By Tony Solorzano
Los Angeles – The two newest members of the PAC-12 Conference faced off Wednesday Afternoon with Colorado prevailing in a 55-41 upset win over Utah at the Pacific
Life Pac-12 Women’s tournament at USC’s Galen Center.
“I thought our team did a lot of nice things tonight,” said Buffaloes head coach Linda Lappe. “We knew that Utah wasn’t going to lie down and die, they were a
solid team, well coached and have good players and they came at us in the second half, we fought back and hit some free throws down the stretch.”
The Buffaloes took control of the game with 12:36 left in the half, after tying the Utes 10-10 on a layup by Brittany Wilson. After taking a 12-10 lead on Chucky
Jeffery’s layup, both teams struggled to make point for the next four minutes, until Ashley Wilson sank two free throws for the Buffs. The Buffs would engineer
an 18-5 run to close out the half, taking a 32-15 lead into the locker room.
In the second half, the Buffs and Utes traded baskets as the Utes slowly whittled away at the lead, cutting their deficit to seven points with 5:37 left. However,
the Buffs outscored the Utes in the final five minutes, 12-5 to close out the game and advance to the next round.
“I was a little disappointed with our first 20 minutes of effort and very pleased with our effort in the second half,” said Utah head coach Anthony Levrets.
“Ultimately, Colorado was the better team tonight.”
Brittany Wilson led the Buffaloes with 21 points, while Jeffery added 20 points. Wicijowski led the Utes with 18 points, including her 11 second-half points. She
and Cheyenne Wilson accounted for all 15 points the Utes scored in the first half.
The Buffaloes advance and will take on the Cal Golden Bears Thursday at 5 p.m., the Bears swept the regular season meeting with the Buffaloes.
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