Head coach JR Payne instructs her team at the end of the game against the University of Washington at the CU Events Center on Thursday, Feb. 29, 2024. (Clementine Miller/CU Independent)
The University of Colorado women’s basketball team ended their season with a 1-1 stretch at the CU Events Center. After an amazing start that saw the team ranked as high as No. 3 in the country, the Buffaloes lost five of their last six games of the regular season to end the year with a 21-8 (11-7 Pac-12) record.
In their penultimate game of the season, the Buffaloes beat Washington 68-62 on Thursday night. CU Boulder held the lead most of the night and despite only making one field goal in the fourth quarter they were able to hold off the Huskies to the final whistle. Maddie Nolan led the team with 20 points on six of seven shooting from three-point range. The win broke a four-game losing streak that saw the team drop four spots in the Pac-12 conference standings.
Graduate student forward Quay Miller makes a three-point shot during the game against the University of Washington at the CU Events Center on Thursday, Feb. 29, 2024. (Clementine Miller/CU Independent)
On Saturday the Buffaloes squared off against Washington State for their final game of the regular season. The game stayed close throughout, but with the help of Jaylyn Sherrod’s 18 points, six rebounds and three assists, they found a 63-58 with a little more than two minutes to go. But similar to Thursday night, the Buffaloes once again struggled to score the ball at the most important time. Washington State was then able to put together a 14-0 run to win the game 72-63. The Buffaloes failed to score in the last six minutes of the game while only shooting 5/16 in the fourth quarter. The loss against the Cougars was the Buffaloes’ only of the season against a team that was not ranked in the AP Top 25 Poll.
“Yeah. I mean, we all know what’s on the line,” Sherrod said in a press conference on Saturday. “Like (CU head coach JR Payne) said, none of our goals are not attainable at this point. Nobody’s looking at it as if we can’t do it. So I don’t think that’s the case…That’s just how basketball goes, so I’m not really hanging hats on this game. We all feel the crunch time of it. We all know that this team can be really special. That’s still on the table. Nobody here is writing us off. So you just got to go out there and handle business.”
Graduate student guard Jaylyn Sherrod shoots a free throw during the game against the University of Washington at the CU Events Center on Thursday, Feb. 29, 2024. (Clementine Miller/CU Independent)
It has been one of the most notable seasons in CU Boulder women’s basketball history, despite the rough stretch to end the regular season. After beating defending national champions LSU in the opening game of the season, the team saw unprecedented attention and success. They then went on to win all but one of their non-Pac-12 matchups, that coming against the nationally ranked North Carolina State Wolfpack. In that stretch, the team reached up to the No. 3 ranking, a feat only accomplished two other times in school history.
Charlotte Whittaker (left) and Frida Formann celebrate Maddie Nolan making a three-point shot during the game against the University of Washington at the CU Events Center on Thursday, Feb. 29, 2024. (Clementine Miller/CU Independent)
To begin Pac-12 play the Buffaloes only lost two of their first 12 games, including big wins against top-10-ranked Stanford and USC. Despite their 20-3 record more than halfway through the season, the Buffaloes then hit their toughest stretch of the year. On a four-game stint against Oregon State, Utah, USC and UCLA, the team lost all of the matchups. Though their average margin of loss in the games was only 4.5 points, all of the teams are nationally ranked and still all stand in front of the Buffaloes in the conference standings.
“I just think we’ll have to be really intentional about making sure that we’re playing to win a game, not playing not to lose, as people say,” Coach Payne said in a press conference after the most recent loss.“Vegas, I know we all feel the, I guess, crunch time of it and we all know that this team can be really special. So that’s still on the table. Nobody here is writing us off. We’ve just got to go out there and handle business.”
Regardless of their end-of-season woes or what their future holds in the upcoming tournament, the year put together by the Buffaloes has been nothing short of great. For the first time under Coach Payne, the team is averaging 75 points per game while also reaching higher than a top 10 ranking in 28 years.
Graduate student guard Maddie Nolan drives toward the basket during the game against the University of Washington at the CU Events Center on Thursday, Feb. 29, 2024. (Clementine Miller/CU Independent)
The team has been mostly led by four players, all of whom are starters and hold a majority of the scoring and rebounding responsibilities. Aaronette Vonleh leads the team in points and shooting with 14.3 per game on 56.6%, as well as averaging one block per game. Sherrod is the point guard and heartbeat of the team, averaging 12.8 points, 3.1 rebounds and a team-high 4.7 assists per game. As a unit that has relied heavily on three-point shooting, Frida Foremann has been one of the most impactful players for the Buffaloes this year, averaging 12.6 points per game and 2.4 three-pointers made per game. Along with Vonleh, Quay Miller leads the team defensively, averaging 9.2 points and a team-high 7.7 rebounds per game.
Coming off the bench this season the Buffaloes have also seen great production from Kendyll Wetta, Maddie Nolan and Tameiya Sadler. All three are averaging at least five points and two rebounds a game, while Wetta is second on the team in assists at 4 a game.
Junior guard Kindyll Wetta brings the ball up the court during the game against the University of Washington at the CU Events Center on Thursday, Feb. 29, 2024. (Clementine Miller/CU Independent)
“I always tell people I’m the most cup-half-full person you would meet, but there’s balance in that like it’s not all sunshine and roses. We still have a job to do, we still have to execute, but definitely, I just choose to be positive,” Coach Payne said in a press conference after the win against Washington. “We have great women on our team who want to work hard, want to be successful and want to see each other be successful. When you have that mindset and sort of that collective effort, it’s pretty easy to be that way and I think it’s the right way to go.”
As the regular season ends the Buffaloes enter the Pac-12 Tournament in Las Vegas as a No. 5 seed. Just missing the group of top four teams that all receive a bye in the first round, the team will need to win four games in a row to claim the conference title. Their first game in the tournament will be on Wednesday as they face the Oregon Ducks, beginning at 1 pm MST and will be live on the Pac-12 Network.
Contact CU Independent Assistant Sports Editor Eli Gregorski at elgr9735@colorado.edu
