Frida Formann shoots the ball during the second half of the game at the CU Events Center. Feb. 10, 2023. (Sage Phelps-Fast/CU Independent)
The Colorado women’s basketball team put on a defensive clinic, defeating the University of Washington 65-43 in Boulder on Sunday, Feb. 12. The Buffaloes are now 20-5 and 11-3 in Pac-12 play. It was another dominant win for a Colorado team who are still undefeated in February.
Quay Miller had yet another double-double (17 points and 12 rebounds) and was the Buffs’ biggest factor offensively on Sunday afternoon. Her game against the Huskies was her sixth double-double of the year and her fourth in her last six games. Senior point guard Jaylyn Sherrod also had a fantastic game, even if the box score may not portray it. With 8 points, four rebounds, and six assists, she was constantly setting up scoring chances all game long.
“[Today] was a great team win,” said Colorado head coach JR Payne, “Washington’s a really good team that’s playing very well, and we knew that we’d have to be ready. I’m proud of our team for that.”
Colorado’s elite defense was a force throughout all four quarters, forcing the Huskies into bad shots, creating turnovers, and causing multiple Washington shot clock violations. Colorado was constantly shutting down Washington’s scoring opportunities on every possession, making life difficult for the Huskies offense. Washington had various 3+ minute-long scoring droughts throughout this contest due to the Buff’s stifling defense.
“[That’s] nothing new [for us],” Kindyll Wetta said about the Buff’s defensive play. “We just do what we do and do it well. We know that we can always control that.”
The Buffaloes got the lead quickly and never looked back, as they held the lead for all forty minutes of this game. Colorado looked to feed sophomore center Aaronette Vonleh early and often in the paint, which was a formula for success. Vonleh finished with nine points and four rebounds and figures to be a significant key in the coming months as the Buffaloes look to make some noise in March.
The Buffaloes struggled offensively in the second and third quarters, hitting just 33% of their shots. However, it didn’t matter as Colorado forced the Huskies to shoot 16-48 from the field through all four quarters.
The Buffaloes’ offense did wake up in the last ten minutes of the game, with Frida Formann, the junior from Denmark, drilling four three-pointers to kill any hopes of a Washington comeback. Formann is having an excellent season in Boulder, averaging 11.5 points and nearly 41% from the beyond-the-arc and logging some big minutes for the Buffs.
Fan favorite senior guard Jaylyn Sherrod had six beautiful assists in this matchup and is one of the best playmakers not only in the Pac-12 but in the country, winning Pac-12 Player of the Week for her performances against Washington and Washington State. She is always looking to feed her teammates and is a critical chess piece to the unique Colorado team.
The Colorado women’s basketball team moved up four spots in this week’s AP Top 25 poll, all the way to No. 21 in the country. The Buffaloes have four remaining games this season, two of which are against top-ranked Arizona (currently 18th in the country) and Stanford (ranked 3rd in the country).
Until then, Colorado faces off against the Arizona State Sun Devils this Friday, Feb. 17, at 11 a.m. MST.
Contact CU Independent Staff Writer Griffin Dreifaldt at griffin.dreifaldt@colorado.edu.
