Colorado gets game stolen, falls to West Virginia in Big 12 Semifinals
- Jake Chau
- 22 hours ago
- 3 min read
Is this déjà vu? The Buffaloes had a win slip from their fingertips with under five seconds, as Jade Masogayo had a Big 12 championship opportunity stolen from under her.
A heartbreaking result for the Colorado Buffaloes (22-12, 11-7 Big 12), who saw chaos in the last minute not go in their favor, falling to the 2-seeded West Virginia Mountaineers (26-6, 14-4 Big 12), 48-47.
Junior guard Zyanna Walker led all scorers with 16 points, her sixth game tallying double-digit points in her last seven contests. Junior guard Desiree Wooten had 14 points herself, while senior forward Anaëlle Dutat’s four points were paired with 13 rebounds.
Senior forward Jade Masogayo got into foul trouble early, but finished with seven points, three rebounds and three assists in a well-rounded effort.
West Virginia had three players get more than 10 points, led by Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year Jordan Harrison’s 15 points, five rebounds and four steals.
Colorado’s defense looked solid early, but the offense stayed behind schedule, going just 1-for-7 prior to the first media timeout.
The Buffs’ offense began heating up in the paint, where they scored eight points out of the media timeout, trailing the Mountaineers by just one, 13-12, after the first quarter.
The second quarter was a complete slugfest for the two teams, combining to go 3-for-25 across those 10 minutes.
Despite earning a few trips to the charity stripe, the Buffs shot just 25 percent there, but did enough to tie the game 17-17 headed to the locker room.
The Mountaineers got to the sets they liked, limiting Colorado’s shot selection and pressing hard on in-bounds. The pressure forced five turnovers and slowed the offense to just 22 percent shooting in the first seven minutes of the half.
Slowing the Buffs’ offense resulted in a 10-2 run for West Virginia that pushed their lead to 12 before the Colorado defense had its turn to stop shots from falling.
This opened up Masogayo, who scored on back-to-back jumpers to help the Buffs cut into the lead, 34-30.
Colorado earned a 16-3 run spanning seven minutes and was helped in large part by the defense forcing misses on ten straight field goals. Walker recorded eight points during the stretch.
Wooten hit a big-time 3-pointer to beat the shot clock and swing the lead back to the Buffs with a minute left before junior guard Gia Cooke responded with a triple of her own.
Masogayo missed what would have been a go-ahead jumper on the next possession, forcing Colorado to go to the foul game. West Virginia, who is the conference’s worst free-throw shooting team, hit both of its shots, pushing the lead back up to three.
Wooten drew a foul on a 3-point shot but missed her first shot, keeping the West Virginia lead at one.
Cooke didn’t have goodwill, missing both of her shots from the charity stripe, keeping the game 48-47.
On an inbound pass to a driving Masogayo, Harrison stole the ball and the game, locking the Buffs out of a spot in the Big 12 Tournament championship.
After picking up two fouls in the first three minutes, Masogayo sat the entire first half, but bounced back with seven points on 75 percent shooting in the second half.
“They were denying everywhere,” Colorado head coach JR Payne said. “[Masogayo] had been very effective down the stretch of the game [while] attacking…we thought we could open up a seam for her to take advantage of the way she had throughout the second half.”
The seam appeared to open for Masogayo, but Harrison saw her seam open and pounced.
“Honestly, I just saw the ball,” Harrison said after the game. “My eyes lit up, and I just went for it.”
“[Harrison] being the defensive player of the year,” West Virginia head coach Mark Kellogg said. “The irony that she makes the big defensive stop there late. I'm proud of her.”
The Colorado defense limited West Virginia to a season-low 48 points.
“I thought [our defense] was phenomenal,” Payne said. “I thought our team executed the game plan on a very short notice.”
In another moment of déjà vu, Walker, as a part of the Kansas State Wildcats, lost to West Virginia in the Big 12 Tournament semifinals last year.
“Yeah, it's painful, especially losing to West Virginia, like I lost to them last year in the same game,” Walker said. “Just knowing we were right there, only [losing] by one point. It’s tough.”
Colorado will look for a nod from the March Madness selection committee Sunday.