No. 4 seed Colorado fell to No. 1 seed Stanford on Saturday after the Cardinal rallied in the second half to defeat the Buffs 61-47.

The Buffaloes got off to a good start in the first half after freshman forward Arielle Roberson scored a two-point jumper 11 seconds into the game. They maintained a small lead for the first 6 minutes of play until Stanford’s Mikaela Ruef tied the game with a free throw at the 13:49 mark, bringing the score to 7-7.

Junior guard Ashley Wilson makes her way down the court on a fast break against Washington State on Feb. 22, 2013. On Saturday, the Buffs lost to Stanford to end their run in the Pac-12 tournament. (Amy Leder/CU Independent File)

After exceptional offensive and defensive efforts by both teams, the game went back and forth for the remainder of the half and ended with Colorado slightly on top at 28-27.

Going into the second half, Colorado immediately capitalized on a three-point jumper by sophomore guard Lexy Kresl. Stanford responded with a two-point basket and a pair of free throws to tie the score at 31 with 18:21 left to play.

The score remained close for the next 5 minutes until Sara James’ three-point jumper gave the Cardinal the push it needed to go on a 9-0 streak.  With 11 minutes left in the game, Stanford had gained a 45-36 lead over Colorado.

The Buffs shot 25 percent from the field in the second half and they could not recover from Stanford’s streak as their lead continued to grow. The Cardinal took advantage of its 50 percent shooting and increased the lead by as much as 15 points with 2 minutes remaining.

Stanford defeated Colorado 61-47 with a huge effort by Chiney Ogwumike, who scored 25 points and had 19 rebounds and had three blocks. Senior guard Chucky Jeffery led the Buffaloes with 19 points and three rebounds.

With this victory, the Cardinal will advance to the Pac-12 championship game against UCLA.

Contact CU Independent Staff Writer Alissa Noe at Alissa.noe@colorado.edu.