Buffaloes Hold Off Huskies On Senior Day, 68-61

Colorado women's basketball overcame a couple of second half scoring runs from Washington to win on senior day, 68-61, moving the Buffs into fourth-place in the Pac-12.

"You have to give Washington a lot of credit," head coach Linda Lappe said. "They kept fighting, they kept coming back at us in the second half. We knew they would, they can score the basketball, and they can score in bunches. At the same time, I liked how our team stepped up, and how we never gave up the lead."

After a solid first half where Brittany Wilson scored 11 points, Colorado took a 36-25 lead into halftime. However near the beginning of the half, Chucky Jeffery went down near the CU bench with an ankle injury.

"I got up, taped it up a little bit, walked it off. I'll be alright," Jeffery said. Jeffery returned to the Buffaloes lineup midway through the second half.

The Huskies showed a fair amount of fight in the second half, going on an 11-0 run to cut the Colorado lead to one. Lappe called for time, and immediately drew up a play where Jen Reese was wide open under the basket to stop the Huskies' momentum. Reese's layup would spark a 12-3 run that put the Colorado lead at nine with 7:09 remaining.

Sharp shooting from Washington's Kristi Kingma brought the Huskies back to within two, 59-57 with just 2:42 left. Colorado was suddenly in desperate need of a basket. With Jeffery double-teamed along the baseline and the shot clock quickly expiring, Jeffery found Reese open at the right block, converting a huge jumper to put the Colorado lead at four.

Washington's Jazmine Davis missed a three at the other end and Jeffery found Reese again for an open jumper, which she converted, putting the Colorado lead at six and effectively ending any chance the Huskies' had at a road upset.

Meagan Malcolm-Peck and Brenna Malcolm-Peck both got in the game with 12 seconds remaining. For Brenna Malcolm-Peck, it was her first official game action all season. Jeffery also exited with eight seconds left to a standing ovation.

Colorado finishes up Pac-12 play next week at Oregon and Oregon State.