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Rallying to beat Washington State on Friday was trigged in part by point guard Jaylyn Sherrod getting into a zone with her shooting to lead the Colorado women’s basketball team.

The other key was the Buffs’ decision to get into a zone defensively.

Down by 11 points late in the third quarter and by nine going into the fourth, the Buffs switched to a zone defense and slowed down Washington State to get a 71-68 victory at the CU Events Center.

“(Associate head coach Toriano Towns) made that call because he runs our defense,” CU head coach JR Payne said of the defensive switch. “I thought it was a great decision. I just think it was disruptive of flow. We were able to force a couple turnovers and just sort of change the overall flow of their offense. Anytime you can do that, even against a really good team and a really good shooting team, I think that helped. And, it kind of created some windows where we could be a little bit more aggressive in spots and it ended up really helping us when we needed it.”

Washington State shot the ball well most of the night, at 46.4%, but after a stellar third quarter (61.5%), the Cougars cooled off in the fourth (42.9%).

More importantly, CU allowed the Cougars to attempt only four field goals in the first five minutes of the fourth quarter. WSU was 1-for-4 with three turnovers during that stretch, while CU turned a nine-point deficit into a two-point lead.

Sherrod, meanwhile, sparked the offense. The Buffs were only 5-of-12 (41.7%) in the third quarter, but a sizzling 8-of-14 (57.1%) in the fourth.

“We switched up what we were running and kind of made some different substitutions at times that might have stretched the defense a little or created some gaps for people to attack, which I think ended up really helping us,” Payne said. “It just kind of felt like our energy wasn’t (there), especially in the third quarter.”

It’s not often that CU has rallied in the fourth quarter, especially when facing such a big deficit.

Prior to Friday, the Buffs were 8-96 when trailing after three quarters since the NCAA converted games to quarters in the 2015-16 season. Each of the last six times they came back to win, the Buffs trailed by five or less going into the fourth.

On Friday, the Buffs were down by 11 with only 12 minutes to play and nine going into the fourth. The last time they faced that big of a deficit that late in a game and rallied to win came on Nov. 10, 2017, at Samford. The Buffs were down 11 late in the third and by 10 going into the fourth before winning 71-60.

Friday was CU’s largest fourth-quarter rally in a conference game since Washington State’s visit to Boulder on Feb. 3, 2017. In that one, the Cougars led by 10 going into the fourth quarter and CU rallied to win 70-58.

It also marked just the seventh time in Payne’s seven seasons that CU has trailed by 10 or more at any point in a game and rallied to win. The last time CU recovered from a double-digit deficit to win was on Feb. 12, 2021, when it trailed USC by 13 in the second quarter and won 66-56.

Prior to Friday, CU had been, by far, the worst free-throw shooting team in the Pac-12 during conference play, at 64.7%.

Against WSU, however, the Buffs went 13-for-16 (81.3%), including a perfect 11-for-11 in the fourth quarter. Sherrod was 6-for-6 in the fourth, but four different players contributed to that perfect quarter.

“Everybody stepped up and hit them,” Payne said. “I’m really proud. Some of these guys really have been intentional about getting reps in at the free throw line. ‘I gotta make 10 out of 10 in a row before I leave practice; I’ve got to make five in a row before I go to locker room,’ things like that. When you put the work in, you have the right to be confident, you have the confidence to knock down free throws when you need them.”

From Jan. 22-29, the Buffs had a miserable three-game stretch at the line, going 19-of-45 (42.2%). In three games since then, they are 25-of-32 (78.1%).

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