BOULDER, Colo. – Karlie Samuelson and Brittany McPhee combined for 38 points and No. 13 Stanford used a scintillating third quarter to complete a weekend sweep by beating Colorado 84-70 on Sunday afternoon.
Stanford (15-3, 5-1) was down 42-41 at halftime and missed its first two attempts coming out of the break, but closed the period with Samuelson and McPhee making nine consecutive shots.
Samuelson nailed a pair of 3-pointers as part of a 9-0 run to put Stanford up 50-42 with 6:36 on the clock. She'd make another from distance and tacked on three free throws two minutes later to increase the lead to 10 before Colorado (11-6, 1-5) responded with back-to-back 3-pointers and that's when McPhee took over.
The junior scored 11 straight points for the Cardinal over the quarter's final 2:36. McPhee sprinkled in a corner triple with acrobatic layup after acrobatic layup knifing through the Colorado defense.
When the third had ended, Samuelson and McPhee had combined for 25 of Stanford's 28 points on a perfect 9-of-9 shooting, including 4-of-4 from behind the arc and the Cardinal led 69-60.
Samuelson paced Stanford with 20 points and was 5-of-7 on 3-pointers. It was her fifth career game scoring 20 and eighth making at least five from deep. McPhee's 18 came on 8-of-11 shooting and it was her baseline finish to end the first half that pulled the Cardinal within one and gave Stanford momentum heading into the locker room.
While Samuelson and McPhee were carrying the load offensively, Stanford's defense stepped up in the second half. Colorado, which entered the game shooting 32.9 percent on 3-pointers, made 8-of-13 (.615) in the first half. Kennedy Leonard had 14 and Alexis Robinson 11 for the Buffs, which shot 50 percent in the first half.
Leonard, Robinson and Colorado was held in check over the game's final 20 minutes. CU shot 22.6 percent in the second half, 25.0 percent from behind the arc, and scored 11 of its 28 points over the third and fourth quarters at the free throw line.
Erica McCall had 12, five other Cardinal scored at least five and Stanford put up its highest point total in a conference game since dropping 86 in overtime at Washington State on Jan. 11, 2015.
Stanford shot 55.0 percent on 3-pointers (11-of-20) and 53.8 percent overall (28-of-52), its sixth game this season making half of its shots.
The Cardinal returns home to host Arizona (11-6, 2-4) on Friday, Jan. 20 at 7 p.m.
