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After trailing by six points at halftime and by as many nine points early in the second half, Colorado women's basketball rallied, holding off Wyoming 63-59.
"I just thought we were playing fearfully," head coach Linda Lappe told AM-760. "We have different expectations - we're ranked 11th in the country, our players know that, that's the first time that any of them have experience being remotely close to the top 10. I think we came into the game looking to protect something."
Colorado, which was without the services of their leading scorer Jen Reese and their captain Ashley Wilson, trailed at the half by a 27-21 count.
The Buffs came out of the locker room with a renewed focus on driving the lane, rather than taking outside shots. After allowing a quick Wyoming three out of the gate, Colorado went on a 19-5 run, keyed by some fearless drives and some kick-outs to three-point shooters to take an eight point lead.
Colorado would continue to stretch their lead until Wyoming head coach Joe Legerski switched from man-to-man to a 2-3 zone. The Buffs were stymied without Reese, who Lappe called her team's "zonebuster". With 57 seconds remaining, Colorado found themselves tied with the Cowboys, at 57-57.
Brittany Wilson, who led the Buffs in scoring with 19 points, snared an offensive rebound and layed it in with 35 seconds remaining to stretch the lead to 59-57. Clutch free-throws from Lexy Kresl and Jasmine Sborov sent Colorado home with their seventh victory of the season.
Up next, Colorado will take on Illinois at Coors Events Center on Saturday, shortly after the men's team finishes their game against Kansas.
Notes
Arielle Roberson looked excellent after missing a few games with a concussion. Roberson finished with 13 points and 12 rebounds... Colorado has now won 31 consecutive non-conference regular season games...
Player of the Game
Brittany Wilson - Wilson came through in a big way for the Buffs Wednesday night, not just by scoring 19 points, but by providing countless hustle plays - none bigger than her put-back to give Colorado the lead for good.
