Women's basketball loses big to Colorado

Arizona loses by 43

By LUKE DAVIS Published January 22, 2013 at 1:46am Updated January 22, 2013 at 1:46am

In its first game against a ranked opponent this season, the Arizona women’s basketball team (11-6, 3-3 Pac-12) lost Sunday afternoon to No. 21 Colorado (15-2, 3-3) 79-36 on the road in Boulder, Colo.

Senior captain Davellyn Whyte led the Wildcats with 11 points and three steals in 29 minutes of action. Sunday was the guard’s 26th consecutive game with double-digit scoring.

For the fourth straight game, Arizona sophomore Layana White replaced junior starting guard Kama Griffitts, who is out for an unknown amount of time for personal reasons. White scored 16 points last Sunday at home against Oregon and was second in scoring this Sunday, as she added nine points in the 43-point loss.

As a team, the Wildcats shot a season-low 25 percent, and were out-rebounded by 25. In comparison, the Buffaloes shot 50 percent for the game and scored 44 of their 79 points in the paint.

“They beat us in every category on the stat sheet,” Arizona head coach Niya Butts said in a press release. “They played tougher, we weren’t physical. To be honest with you, I haven’t seen our team play like this in quite some time.”

Arizona kept it close until the second television timeout of the first half. Led by forward Arielle Roberson, Colorado would go on two 11-0 runs including one 21-4 run in the last 11 minutes of the first half. At halftime, the Buffaloes had a commanding 43-15 lead over Arizona.

The second half would be no different for the Wildcats, as they would only make six field goals and would give up 12 offensive rebounds to Colorado. Whyte, who has played entire games multiple times this season, only played nine minutes in the second half.

Even in a lopsided game such as Sunday’s, Arizona managed to keep its turnovers down, as the Wildcats committed 11 turnovers to the Buffaloes 12. Arizona averages 18.8 turnovers per game.

The Wildcats are now halfway done with the season’s longest road trip. They will head to Los Angeles next weekend to play No. 14 UCLA and USC on Friday and Sunday, respectively.