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Down went the top-ranked, undefeated Stanford women’s basketball team

By Arnie Leshin 
Now there are four remaining women’s Division I college basketball teams and a new No. 1 in the national polls after visiting top-ranked Stanford was stunned 77-72 in overtime at Colorado Sunday.
The last two years, the Cardinal survived two close calls with the PAC12 rival Buffaloes, but this time it lost when freshman Frida Formann tossed in a go-ahead 3-pointer with 1:36remaining in the OT. It was the first loss for Stanford in a dozen overall starts, and its first in nine conference starts, while Colorado evened its overall mark at 6-6 and advanced to 4-5 in the PAC12.
Said Buffaloes Jaylen Sherrod: “You can take the points off the board, the rebounds, the steals, this game was won off our will. Not many fans here to cheer us on, but we just didn’t want to lose. We know what it’s like to lose in a close game to Stanford, but we were not losing today.”
Formann scored the game-winner, but teammate Myra Hollingshead turned in a game-high 32 points and brought down 10 rebounds.
“We did not defend Hollingshead worth a darn,” said Cardinal head coach Tara VanDerveer, whose 1,099 career wins are number one among college women’s coaches (the late Pat Summit and University of Connecticut  head coach Geno Auriemma have 1,095 each). “She had her way with whoever was guarding her, and we didn’t do a good job in that respect.”
Stanford led 70-69 when Hull split a pair of free throws, but Formann hit a shot from top of the arc to put her team team ahead for good. It was 74-72 when Hull stole the ball Hollingshead, but Anna Wilson missed a layup with five seconds left. Tuitele then made one of two foul shots, setting up the final seconds for Formann.
Before that, Lesila Finau’s driving layup with 3:29 to go in the third quarter gave the Buffaloes a 46-45 lead, their first of the game.
Hull finished with 19 points, Haley Jones added 16 to go with seven boards, and Cameron Brink scored 13.
Buffaloes’ Peanut Tuitele blocked Lexi Hull’s 3-point attempt that would have tied it with a second left, and Colorado then celebrated its first win over a top-ranked team in program history. It also ended a 16-game losing streak to Stanford after a couple of near wins last season.
Last year, the Cardinal won in overtime in Boulder, and then needed Kiana Williams’ 40-foot basket at the buzzer to Buffs at home three weeks later. Those served as motivation for Colorado.
“There are certain games that stick with you forever,” said Buffaloes’ head coach JR Payne. “You can win a bunch of games after that but there are some that you truly can’t let go, and for our ballclub it was our two games against Stanford last year.”
For the Cardinal it was the second straight season it lost to an unranked team as No. 1 when it was defeated by Texas.
It knocked Stanford out of the No. 1 place in the polls, with undefeated Louisville taking over ahead of unbeaten North Carolina State and No. 3 unbeaten UCONN. Michigan is the only other team with an unblemished record in this season of postponements and cancellations because of the coronavirus pandemic.

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