

“Our expectations are to play like we did tonight,” Kresl said. “We want to prove people wrong, and make it further than anyone expects us to.”

Contact CU Independent Staff Writer Mark McNeillie at [email protected]