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BOULDER, Colo. — March came early at the CU Events Center Saturday afternoon.
In a battle between two ranked Pac-12 teams to open up conference play, the game had a tournament-like feel as the two teams battled to the bitter end.
But in the end, No. 12 Utah couldn't stop the all-around performance of No. 8 Colorado's Jaylyn Sherrod, who had a career performance in front of a capacity crowd, to earn a 76-65 win over the Utes.
Utah's Alissa Pili, who was largely Utah's offense for much of the day, was forced to sub out for a bit in the fourth quarter due to a minor injury, and Colorado pounced.
"It was a game of runs, and we kind of died there on the vine in the last four minutes," Utah head coach Lynne Roberts said. "When Pili went down, it threw our rhythm off, but credit to Colorado as they held us in the fourth quarter. When this season is all said and done, Colorado and Utah are going to be in the hunt.
"A win or loss at this point isn't going to make or break our season," she added. "The thing about the Pac-12 is there isn't time to dwell or celebrate. You have to get ready for the next contest."
Sherrod finished the top-12 matchup — the first game in which both teams were ranked in series history — with 34 points, six steals, four rebounds and four assists in the dominant day for the quick guard.
If Sherrod wasn't in the face of her Utah (10-3, 0-1 Pac-12) opponent on defense, she was acting like a cornerback as she picked off passes, and then used her speed to blow by defenders on the offensive side to find bucket after bucket dropping en route to a Colorado (11-1, 1-0 Pac-12) victory.
The two teams played to a draw at the halftime break in a back-and-forth affair before Colorado built up a 7-point lead early in the quarter. Utah answered the call and went on a 10-0 run to take a 3-point lead, and used that run to eventually build up an 8-point lead to start the fourth quarter on a Kennady McQueen 3-pointer.
It was the type of shot from McQueen that appeared to be a back-breaker in a game where neither team could pull away.
But Utah couldn't hold onto the ball (20 turnovers), couldn't hit from 3-point range (or, really, anywhere) late amid a five-minute scoring drought, and couldn't stop Sherrod, who was a big contributor to Colorado's 29 fast break points.
Colorado went on a 13-0 run as Utah went cold, and then finished the game with another 9-0 run to stave off a Utah comeback.
Aaronette Vonleh added 18 points, most of which came in the post, and Sara-Rose Smith finished with 11 points and 12 rebounds for the team's only double-double performance.
Pili led Utah with an equally impressive 27 points, 10 rebounds and five assists, but Utah needed more offense from its team. No other player on Utah scored in double figures, though McQueen added 9 points and three rebounds in the loss.
"Every game I want to do what I can to help my team win," Pili said. "Colorado had a lot of runs on us, and we just couldn't keep up. They got momentum and they weren't missing, so when we weren't capitalizing on our end it hurt us. We're at a stage where we have to finish tough games, so we're gonna learn and bounce back."
The biggest difference in the game, though, was Utah's 20 turnovers — Colorado had 16 steals — that led to 23 points on the other end for Colorado, who shot 48% from the field and outrebounded Utah 35-32.
