Colorado Drops Third Straight, Falling To UCLA 62-46

Colorado women's basketball hit one field goal in the final 14:21 of the first half, as they fell at No. 19 UCLA, 62-46.

The Buffs started strong, taking an 8-2 lead, but the turning point of the game came with just after the 16 minute mark in the first half. Holding the 8-2 lead, CU got a defensive stop, after UCLA's Jasmine Dixon missed a jumper. Rachel Hargis grabbed the rebound, but threw the ball right to the Bruins' Markel Walker, who hit the layup. Inbounding, the Buffs turned it over again, and Walker hit another layup, closing the gap to two.

"We let three plays hurt us for the rest of the game," Linda Lappe told AM-760 after the game. "You can't let three plays affect you like that. I'm just disappointed."

From Walker's layup to a Chucky Jeffery three-pointer (nearly ten minutes apart), the Bruins went on a 19-3 run, burying the Buffaloes.

After Jeffery's three-pointer, UCLA went on a mini-run to close the half with a 29-15 lead.

Colorado came out of halftime strong, but could never really get enough traction to mount a comeback.

"We didn't have any mental toughness tonight," said Lappe. "We were really a shell of our self. We didn't play together. There are a lot of things that you can point to in this game, but now it's going to be back to the drawing board."

The Buffs shot a season-low 28.6 percent from the field, while allowing a season-low in field goal percentage defense, letting the Bruins shoot at a 55.6 percent clip. Prior to Friday's game, CU had only allowed Stanford to shoot above 40 percent on them the entire season.

"We were on our heels the entire night," said Lappe. "When we'd get a stop, we'd give up an offensive rebound put-back, or they'd get to the free-throw line. There are so many things to point to, I can't name one. We didn't do anything we've done all season long, and that's probably the most disappointing part."

Colorado will be back on the hardwood Sunday morning for an 11 a.m. tip against USC.