ST. THOMAS, U.S. Virgin Islands — \u2014 Colorado head coach JR Payne needed a good tuneup game before the Buffaloes\u2019 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.
\u201cWe knew this would be a very tough game for us, for a lot of different reasons,\u201d Payne said. \u201cWe\u2019re a group that does play emotionally sometimes, but we\u2019re better when we\u2019re 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.\u201d
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 \u2013 coming off a 29-point loss to the Wolfpack less than 24 hours earlier \u2013 that had the early momentum, leading 9-2 after 2\u00bd 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.
\u201cDefense is always what we fall back on,\u201d Payne said. \u201cIt\u2019s 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\u2019s when we\u2019re at our best.\u201d
That\u2019s as close as Kentucky would get to the Buffaloes, who went on to outscore the Wildcats 51-19 in the second half.
\u201cThe first half, we had the defensive intensity we needed,\u201d Kentucky head coach Kyra Elzy said. \u201cWe 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\u2019t sustain our defensive intensity, and they made us pay for it.\u201d
BIG PICTURE
Colorado: A good tuneup for what\u2019s coming next for the Buffaloes \u2013 a Saturday matchup against 10th-ranked North Carolina State in the teams\u2019 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\u2019 final game at the Paradise Jam.
—— Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 basketball polls throughout the season. Sign up here<\/a>.
——
AP women\u2019s college basketball: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/ap-top-25-womens-college-basketball-poll<\/a> and https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/womens-college-basketball <\/a><\/p>\n

source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

ST. THOMAS, U.S. Virgin Islands — \u2014 Colorado head coach JR Payne needed a good tuneup game before the Buffaloes\u2019 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. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":31,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-87241","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n