Friday, December 15
USAFA, Colo.
7:00 PM
Colorado
68
at
43
Air Force
Photo by: Roger Carry
Buffs Pull Away From Air Force With Dominant Second Half
December 15, 2017 | Women's Basketball
USAF Academy, Colo. – Colorado used a dominant second half to pull away from Air Force for a 68-43 win on Friday night at Clune Arena. The Buffs improved to 8-2 this season, while Air Force dropped to 0-10.
Annika Jank had 16 points and 11 rebounds for her fourth double-double, while Kennedy Leonard finished with 17 points on 6-of-11 shooting with eight assists.
STAT LEADERS: Jank and Leonard were the biggest leaders offensively, but Alexis Robinson added seven points, Aubrey Knight had six, and five bench players combined for 17 more, including 11 in the second half. Leonard and freshman Sara Castro each had three steals, while Janea Bunn had five points, five rebounds and three blocked shots for a well-rounded evening, while battling foul trouble.
Kaelin Immel led Air Force with 16 points.
HOW IT HAPPENED: CU got off to a rough start, trailing 15-11 after the first quarter. The Buffs committed seven turnovers and shot 3-of-9 over the first 8:12 of the game, before closing the first quarter on baskets by Leonard and Hollingshed.
The second quarter started slow as well and the Buffs took their first lead since 4-2 with 1:25 remaining in the half as Jank scored a layup for a 25-24 lead. She finished the half with 3-point play, scoring a layup and a free throw with eight seconds left. The Buffs used a 22-13 edge on the boards to take a 30-28 lead into halftime.
The Buffs blew the game open in the final five minutes of the third quarter. Leading 38-36 at the five-minute mark, CU closed the quarter on a 17-0 run, highlighted by 3-pointers from Leonard and Robinson, and strong play by reserves Castro and Jaimie Curtis.
CU shot 10-of-15 in the third quarter, including 6-of-9 over the final five minutes when the Buffs outrebounded Air Force 8-2. Three offensive boards during that run led to four second-chance points. The Falcons were 0-for-6 from the floor with three turnovers in the final five minutes. Over the entire third quarter, CU outscored Air Force 25-8.
Colorado continued its hot streak into the fourth quarter, stretching the run to 28-2 at one point as the Buffs led 66-38, their largest lead of the night.
KEY STATISTICS: CU shot 10-of-15 (.667) in the third quarter and 51.9 percent for the game. Coming off its second-worst shooting night of the season in a loss to Dartmouth on Monday, the improved shooting proved to be a difference. CU also outrebounded Air Force 48-25. The Falcons were held to just 27.4 percent shooting in the game, including 6-of-29 (.207) in the second half.
NOTES: The 43 points allowed were the fewest since a 63-41 win over Northern Colorado on Nov. 19, 2015 ... Jank had her fourth double-double this season and her third in the past five games ... CU closed the third quarter on a 17-0 run and stretched that run to 28-2 in the fourth quarter to lead 66-38, its largest lead of the game ... CU's +23 rebounding margin was its second-best this season (+27 vs. North Dakota State) ... the Buffs outscored Air Force 38-15 in the second half ... CU was playing without seniors Zoe Correal and Brecca Thomas, who both traveled, but sat out with injuries.
UP NEXT: CU wraps up non-conference play on Thursday when it hosts Westminster (Mo.) at 7 p.m. Leonard will be honored before the game for scoring her 1,000th point earlier this season.
POSTGAME QUOTES:
JR Payne, head coach
On what sparked the run in the third quarter
"We had a little talk at halftime about playing with pride and we came out with a different level of intensity. Offensively, defensively, on the glass, I think we were a different ball club in the first five minutes of the third quarter than we were in the entire first half."
On trying to replicate Air Force's intensity in practice
"It is hard to replicate because all of those players play as hard as Aubrey Knight and Annika Jank. And we've had a bunch of injuries so we haven't even had 10 people in practice so it has been hard to replicate that type of effort and tenacity that Air Force comes with, which is why I told Chris [Gobrecht] I'm such a fan of this program and all military academies because their kids play like that every single night, no matter what the score is."
On changing things up on defense in the third quarter
"We ran a couple defenses that we hadn't done until the last two days, but it was great effort and we were flying around. We were really long and we rebounded a lot out of it, which is sometimes a concern in zone [defense]."
On the defense of Leonard and Robinson
"[We need] more defensive presence to start with. Both of those kids love to play offense and we had, specifically with Kennedy yesterday, a long talk about being a complete player. Kennedy is a player that loves the game of basketball and wants to be as great as she can be and we told her that her defensive needs to get better and really challenged her in that area. We challenged Lexi in the same way to give us more than jump shots and offense. We need them to defend and rebound."
On toughness and intensity of Air Force
"We want to play that way and that's always been our makeup. We have a lot of new people that we are grooming to be really tough and really fearless and really disciplined. It just takes time. They have a team full of them. We have some and everyone is trying to get there, and we will get there. We feel like we've recruited a lot of length and athleticism and when those players really all buy into that idea of toughness and grit, we're going to be really hard to beat."
Aubrey Knight, freshman, wing
On the third quarter run
"Coming out in the first half, we were a little slow. And going into the locker room in the second half, we were just like, 'we just have to play a lot better.' And Coach T came out and told us that this team isn't going to give up; they're going to play hard, they're going to try to match everything we have. And that really hit me. I really took it to hard to come out as hard as I could and I think everyone else matched that too."
Annika Jank had 16 points and 11 rebounds for her fourth double-double, while Kennedy Leonard finished with 17 points on 6-of-11 shooting with eight assists.
STAT LEADERS: Jank and Leonard were the biggest leaders offensively, but Alexis Robinson added seven points, Aubrey Knight had six, and five bench players combined for 17 more, including 11 in the second half. Leonard and freshman Sara Castro each had three steals, while Janea Bunn had five points, five rebounds and three blocked shots for a well-rounded evening, while battling foul trouble.
Kaelin Immel led Air Force with 16 points.
HOW IT HAPPENED: CU got off to a rough start, trailing 15-11 after the first quarter. The Buffs committed seven turnovers and shot 3-of-9 over the first 8:12 of the game, before closing the first quarter on baskets by Leonard and Hollingshed.
The second quarter started slow as well and the Buffs took their first lead since 4-2 with 1:25 remaining in the half as Jank scored a layup for a 25-24 lead. She finished the half with 3-point play, scoring a layup and a free throw with eight seconds left. The Buffs used a 22-13 edge on the boards to take a 30-28 lead into halftime.
The Buffs blew the game open in the final five minutes of the third quarter. Leading 38-36 at the five-minute mark, CU closed the quarter on a 17-0 run, highlighted by 3-pointers from Leonard and Robinson, and strong play by reserves Castro and Jaimie Curtis.
CU shot 10-of-15 in the third quarter, including 6-of-9 over the final five minutes when the Buffs outrebounded Air Force 8-2. Three offensive boards during that run led to four second-chance points. The Falcons were 0-for-6 from the floor with three turnovers in the final five minutes. Over the entire third quarter, CU outscored Air Force 25-8.
Colorado continued its hot streak into the fourth quarter, stretching the run to 28-2 at one point as the Buffs led 66-38, their largest lead of the night.
KEY STATISTICS: CU shot 10-of-15 (.667) in the third quarter and 51.9 percent for the game. Coming off its second-worst shooting night of the season in a loss to Dartmouth on Monday, the improved shooting proved to be a difference. CU also outrebounded Air Force 48-25. The Falcons were held to just 27.4 percent shooting in the game, including 6-of-29 (.207) in the second half.
NOTES: The 43 points allowed were the fewest since a 63-41 win over Northern Colorado on Nov. 19, 2015 ... Jank had her fourth double-double this season and her third in the past five games ... CU closed the third quarter on a 17-0 run and stretched that run to 28-2 in the fourth quarter to lead 66-38, its largest lead of the game ... CU's +23 rebounding margin was its second-best this season (+27 vs. North Dakota State) ... the Buffs outscored Air Force 38-15 in the second half ... CU was playing without seniors Zoe Correal and Brecca Thomas, who both traveled, but sat out with injuries.
UP NEXT: CU wraps up non-conference play on Thursday when it hosts Westminster (Mo.) at 7 p.m. Leonard will be honored before the game for scoring her 1,000th point earlier this season.
POSTGAME QUOTES:
JR Payne, head coach
On what sparked the run in the third quarter
"We had a little talk at halftime about playing with pride and we came out with a different level of intensity. Offensively, defensively, on the glass, I think we were a different ball club in the first five minutes of the third quarter than we were in the entire first half."
On trying to replicate Air Force's intensity in practice
"It is hard to replicate because all of those players play as hard as Aubrey Knight and Annika Jank. And we've had a bunch of injuries so we haven't even had 10 people in practice so it has been hard to replicate that type of effort and tenacity that Air Force comes with, which is why I told Chris [Gobrecht] I'm such a fan of this program and all military academies because their kids play like that every single night, no matter what the score is."
On changing things up on defense in the third quarter
"We ran a couple defenses that we hadn't done until the last two days, but it was great effort and we were flying around. We were really long and we rebounded a lot out of it, which is sometimes a concern in zone [defense]."
On the defense of Leonard and Robinson
"[We need] more defensive presence to start with. Both of those kids love to play offense and we had, specifically with Kennedy yesterday, a long talk about being a complete player. Kennedy is a player that loves the game of basketball and wants to be as great as she can be and we told her that her defensive needs to get better and really challenged her in that area. We challenged Lexi in the same way to give us more than jump shots and offense. We need them to defend and rebound."
On toughness and intensity of Air Force
"We want to play that way and that's always been our makeup. We have a lot of new people that we are grooming to be really tough and really fearless and really disciplined. It just takes time. They have a team full of them. We have some and everyone is trying to get there, and we will get there. We feel like we've recruited a lot of length and athleticism and when those players really all buy into that idea of toughness and grit, we're going to be really hard to beat."
Aubrey Knight, freshman, wing
On the third quarter run
"Coming out in the first half, we were a little slow. And going into the locker room in the second half, we were just like, 'we just have to play a lot better.' And Coach T came out and told us that this team isn't going to give up; they're going to play hard, they're going to try to match everything we have. And that really hit me. I really took it to hard to come out as hard as I could and I think everyone else matched that too."
Players Mentioned
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