KANSAS CITY, Mo. – In a win that displayed the ‘never say die’ attitude of Colorado women’s basketball, several freshmen shook off their nerves to make a season-saving impact.
Thrust into the spotlight for a second straight day on Thursday in place of a foul-troubled Kindyll Wetta, redshirt freshman Kennedy Sanders flipped the script after a sluggish performance on Wednesday.
The guard scored 12 all-important points in the second half (14 total), including a pair of 3s that helped the Buffs weather several offensive storms by the Arizona Wildcats.
“Honestly, it wasn’t really from me,” Sanders said of her day. “I was more confident and attacked, but we had a lot of good drive-and-dish from Kindyll, from Johanna [Teder] … We were getting it in and getting good kick-outs.”
Tabitha Betson also entered Thursday with a chip on her shoulder, having struggled since stepping into Sara-Rose Smith’s starting spot due to injury late in the regular season.
While she averaged just three points and three rebounds in her prior six games, a skilled 16-point, seven-rebound performance on Thursday also aided Colorado’s late push.
“It’s a long season all we all know, and it’s just kind of chipping away,” Betson said. “Everyone means so much to me, and JR [Payne] has supported me so much throughout this whole year, so it definitely means a lot to be able to do that [back] and provide something for my team.”
Erin Powell’s one point, two rebounds and one steal come nowhere close to painting the entire picture of her afternoon, as the freshman tasked to the injured Nyamer Diew’s spot hustled through nine minutes of a second quarter that saw CU surge back from an 11-point deficit to even the score by halftime.
While fifth-year forward Lior Garzon’s ice-cold demeanor translated to nine crucial points in crunch time, another freshman played all 10 minutes of the fourth quarter and grabbed five rebounds when CU desperately needed to complete stops: Grace Oliver.
Sanders scored seven in the closing period, while Betson made a critical free throw to force the Wildcats' gameplan to the 3-point line on its final possession. They had gone just 5-for-19 before a game-sealing miss.
With a daunting task ahead on Friday in the form of the Big 12 regular season champion TCU Horned Frogs, Colorado may need its budding future to step up once again. An upset win could propel the Buffs right back into March Madness contention.
“The future’s really bright,” head coach Payne said. “It’s not just their basketball play, the character of the group is really, really high. They’re competitive, they’re great teammates and I think this young group is going to be good for a long time.”
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