Tag: Tayanna Jones

Tayanna Jones signs with Australian professional team

Tayanna Jones is playing well for an Australian professional team

Former Colorado Buffaloes women’s basketball starter Tayanna Jones is beginning her professional basketball career overseas.

Per CUBuffs.com, she signed with the Ballarat Miners of the NBL1 in Central Highlands of Victoria, Australia.

Jones signed back at the beginning of May and made her debut on May 6. In her first action with the Miners, Jones put together an impressive 26-point, 15-rebound stat line against the Diamond Valley Eagles. Unfortunately, it came in a loss, but Jones showed that she can perform in Australia. Ballarat currently sits at 1-10 with its next game on May 27.

Jones played five years in college with her first two for the Georgetown Hoyas. She now aims to continue her hot start with the Miners.

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Colorado women’s basketball: JR Payne, players share thoughts on reaching Sweet 16 against Iowa

Colorado coaches and players gave their thoughts on Friday’s Sweet 16 matchup against Iowa

The No. 6 seed Colorado Buffaloes women’s basketball team has had quite the NCAA Tournament run so far, traveling all the way to Durham to defeat Middle Tennessee and Duke to reach the program’s first Sweet 16 in 20 years.

Once the celebration of beating the Blue Devils died down, the Buffs set their sights on a new opponent, the No. 2 Iowa Hawkeyes. Colorado stopped in Boulder to practice and meet with the media on Wednesday before heading west to Seattle for Friday’s game against Iowa.

Here are some of the best quotes from head coach JR Payne and players from their meeting with the media on Wednesday:

CU women’s basketball guard Tayanna Jones: ‘We have the mentality that we can beat anybody’

Tayanna Jones and the #cubuffs are ready to slay another dragon in the Sweet 16

For those who’ve watched the Colorado women’s basketball team all year, the Buffaloes’ NCAA Tournament run doesn’t feel like much of a Cinderalla story.

Yes, it’s the program’s Sweet 16 trip since 2003, but tead coach JR Payne’s veteran squad has been slaying dragons for quite some time now with regular season wins over Utah, Arizona, UCLA and Washington. Confidence has followed, naturally.

Ahead of Colorado’s Sweet 16 matchup against Iowa on Friday, I asked fifth-year senior guard Tayanna Jones about her team’s mentality heading into another challenging game.

“Everybody’s locked in,” Jones said. “We have the mentality that we can beat anybody. I know you guys heard it already, but our mentality is just making sure we’re locked in, doing the little things. I think that’s what has taken us so far this whole season is just the little things that other teams don’t look into.”

Jones was also asked about potentially matching up against Iowa’s Caitlin Clark, who comes in averaging 26.8 points and is one of the nation’s top shooters.

“She’s a great player,” Jones said. “I love defense. I didn’t used to love defense, but I love challenges. That’s something I’m definitely going to take into and really study her game, look at what she likes to do, how she likes to score exactly coming off the dribble. We all know she loves to shoot the logo shot, so that’ll definitely be something we’ll be all locked into.”

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Colorado women’s basketball recap: No. 21 Buffs close out regular season with a W

The No. 21 #cubuffs secured a dominant win on senior day

The No. 21 Colorado Buffaloes were determined to stop their first losing streak of the season and they did it with a bang, putting up a season-high 95 points in a 95-69 thrashing of the Cal Bears on Saturday.

Aaronette Vonleh had a monster day, scoring 25 points on 11-of-14 shooting from the field. Frida Formann returned from an illness to add 19 points and Jaylyn Sherrod scored 16 points with six assists. The Buffaloes only held a 43-37 lead after two quarters, but they outscored Cal 52-22 in the second half to secure a 22-7 regular season record.

Colorado will now enter the Pac-12 Women’s Basketball Tournament as the No. 3 seed with a first-round bye. The winner of No. 6 USC-No. 11 Oregon State will face the Buffs in round two on Thursday.

A special shoutout goes to Tayanna Jones, who was honored for senior day.

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Colorado women’s basketball recap: No. 3 Stanford outlasts No. 21 Buffs in double OT

No. 3 Stanford outlasted the No. 21 #cubuffs in double overtime

The No. 21 Colorado Buffaloes had their chances to score a major upset over No. 3 Stanford, but they ran out of gas in a 73-62 double overtime loss on Thursday afternoon.

The Cardinal women outscored CU 13-2 in the second overtime period.

Colorado held a one-point lead when Jaylyn Sherrod was fouled with six seconds to play in the first overtime. Sherrod missed both of her free throw attempts to give the Cardinal new life and they took advantage.

The Buffaloes were shorthanded as Frida Formann missed the game due to illness. Sherrod and forward Tayanna Jones stepped up in her absence, with Sherrod scoring 19 points and Jones chipping in nine points and seven rebounds.

After taking a 19-5 lead midway through the second quarter, CU had an opportunity to put away Stanford, which began the game 1-for-21 from the field. But the Cardinal corrected their offensive woes and surpassed the Buffs early in the third quarter.

While the final score was disappointing, the Buffs should hold their heads high knowing that they took the No. 3 team in the country to double overtime. Especially on defense, Colorado proved once again that it can play with the best in the country.

The Buffs will look to build some momentum heading into the Pac-12 Tournament as they close out their regular season against Cal in Boulder on Saturday.

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WATCH: Tayanna Jones goes full Zion Williamson in game-changing block

Tayanna Jones had a highlight-reel swat

Holding an opponent to 35 points through three quarters is no easy task and senior Tayanna Jones was a big part of Colorado’s defensive dominance against Louisiana Tech on Saturday.

At 6-foot-3, Jones is a taller guard than most and she used every inch of her height to cause the Lady Techsters problems. In her 22 total minutes, she was a +17 player for the Buffs in their 59-48 win.

But it was still anybody’s game with the Buffs leading Louisiana Tech 42-35 early in the fourth quarter. Louisiana Tech had outscored CU 19-13 in the third quarter and the Buffs needed a strong final 10 minutes to hold on.

That was when Tayanna Jones went full Zion Williamson (remember this block against Virginia?) on a Louisiana Tech corner-three attempt.

Even though the Lady Techsters maintained possession and made a layup, the momentum-inducing play likely made Louisiana Tech think twice in open space.

“To be honest, I didn’t even know she was in the frame,” said Peanut Tuitele, who led the Buffs with 14 points. “That was an incredible block for her. I think that was the energy shift that we needed on the court at the time.”

Colorado improved to 6-0 with the win and will face Wisconsin on Sunday at noon MT in the final game of the Rocky Mountain Hoops Classic.