BOULDER, Colo. – UCLA snapped a three-game losing streak to Colorado with a hard-fought 90-84 victory on Sunday afternoon at the Coors Events Center. The Bruins improved to 7-9 overall and 3-2 in the Pac-12 while the Buffaloes dropped to 7-8 overall and 0-4 in league play.
The Bruins tied the series up at 5-5 all-time against Colorado and take a 3-2 lead in games played in Boulder, Colo.
UCLA regained the services of junior guard Nirra Fields, who missed the game at Utah with a sprained ankle. She was one of a season-high six Bruins in double figures with 10 points. Redshirt sophomore Kari Korver led the Bruins with 17 points. Senior Corinne Costa had a season-high 16 points and had a key late block to help the Bruins get a late stop. Freshmen Recee' Caldwell, Lajahna Drummer and Jordin Canada scored 14, 13 and 10 points, respectively. Canada just missed a double-double with a game-high nine assists while Caldwell was an efficient 5-for-6 from the field (2-for-3 from downtown).
The Bruins came out on fire, building a 21-point lead (37-16) with 8:08 to go on a three-pointer that just beat the shot clock by senior Madeline Poteet. But the Buffaloes closed the half on a 25-13 run to pull within 50-41 at the break. UCLA shot a season-best 60.6 percent (20-for-33) for the half, scoring a season-best for any half and more than they had scored in each of the last three entire games.
Colorado opened the second half like they ended the first, with strong shooting against poor defense by UCLA. Colorado went on an 11-3 run early in the second to claim its first lead of the game at 60-59 (14:29) on a three-pointer by Lauren Huggins. The second half was a tight affair, but Colorado couldn't pull away, only building its largest lead of three points.
Drummer's layup with 7:31 to go gave UCLA a 74-73 lead, that they would never relinquish. Colorado's Jen Reese scored two of her career-high 30 points to cut the lead to 85-84 with 1:31 remaining. But Costa had an answer with a jumper from the top of the key to push it to 87-84 with 1:05 to go. The Bruins got three stops in the final minute, including forcing two turnovers, and Caldwell and Korver stepped up to make 3-of-4 from the charity stripe to seal the win.
Haley Smith added 19 points for the Buffaloes while Lexy Kresl rounded out a trio of double figure scorers for Colorado with 13 points (4-for-6 from beyond the arc).
UP NEXT
CU: Hosts Utah on Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2015 on the Pac-12 Networks at 7:00 p.m. (MT).
UCLA: Hosts USC on Sunday, Jan. 18, 2015 on the Pac-12 Networks at 7:30 p.m. (PT).