Dismal January Closes, As Colorado Falls To Utah 58-55

Colorado women's basketball can't seem to shake the script.

Leading 52-48 after two Jamee Swan free throws with 3:48 to play, Colorado scored only one more point the rest of the game, allowing Utah to escape with a 58-55 victory.

"I thought we executed well, we had great shots, we had shots at the rim," head coach Linda Lappe told AM-760. "We had some wide-open layups, just couldn't knock them down."

In each of Colorado's last three losses, the Buffs have held leads in the last ten minutes, only to fall to Washington, Arizona State, and the Utes, respectively.

What was clearly unscripted, however, was the final 12 seconds. With Utah ahead 58-53, Utes' head coach Anthony Levrets called his final timeout. Out of the timeout, Utah's Michelle Plouffe missed the back end of her one-and-one after the fire alarm lights were activated at the Huntsman Center.

Brittany Wilson sprinted down the court and scored a quick layup, bringing the Buffs to within three. With no timeouts, Utah was unable to inbound the ball against the CU pressure, and was called for a five-second violation. Suddenly, Colorado had just over five seconds to get off a game tying three.

Brittany Wilson's inbound slipped through Lauren Huggins' hands, but Huggins made a heads up play to knock the ensuing loose ball off of Plouffe and out of bounds. With the officials reviewing who had possession - and the strobe-like fire alarm lights still activated - Lappe was able to draw up a play for Arielle Roberson.

Roberson snared the inbounds pass and missed the game-tying shot, as the Buffs fell to 2-7 in the Pac-12, and in the month of January.

It is a January the Buffs will surely part with willingly. At the beginning of the month, Colorado was 10-1, ranked 12^th nationally, and seemed to be a lock to play in the NCAA tournament for the second straight second.

Now, Colorado's February will have to be stellar to get back on the bubble.

"We just have to keep fighting," said Lappe. "There's no choice."