GAMEDAY Womens Basketball
Colorado 82, Middle Tennessee 60
(AP Photo/Karl B. DeBlaker)
By BOB SUTTON
Associated Press
DURHAM, N.C. - Frida Formann scored 21 points and Colorado unleashed a torrid 3-point shooting display to roll past Middle Tennessee 82-60 in the NCAA Tournament’s first round.
Jaylyn Sherrod added 13 points and Aaronette Vonleh had 11 points for the Buffaloes, who made 13 shots from beyond the 3-point arc. Seven Colorado players made at least one 3, led by Formann’s 5-for-8 effort.
Colorado (24-8), which will be in the second round for the first time since 2013, meets the Iona-Duke winner.
Anastasiia Boldyreva’s 16 points, Savannah Wheeler’s 15 points and Kseniya Malashka’s 13 points led Middle Tennessee (28-5), which had won 10 in a row.
The Buffaloes were making 3s pretty much from the opening tip – and they kept shooting them. After hitting seven from long range in the first half, they nailed four more in the first 4½ minutes of the third quarter. Three of those came in a 54-second span, creating a 56-36 lead.
The Buffalos drained five 3s in the first seven minutes to open a 17-6 lead, two each by Formann and Tayanna Jones.
Most of the 3s came from in front of the Colorado bench, giving veteran coach Rick Insell an unfortunate up-close view of the Buffaloes’ accuracy. Jones, playing in her home state, had two 3-pointers in the first quarter after connecting on just nine shots from beyond the arc all season.
Colorado made 7 of 16 of its first-half 3s compared with Middle Tennessee’s 1-for-9.
The Buffalos opened an 11-point lead in the first quarter, aided by hitting five 3s to nearly exceed their season per-game average of 3-pointers.
The gap was down to 33-28 with less than two minutes to play in the half before Colorado closed the quarter with a 9-0 burst, capped by Kindyll Wetta’s 3 just a step or two from the sideline in front of the Middle Tennessee bench.
BIG PICTURE
Middle Tennessee: The Conference USA champion Blue Raiders suffered their first four losses of the season by a combined 14 points, but they couldn’t keep up with Colorado’s efficiency. The Blue Raiders have lost their last 10 games in the NCAA Tournament dating to 2007.
Colorado: The Buffaloes might like seeing new opponents at this time of the season. They averaged 65.9 points per game in Pac-12 Conference games, a figure that they exceeded through three quarters in the tournament opener.
March 18, 2023
| Middle Tennessee | ||||||||||||
| Player | Pos | Min | FG-FGA | FT-FTA | 3P-3PA | OR-TR | Ast | Blk | Stl | TO | PF | Pts |
| C. Whitson | F | 31 | 1-5 | 0-0 | 1-4 | 1-6 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3 |
| A. Boldyreva | C | 22 | 6-8 | 3-3 | 1-1 | 0-4 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 16 |
| A. Whittington | G | 40 | 2-5 | 0-0 | 0-2 | 0-3 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| S. Wheeler | G | 33 | 6-17 | 3-3 | 0-6 | 2-3 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 15 |
| J. Gregory | G | 32 | 1-8 | 0-0 | 1-7 | 1-1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| K. Malashka | 25 | 6-15 | 0-0 | 1-3 | 0-4 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 13 | |
| C. Blakely | 15 | 3-6 | 0-1 | 0-1 | 0-2 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 6 | |
| J. Grannum | 2 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Totals | 200 | 25-64 (.391) |
6-7 (.857) |
4-24 (.167) |
9-29 | 8 | 5 | 9 | 8 | 9 | 60 | |
| Colorado | ||||||||||||
| Player | Pos | Min | FG-FGA | FT-FTA | 3P-3PA | OR-TR | Ast | Blk | Stl | TO | PF | Pts |
| A. Vonleh | F | 21 | 4-7 | 3-3 | 0-0 | 0-3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 11 |
| Q. Miller | C | 30 | 2-8 | 0-0 | 1-5 | 2-8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 5 |
| J. Sherrod | G | 31 | 6-11 | 0-0 | 1-2 | 1-3 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 13 |
| F. Formann | G | 29 | 6-10 | 4-4 | 5-8 | 0-5 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 21 |
| T. Jones | G | 16 | 3-5 | 0-0 | 2-3 | 0-5 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 8 |
| K. Wetta | 24 | 2-7 | 0-0 | 2-6 | 1-5 | 6 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 6 | |
| B. McLeod | 19 | 3-5 | 2-2 | 0-0 | 3-4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 8 | |
| T. Sadler | 18 | 3-6 | 0-1 | 1-1 | 2-6 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 7 | |
| J. Wynn | 8 | 1-1 | 0-0 | 1-1 | 0-1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | |
| C. Whittaker | 4 | 0-2 | 0-0 | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Totals | 200 | 30-62 (.484) |
9-10 (.900) |
13-27 (.481) |
12-43 | 21 | 6 | 5 | 17 | 17 | 82 | |
Officials: Lisa Jones, Bill Larence, Brandon Enterline
Attendance: 1,456
