BOULDER, Colo. – Linda Lappe enjoyed success against Stanford as a player. She still hasn't found it as a coach.
Colorado's coach is winless in six games against No. 4 Stanford after the 17th-ranked Buffaloes' 87-77 loss Sunday night.
The last time the Buffs prevailed, Lappe was a key player on Ceal Barry's team as No. 12 Colorado upset the No. 5 Cardinal 62-59 in the Sweet 16 of the 2002 NCAA tournament.
While Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer has never lost to a Lappe-coached Colorado team, that hasn't stopped the legendary coach from noticing how Lappe operated from the opposing sideline.
"They battled." said VanDerveer. "Linda Lappe does a great job with her team. They are a very, very well coached team."
After trailing 55-38 at the half, Colorado cut the deficit to seven points with 1:01 left, but Stanford withstood the late rally thanks to Chiney Ogwumike.
The senior forward had 34 points and 16 rebounds to lead the fourth-ranked Cardinal to an 87-77 win over No. 17 Colorado on Sunday night. It was her sixth 30-point effort in the past seven games.
"We have a great player in Chiney, and she really battled in there tonight," VanDerveer said.
Karlie Samuelson had 17 of her 19 points in the first half for the Cardinal (15-1, 4-0 Pac-12), who improved to 11-4 all-time against the Buffs.
"I thought we had a good first half," VanDerveer said. "I think Colorado played really aggressively. They got us in some foul trouble, but we had some young people step up."
Jamee Swann had a career-high 20 points and 13 rebounds for her second career double-double for Colorado (11-3, 1-2). Arielle Roberson added 19 points.
"Jamee was fantastic," Lappe said. "She was aggressive, a tough rebounder and a physical player. At times she gave Stanford a lot of problems. I'm really proud of her stepping up and playing her best game of the year."
Stanford shot 51 percent (18-for-35) in the first half and finished 45 percent (28-for-62) for the game. Stanford led throughout but the Buffaloes hung around to the end.
Colorado got within seven points with just over a minute to go, but the Cardinal held on with Mikaela Ruef hitting 3 of 4 foul shots before two free throws by the Buffs' Lexy Kresl. Ogwumike added a jumper with 14 second left to cap the scoring.
The Cardinal took over the game when Samuelson entered in the first half and hit two straight 3-pointers leading to a 10-2 run.
"We knew she was a great shooter," said Roberson of Samuelson, "but we continued to let her get her shots off."
Samuelson and Roberson were assessed technical fouls at 1:27 in the first half.
Colorado was without Jasmine Sborov because of a broken right foot. Sborov had started all 14 games for the Buffs.
Colorado has now lost four of its last six games after starting the season 9-0, going 0-3 against ranked teams.
Brittany Wilson had 15 points to surpass the 1,000-point career mark, becoming just the 25th Buff to do so.
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