Women’s basketball: Frida Formann gets in groove, leads CU Buffs to rout of UCF

Fast break Why the Buffs won: They were aggressive and assertive on both ends of the floor from start, building a huge lead early and coasting to the finish.

Three stars: 1.

CUs Frida Formann: She hit five 3-pointers and scored 22 points, while also recording four assists and four rebounds.

2.

CUs Jade Masogayo: Posted 16 points, hitting all four of her shots from the floor, along with three blocks, two steals and four rebounds.

3.

UCFs Kaitlin Peterson: For much of the game, she was the Knights only threat, finishing with a game-high 24 points, including 15-of-17 from the free throw line, and four steals.

Up next: The Buffs will host Kansas on Saturday at the CU Events Center (1 p.m., ESPN+).

A subpar game has never fazed Colorados Frida Formann.

Coming off a two-game road trip in Texas where the Buffaloes lost twice and Formann couldnt find her shot, she got in a groove early on Wednesday night.

The fifth-year senior scored 22 points to spark the Buffs to an 81-62 rout of Central Florida at the CU Events Center.

CUs all-time leader in made 3-pointers, Formann went 0-for-9 beyond the arc during the Texas trip, including 0-for-7 in Saturdays loss at Baylor.

On Wednesday, she made a 3 just 26 seconds into the game and finished 5-for-9.

I think about that, of course, she said of last weeks struggles.

But I think Ive also been in that situation multiple times now.

Every year, theres always a slump somewhere.

It would be much more fun if there wasnt but it happens sometimes.

The worst thing I could do is to stop shooting and kind of close down and not believe in myself.

Thats not what my team needs.

So I know Ill get it back eventually, because I did the other times.

The Baylor game was just the sixth time in her career that Formann attempted at least five 3-pointers without making any of them.

Each team, she has come back to score at least 13 points, averaging 16.3 points in those bounce-back games.

She could go 0-for-50 and I expect 51 to go in, CU head coach JR Payne said before turning to Formann to say, Dont go 0-for-50.

Thats highly unlikely, of course, as Formann has made 287 shots from 3-point range in her career, hitting at a 38% clip.

She set the tone Wednesday by going 3-for-3 in a first quarter that saw the Buffs jump to a 13-0 lead out of the gate.

When Frida is on balance and shes shooting it, we expect it to go in, and everyone else should also expect it to go in, Payne said.

Frida and I have been together so long that she knows in her core how much we believe in her and how much her teammates believe in her, so I think she believes in herself.

She works as hard as any player weve ever had on her craft, and so she has every right to be confident.

Led by Forman, the Buffs (11-4, 2-2 Big 12) snapped a two-game skid by racing out to a 31-11 lead after one quarter.

I tried to kind of instill in us, like, its a statement, Formann said.

A team like that is also just trying to find some success somewhere; like, you cant let them in a little bit.

So I think it was a really good statement from the jump of just like, controlling the pace, playing our game, playing great defense.

It was a really fun way to start the game.

CU led by as many as 34 points midway through the third quarter.

A 22-4 UCF run highlighted by Ally Stedman making five consecutive 3s sliced CUs lead to 64-48 early in the fourth, but that was as close as the Knights (7-7, 0-4) would get.

Jade Masogayo had 16 points for the Buffs, Nyamer Diew 10 and Kindyll Wetta eight as all 11 Buffs who saw the court scored.

Even JoJo Nworie, playing for the first time in nearly a month, finished with seven points.

I feel like we bring a lot of energy amongst all of us as a group, Masogayo said.

We hype each other up, and we just have fun at the end of the day.

Seeing JoJo, coming back from injury, smiles, shes holding up the three, tongue out, everything.

Its a good sign to see.

Good vibe.

The Buffs lead was never less than 16 points during the last 32 minutes, even with a sloppy stretch in the third quarter.

Proud of how we played tonight, proud of our response coming off two difficult losses on the road, Payne said.

I thought we were pretty resilient.

We had a stretch in the third quarter, which was not our best, but I thought we really stuck together and stayed together, which is really important when were taking on heat from another team which was good.

Lots of different production and lots of different contribution from many different players, both starters and from the bench, which continues to be a really, really good thing for us.

And any victory conference is a great victory.

Notable CU played without freshmen Tabitha Betson and Erin Powell, who are both nursing injuries.

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Formanns five 3-pointers were a season high.

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Masogayo passed the 700-point mark for her college career (708).

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The Buffs finished with 23 assists on 29 buckets.

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Stedman, who finished 5-for-8 on 3s, was 6-for-26 on the season before Wednesday.

Colorado 81, Central Florida 62 CENTRAL FLORIDA (7-7, 0-4 Big 12) Peterson 4-14 15-17 24, Brown 1-3 1-2 3, Rodriguez 1-7 2-2 4, Stedman 6-10 2-2 19, Ngodu 0-0 0-0 0, Castagne 0-1 0-0 0, Akot 1-5 4-6 6, Yancy 0-2 0-0 0, Gusters 2-4 2-2 6, Chandler-Roberts 0-0 0-0 0.

Totals 15-46 26-31 62.

COLORADO (11-4, 2-2 Big 12) Formann 7-11 3-4 22, Smith 1-2 0-0 2, Garzon 2-6 0-0 6, Masogayo 4-4 8-10 16, Wetta 4-7 0-0 8, Johnson 1-1 0-0 2, Sanders 1-4 0-0 3, Nworie 3-5 0-0 7, Diew 4-8 0-0 10, Teder 1-4 1-2 3, Oliver 1-4 0-0 2.

Totals 29-56 12-16 81.

UCF 11 10 24 17 62 Colorado 31 17 16 17 81 3-point goals UCF 6-19 (Stedman 5-8, Peterson 1-6, Brown 0-2, Akot 0-2, Yancy 0-1), Colorado 11-32 (Formann 5-9, Garzon 2-6, Diew 2-6, Sanders 1-2, Nworie 1-2, Oliver 0-3, Teder 0-2, Smith 0-1, Wetta 0-1).

Rebounds UCF 28 (Rodriguez 6), Colorado 31 (Wetta 5).

Assists UCF 7 (Castagne 4), Colorado 23 (Wetta 6).

Steals UCF 9 (Peterson 4), Colorado 10 (Sanders 3).

Turnovers UCF 20, Colorado 17.

Total fouls UCF 16, Colorado 24.

Fouled out Oliver, Gusters.

Attendance 2,127..

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