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Colorado women's basketball couldn't quite overcome a 21 point second half deficit, falling to Washington 79-67.
"Well, we pretty much got it handed to us in that game, it was never really a game," said head coach Linda Lappe. "I thought we had some decent chances in the last eight minutes. I felt like we were in a good position, finally scoring the ball, and finally getting a few stops. But we couldn't really figure out a way to cut it to less than 10."
Colorado stumbled out of the gate, falling behind 18-4. CU was able to steady itself by getting Washington's Jazmine Davis in foul trouble.
After Davis departed with her third personal, Colorado went on a 12-5 run to cut the gap to just three points. But Colorado closed the first half poorly, allowing Washington to push the lead back to 13 at halftime.
"It was really important (to get Davis in foul trouble), but we didn't really take advantage of it," said Lappe.
Washington picked up where they left off in the second half, stretching the lead to 21 at the 14:42 mark, forcing Lappe to call a timeout. Out of the timeout, Colorado started to fight back. Lauren Huggins drained a few threes, Jamee Swan got involved after a quiet first half, and at the 8:02 mark, CU found themselves down just 10, 60-50.
CU could never quite cut the deficit after getting within 10. Washington hit big shots, and Kelsey Plum, the nation's seventh-leading scorer at 23.0 points per game, got to the line, where she sunk all ten of the free throws she took.
"At that eight minute mark I thought we had them exactly where we wanted them," said Lappe. "There were two opportunities. The first opportunity was when we were down three or four in the first half, getting close to halftime, and we didn't close out the half very well, and it got back to 13. The second missed opportunity was with eight minutes left, being able to hit a couple of those easy shots and get stops and you're right back in the game."
Plum finished with 28 points on the evening for the Huskies. Swan recorded her seventh double-double of the season, with 13 points and 12 boards off the bench. Haley Smith and Jen Reese each added 10 points for Washington.