Buffs ride wave of starters in win over VCU

Colorado Buffaloes guard Desiree Wooten was excellent in Kennedy Sanders' absence on Monday, tallying a season-high 16 points in a win over the VCU Rams. (Photo by Kekoa Brown/Sko Buffs Sports)

Colorado Buffaloes women’s basketball  (5-1) surfed to victory over the VCU Rams (3-3) in their second game of the North Shore Showcase in Laie, Oahu, Hawaii, on Monday.

The Buffs leaned heavily on their starters, with 58 points from the first five. No player off the bench played for 20 or more minutes.

Guard Desiree Wooten led the way with a season-high 16 points and seven rebounds. Forward Logyn Greer kept up her consistent scoring with 15, along with six boards and four assists. 

Senior forward Jade Masogayo had another impressive day with 13 points, five rebounds and five assists. Junior guard Zyanna Walker made her first start as a Buffalo, piloting the offense that ended the night with a 45.9% scoring percentage.

CU had no problems getting inside on the Rams. After winning the tip-off, four different Buffs found buckets in the paint. Wooten had six quick points in the first four minutes to put her team ahead, a lead it never lost.

Colorado continued to work down low in the second quarter, going on a 15-4 run. The lead grew to 14 before a few quick 3s from VCU made it 34-24 at the half. Wooten generated 11 points in the first 20 minutes.

The Buffs opened the second half exactly like the first. Four consecutive baskets down low from four different sources extended the lead to 18. The Buffs held that wide gap for the rest of the third.

CU let up in the final 10 minutes, missing 10-of-14 shots from the field. Meanwhile, the Rams got out to a 10-2 run and cut the lead to nine. VCU shot 69.2% in the fourth, piling up 23 points and winning the quarter. Colorado turned the ball over seven times in the fourth period and 16 times total, a problem that still plagues the Buffs.

Ultimately, it would be too little too late for the Rams, as Colorado’s lead was too much to overcome. The Buffs ended with 41.3% shooting and went 15-for-24 from the free-throw line.

“It was just a gritty win,” head coach JR Payne said. “It was great that we were able to build a lead with a combination of defensive intensity and good offense. Definitely didn't want to have that type of fourth quarter, but they’re a good team, and we found a way to get stops and score when we needed to.”

The Buffs found most success in the offense working off post-ups with Masogayo and driving from the perimeter. Colorado found height advantages and got looks beneath the hoop and easy jumpers from the paint. VCU sent different defensive schemes all night, but none stopped CU from getting inside. The Buffs finished with 46 points in the paint.

The Buffaloes left their 3-point shot back in Boulder, however. Continuing its trend from Saturday, CU was cold from outside the arc. Greer’s two triples were the only deep balls made from the team’s 11 tries.

Defensively, Colorado kept everyone but sophomore guard Katar Kneževic down. There wasn’t much the Buffs could do against the Serbian, who went 7-for-10 from the field and nailed four threes. 

Outside of Kneževic’s career-high 20 points, VCU struggled to find space to shoot. Only 22 points for the Rams came inside the paint. They shot 41.2% from the field and turned the ball over 17 times. Four Buffaloes had multiple steals.

The Buffs will finish round-robin play with their biggest test of the showcase, a meet with the Texas A&M Aggies, on Tuesday at 5 p.m. MT. Fans can watch the game on BallerTV.