Career night from Masogayo fuels Buffs’ Big 12 bounce-back

Colorado forward Jade Masogayo puts up a shot against Oklahoma State. (Photo by Aspen Doust)

On a frigid Sunday afternoon, the Colorado Buffaloes (13-7, 4-4 Big 12) looked to avenge themselves against the Oklahoma State Cowgirls (16-5, 5-3 Big 12), whom they fell to earlier this season in a 63-56 road loss. The story was different for the Buffs on their home turf, as they executed a 79-56 win.

Three CU players recorded double digits in scoring. Leading the charge was senior forward Jade Masogayo with 22, tying her career high. 

“I had a meeting with my coach earlier in this week telling me to be more aggressive and have that attack mentality . . . so I tried to apply that to my game today,” Masogayo said on her execution this afternoon. 

Junior guard Zyanna Walker and junior guard Desiree Wooten came up big for the Buffs as well. They recorded 13 and 15 points, respectively.

Masogayo sparked the Buffs’ flame from the jump, scoring six of their first eight points. She ended the first quarter with eight points.  

Defensively, the Buffs refused to let a Cowgirl past them without a fight. This game proved to be physical on both ends from the jump. 

“I thought we did such a good job of guarding and executing,” Colorado head coach JR Payne said.

The Buffs led at the end of the first quarter, 16-10. However, the Cowgirls got the last laugh, with junior guard Amari Whiting hitting a floater to close out the quarter.

To start the second quarter, freshman forward Loyan Greer sailed to the rim for a layup for the Buffs. Colorado was firing on all cylinders in the first half of the second quarter. It was getting deflections and steals on the defensive end and moving the ball extremely well on offense. 

Buffs fifth-year center JoJo Nworie hit a tough bunny out of a pump fake, which forced the Cowgirls to take a timeout midway through the quarter. Out of the timeout, Nworie hit another jumper. 

However, Oklahoma State was not going without a fight. With the Buffs in a scoring drought in the last three minutes of the second quarter, the Cowgirls went on a 9-0 run to cut the game to 35-25 at halftime. 

Coming out of the locker room, Walker knew the task. She came out with the hot hand, hitting a three-pointer and two lay-ups in less than two minutes. 

In an effort to slow down Colorado, the Cowgirls put on a full-court press, which rattled Colorado for a few possessions. But itquickly found its rhythm again. 

The third quarter brought foul trouble for the Buffs, with forward Tabitha Betson having four and Masogayo having three. 

Wooten was left alone on the arc and hit a big three, which was answered by two three-pointers from the Cowgirls on the other end. The effort by Oklahoma State was not enough as the Buffs led 55- 46 at the end of the third quarter. 

The fourth quarter brought a consistent Colorado team, which has been hard to come by in itslast few matchups. Even with three players having four fouls, CU kept consistent and executed. 

“We watched the film, we’ve studied the areas of would’ve, could’ve should’ve down the stretch of the game and that almost hurts more than getting beat pretty big,” Payne said on executing in fourth quarters, “I’m sure it feels incredible for everybody.”

Desiree Wooten came up big for the Buffs in the fourth. She racked up five points in the last 1:20, with three of those being from the foul line. 

As the shot clock wound down on Colorado’s last possession, the CU Event Center rose to its feet knowing that the Buffs had just delivered a forcible loss to Oklahoma State.

Colorado hopes to carry this momentum with it on the road as it heads to Manhattan, Kansas, to face the Kansas State Wildcats (11-10, 4-4 Big 12) on Jan. 29 at 5:30 p.m. MT (ESPN +).