Fast break
Why the Buffs lost: CU played good enough defense but didn’t generate enough offensively. The Buffs hit just 35.3% of their shots and had 17 turnovers, which TCU converted into 16 points.
Three stars:
1. TCU’s Sedona Prince: She had a double-double (14 points, 10 rebounds), along with four steals and three blocks.
2. TCU’s Hailey Van Lith: Overcame five turnovers to post 14 points, six rebounds and three assists.
3. CU’s Jade Masogayo: The Buffs’ most consistent player all game, she had 14 points, six rebounds and two steals before fouling out in the final minute.
Up next: The Buffs’ two-game road trip continues with a matchup at Baylor on Saturday in Waco, Texas (1 p.m. MT, ESPN+).
FORT WORTH, Texas – Colorado’s women’s basketball team knew that the margin for error would be thin going on the road to face one of the better teams in the country.
On Wednesday, there were too many miscues to come away with a victory.
For most of the night, the Buffaloes did enough to be in position for an upset but never got enough offense going in a 63-50 loss to No. 11 TCU at Schollmaier Arena.
“Certainly felt like we could win, and I think we gave ourselves a chance to win,” CU head coach JR Payne said. “But, if we aren’t scoring it at the clip we need to it’s going to be hard to beat these guys.”
Jade Masogayo had 14 points and six rebounds for the Buffs (10-3, 1-1 Big 12), hitting 6 of her 13 shots. The rest of the team, however, made just 12 of 38 shots (31.6%) for the night. CU also finished with 17 turnovers.
TCU’s defense shut down Buffs leading scorer Frida Formann, who had one point on a free throw with 43.6 seconds to play in the game. Formann came in averaging 15.1 points per game but attempted just five shots against the stingy Horned Frogs (14-1, 2-0).
TCU stars Sedona Prince and Hailey Van Lith combined for 28 points and 16 rebounds.
One of the top post players in the country, Prince also had three blocks, but the Buffs managed to outscore the Horned Frogs 28-16 in the paint. From 3-point range, however, they were just 4-of-14.
“I thought our team played very fearlessly,” Payne said. “We’re kind of built from a blue collar cloth and we don’t really fear anybody. And we wanted to be aggressive. … We felt like if we could be aggressive and get paint touches, not only could we maybe effectively score inside, but also we might open up perimeter shots. We just didn’t knock them down the way we needed to.”
Down by 14 points late in the third quarter, CU sliced the deficit down to five, 52-47, with 4 minutes, 45 seconds to play, but TCU closed the game on an 11-3 run.
“I think it’s just in our DNA (to fight back),” Payne said. “Led by our senior point guard, Kindyll Wetta, who’s completely fearless and tough and I think one of the best defenders in the country. She sort of brings that mantra no matter what. And I think just as a group, we don’t necessarily care if we’re down, we’re just going to play hard every possession and compete and fight and scrap and do whatever we can to give ourselves a chance to win the game.”
CU led 12-11 after the first quarter, getting layups by Masogayo to start and finish the quarter. The Buffs overcame six turnovers in the opening frame to take the lead.
In the second quarter, CU opened with layups from Masogayo and Lior Garzon to take their biggest lead of the night, 16-11. After back-to-back 3-pointers from TCU, the Buffs jumped back into the lead, 19-17, on a 3-pointer from Kennedy Sanders with 4:46 left in the half.
CU would go 4:25 without another point, however, as TCU went on a 10-0 run. The Buffs went into intermission training 27-21.
Ayianna Johnson had a bit of a scoring surge for CU in the third, with six straight points, but scoring was a struggle overall. TCU had a 23-17 advantage in that quarter.
The Buffs battled, though, before falling in the end.
“I was proud of how our team played,” Payne said. “I thought we battled. I thought we defended very well, which hasn’t always been the case this year. We’ve been able to score the ball pretty efficiently, so it was a little bit flipped tonight, because we had a hard time scoring the ball. I thought we defended pretty well.
“Tough game against a really good team.”
No. 11 TCU 63, Colorado 50
COLORADO (10-3, 1-1 Big 12)
Formann 0-5 1-2 1, Smith 1-3 0-0 2, Garzon 2-9 0-0 5, Masogayo 6-13 2-2 14, Wetta 1-5 3-4 5, Johnson 4-8 0-0 8, Sanders 2-4 2-2 8, Diew 0-1 0-0 0, Betson 0-0 2-2 2, Teder 2-3 0-0 5, Oliver 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 18-51 10-12 50.
TCU (14-1, 2-0 Big 12)
Bigby 2-5 1-2 7, Conner 4-11 0-2 9, Van Lith 5-10 4-6 14, Prince 4-9 6-7 14, Emma-Nnopu 3-9 1-1 9, Hunter 0-2 0-0 0, Jovanovic 1-2 0-0 3, Robertson 2-4 2-2 7. Totals 21-52 14-20 63.
Colorado 12 9 17 12 – 50
TCU 11 16 23 13 – 63
3-point goals – Colorado 4-14 (Sanders 2-3, Garzon 1-5, Teder 1-2, Formann 0-2, Smith 0-1, Diew 0-1), TCU 7-22 (Emma-Nnopu 2-7, Bigby 2-4, Conner 1-5, Roberson 1-2, Jovanovic 1-1, Hunter 0-2, Van Lith 0-1). Rebounds – Colorado 33 (Smith 7), TCU 32 (Prince 10). Assists – Colorado 14 (Wetta 6), TCU 11 (Conner, Van Lith, Emma-Nnopu 3). Steals – Colorado 9 (4 players with 2), TCU 8 (Prince 4). Turnovers – Colorado 17, TCU 13. Total fouls – Colorado 20, TCU 14. Fouled out – Masogayo, Wetta. Attendance – 2,864.
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