Buffs’ luck down stretch runs out

Colorado women’s basketball has triumphed in almost all close games they’ve played this season. However, that luck ran out on Sunday afternoon, in front of a large crowd in Boulder against UCLA, losing 62-54.

The Buffs overcame an extremely poor offensive night to take a four-point lead with as little as 1:54 to go in the game. UCLA’s Thea Lemberger flipped up a wild layup from the right to cut the deficit to two.

UCLA held CU defensively, and took advantage of the Buffs’ inability to hit the defensive glass, as Rebekah Gardner hit a layup with 7.2 second remaining in regulation to tie the game.

Meagan Malcolm-Peck nearly turned the ball over on the last possession of regulation, as the ball bounced around midcourt and rolled out of bounds, sending the game to overtime, where UCLA outscored CU 16-8.

“We didn’t play Colorado basketball,” said head coach Linda Lappe. “We didn’t rebound, we didn’t get transition offense at all, except when we got it through our defense. I think we still had a great shot to win, so that should be a positive for our team that we can compete with anybody.”

A season-high crowd of 5,885 took in the action at the Coors Event Center. They saw Lexy Kresl return to form, scoring fifteen points. Chucky Jeffery chipped in with fourteen points for the Buffs.