No. 3 Colorado uses strong second half to rout Kentucky 96-53

ST. THOMAS, U.S. Virgin Islands -- — Colorado head coach JR Payne needed a good tuneup game before the Buffaloes’ big matchup against 10th-ranked North Carolina State.

Payne got what she wished for, as No. 3 Colorado picked up another big win in the Paradise Jam tournament with a 96-53 rout of Kentucky on Friday.

Aaronette Vonleh scored 19 points to lead five players in double figures for the Buffaloes (6-0), who shot a season-high 59.7% (37 of 62) in winning their sixth straight by double digits.

“We knew this would be a very tough game for us, for a lot of different reasons,” Payne said. “We’re a group that does play emotionally sometimes, but we’re better when we’re pretty even keeled. We did a great job in the second half of that, staying out of the ups and downs of emotion, and just playing great basketball.”

Jaylyn Sherrod added 15 points, Kindyll Wetta had 11 points, and Quay Miller and Tameiya Sadler each had 10 points for Colorado.

Eniya Russell had 14 points, Maddie Scherr added 13 points and Ajae Petty scored 11 points for the Wildcats (2-4), who committed 27 turnovers that led to 42 points for the Buffaloes.

It was Kentucky – coming off a 29-point loss to the Wolfpack less than 24 hours earlier – that had the early momentum, leading 9-2 after 2½ minutes of the first quarter.

Colorado rallied to tie the score three times in the quarter before closing the period with an 11-0 run to go up 25-14.

The Wildcats got within three before Colorado ended the half up 45-34.

“Defense is always what we fall back on,” Payne said. “It’s who we are, and for years and years have always taken pride on. We have some really good individual defenders, but when we guard as a team, that’s when we’re at our best.”

That’s as close as Kentucky would get to the Buffaloes, who went on to outscore the Wildcats 51-19 in the second half.

“The first half, we had the defensive intensity we needed,” Kentucky head coach Kyra Elzy said. “We were flying around, stuck to the game plan and got some stops that we needed. But in the third quarter, I thought we came out flat. We didn’t sustain our defensive intensity, and they made us pay for it.”

BIG PICTURE

Colorado: A good tuneup for what’s coming next for the Buffaloes – a Saturday matchup against 10th-ranked North Carolina State in the teams’ final Paradise Jam game.

UP NEXT

Colorado: Closes out play in the Island Division against No. 10 North Carolina State on Saturday.

Kentucky: Faces Cincinnati on Saturday in the teams’ final game at the Paradise Jam.

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AP women’s college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-womens-college-basketball-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/womens-college-basketball