Pretchel's putback helps No. 6 Stanford slip past Colorado

STANFORD, Calif. -- Freshman Ashten Pretchel wasn’t thinking about much. She was caught up in the excitement of the moment.

All she did was make two of the biggest shots of her young career.

Pretchel made a putback in the final two minutes for the go-ahead points and No. 6 Stanford slipped past Colorado 76-68 in overtime Friday night.

Mya Hollingshed hit a 3-pointer with less than 2 seconds to play in regulation to give Colorado a 64-62 lead, but Stanford tied it with a perfect inbound pass and layup by Pretchel, who scored 12 points and had four rebounds -- all in the final 5:01 -- to send the game to overtime.

“We work on that play every day in practice,” Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer said. “Lacie (Hull) made a great pass and Ashten finished it. We executed down the stretch and made some plays.”

Lexie Hull, who scored a career-high 29 points, made a layup with under 20 seconds remaining to give Stanford a 62-61 lead, erasing a seven-point deficit. She also had a layup in the final 41 seconds of overtime to give Stanford a 71-68 edge.

“There’s a lot we can learn from this,” Hull said. “Especially getting down like we did early. We have to start better.”

Freshman Jaylyn Sherrod scored a season-high 21 points and had seven assists for the Buffaloes, who have not beaten a Top 25 team in nearly three years.

“She’s incredible,” Colorado coach JR Payne said of Sherrod. “She’s a great player, a great teammate, hard-working, selfless and wildly competitive.”

Hollingshed scored 15 points and Aubrey Knight had 12 for Colorado, which won just two games in conference play last year.

Colorado used 20 offensive rebounds to forge a significant advantage in second-chance points. The Buffaloes had a 16-4 edge in that department entering the fourth quarter. Stanford recorded the next 11 such points.

“Rebounding is what we do well consistently,” Payne said. “In the second half, Stanford rebounded much better and that made a difference.”

Hollingshed hit a 3-pointer and added a free throw to give Colorado a 54-48 advantage with 5:38 remaining to play.

Two minutes later, Knight hit a 3-pointer from the corner to put the Buffaloes on top, 59-52.

“Colorado was extremely aggressive,” VanDerveer said. “We had our hands full the whole game. They have some nice players.”

Fran Belibi added 11 points for Stanford.

The Buffs outscored Stanford 8-2 over the final 6:07 of the third quarter and carried a 41-39 lead into the fourth.

Stanford scored the last seven points of the second quarter, including Nadia Fingall’s 3-pointer, to take a 27-25 halftime lead.

“We did a good job of sticking together down the stretch,” Stanford's Jenna Brown said. “It was a good identity win for us. We executed under pressure.”

GUARD PLAY

Brown knew she would be getting more playing time with the Cardinal's injury situation. The sophomore played over 13 minutes, the most since the third game of the season. It was just the fourth time she has played 10 minutes or more.

“I just felt like this was an opportunity for her,” VanDerveer said. “She’s going to have to play more. She took advantage of it. She has to build on it.”

BIG PICTURE

Colorado: Jaylyn Sherrod became the second-fastest to 100 assists (in her 18th game) and fastest since Ann Troyan did in 17 games during the 1979-80 season. ... The Buffaloes were 0 of 8 from the field in the second quarter, scoring four points on free throws by Mya Hollingshed. ... All six of Quinessa Caylao-Do’s rebounds in the first half were offensive. ... The 23 fourth-quarter points were a season-best.

Stanford: Freshman Haley Jones missed the game with a knee injury suffered in last week’s victory over Oregon State. ... The Cardinal has never lost to Colorado at home.

UP NEXT

Colorado: Plays at California on Sunday.

Stanford: Hosts Utah on Sunday.

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