Colorado Tops Oregon, 60-49, Clinches First Round Bye

In what could only be described as a bizarre game, Colorado women's basketball overcame a slow offensive start to top Oregon, 60-49, winning their eighth consecutive game, clinching fourth-place in the Pac-12, and a first-round bye in next week's Pac-12 tournament.

"It will be a plus," head coach Linda Lappe told AM760 regarding the bye. "We've worked really hard for that bye, we've stayed with it. Eight in a row is something you don't see all the time, so we've taken care of business. It hasn't always looked pretty, but we've come together when we needed to, we've been tough when we've needed to be tough, we've made plays."

Colorado (23-5) struggled for much of the first half, trading leads with Oregon (4-25). Arielle Roberson's ten first half points were enough to send CU into halftime holding a 24-21 lead.

The Buffaloes continued to play without a sense of inspiration on the offensive side of the court in the second half, until freshman point guard Kyleesha Weston entered the game with about eight minutes gone by in the half and Colorado clinging to a one point lead. Weston knocked down an open three and proceeded to steel the ball off the ensuing inbound, which resulted in a Roberson three-pointer, putting the Buffaloes up by seven.

CU would never look back. In the final minutes, Jasmine Sborov found her offensive game, scoring eight points in the last ten minutes for the Buffs. Roberson finished with 16 points, and Chucky Jeffery had yet another double-double, notching 12 points and 10 boards.

Colorado will close out its regular season against Oregon State on Sunday, a team which Lappe believes is playing their best basketball of the season. The Beavers nearly defeated No. 6 California five days ago, and they topped Utah Friday evening.