Haley Jones leads No. 3 Stanford by No. 21 Colorado in 2 OTs

BOULDER, Colo. (AP) — This was Haley Jones’take on playing a career-high 50 minutes at elevation: “It wasfun,” the Stanford senior guard said.

Easy to see why.

Jones scored 13 of her 23 points over the two overtime periodsand the third-ranked Cardinal held off No. 21 Colorado 73-62 onThursday night.

Jones also had 11 rebounds and seven assists for the Cardinal(27-3, 15-2 Pac-12), who remain on top of the conference standingswith one game left on their regular season schedule. Stanford waspicked to win the Pac-12 in the preseason poll.

Lauren Betts, who grew up in Colorado, sent the game into doubleovertime by hitting one of two free throws with 3.8 secondsremaining. She finished with 14 points.

Jones took control in overtime No. 2, helping the Cardinaloutscore Colorado by a 13-2 margin. It was the first double OT gamefor Stanford since 2017.

“Feels great. A ‘W’ is a ‘W’ in my opinion, even though we havelots of things to work on,” Jones said. “We learned a lot, but italso proves that we’re very gritty and a tough team.”

Jaylyn Sherrod led Colorado (21-7, 12-5) with 19 points,including the game-tying basket with just under 30 secondsremaining in regulation. She briefly left the game in the fourthafter appearing to turn her ankle. The Buffaloes, who trailed by asmany as eight in the fourth, were missing their third-leadingscorer, Frida Formann, due to an illness.

“What anyone who watched this game saw on full display wasn’t abunch of superstars. It was a team that’s tough, and gritty, andfights and scraps for every single possession. That’s who we are,”said Colorado coach JR Payne, whose team shot 28.8% from the floor.“It really hurts to lose a game like this to Stanford, butincredibly proud of how we played.”

The usually sure-shooting Cardinal missed their opening 15 shotsand trailed by as many as 14 points in the first half. They enteredon short rest after beating UCLA on Monday.

The games between the Buffaloes and Cardinal are typicallyback-and-forth. Entering Thursday, six of the last last 10 weredecided by single digits, including two that went into overtime.This was another thriller.

“We kind of made it exciting for TV,” Cardinal coach TaraVanDerveer said. “That’s a tournament team. Colorado has had agreat season. ... We can both get better because of a game likethis.”

Cameron Brink fouled out in overtime after scoring eight points.Her string of reaching double figures ended at 21 straightgames.

Stanford didn’t score its first basket of the game until BrookeDemetre hit a 3-pointer with 12 seconds remaining in the openingquarter. But Colorado could only open up a 13-5 advantage.

Missed opportunity?

“They’re really hard to score against because they’re so big atevery position,” Payne said. “So that makes it challenging.”

BIG PICTURE

Stanford: Since losing to No. 1 South Carolina in OT on Nov. 20,the Cardinal have now won 10 straight over ranked teams.

Colorado: The Buffaloes remain on three wins over ranked teamsthis season. The last time they knocked off four in the same seasonwas 2001-02.

THIS & THAT

Colorado center Quay Miller 17 points. ... Stanford outreboundedColorado by a 53-42 margin. ... Stanford guard Hannah Jump had14.

HALL OF HONOR

Longtime Colorado women’s basketball coach and administratorCeal Barry will be inducted into the Pac-12 Hall of Honor. The 2023class marks the first all-female class to be enshrined in theleague’s Hall of Honor. It’s in recognition of the 50th anniversaryof Title IX.

UP NEXT

Stanford: Close out the regular season Saturday at No. 8Utah.

Colorado: Host California on Saturday.