AIR FORCE ACADEMY – After checking into her first game as a Colorado Buffalo, Shelomi Sanders knew what she wanted to do.
“I was like, ‘I have to get a shot off. I have to score,” the redshirt freshman walk-on guard said.
She did just that, draining a 3-pointer late in the game as the No. 7 Buffs rolled past Air Force 74-58 at Clune Arena on Saturday.
The daughter of CU head football coach Deion “Coach Prime” Sanders, Shelomi had been waiting a long time for this moment.
Last year as a true freshman she played the first semester at Jackson State, seeing action in two games. But, when her father left JSU for the CU last December, she moved to Boulder, too.
Shelomi finished last year as a redshirt with the Buffs. Then, in preseason practices this year, she broke her thumb, making her unavailable for the first six games. She was finally in uniform on Tuesday when the Buffs beat Boston, but didn’t play.
On Saturday, her opportunity finally came.
“It felt really good,” she said. “I’ve been out because of my thumb and stuff like that, just trying to slowly work my way back. I didn’t expect to get in, but I’m gonna take my shot and it went in. I was happy.”
Shelomi said sitting out with her injury was tough.
“It was frustrating because I was just sitting and just watching and not doing anything for a long time, but glad to be back in practice and doing stuff,” she said.
Her first shot attempt Saturday was stuffed, although official stats never recorded that shot, so she officially went 1-for-1, draining a 3 with 37 seconds left in the game.
“Honestly I thought I was gonna air ball because it just felt too good coming off my hand,” she said. “I was like, ‘Oh, that’s an air ball,’ but then it went in and everyone went crazy and I said, OK, yeah! It felt good.”
Weary Buffs
It’s been such a whirlwind first few weeks for CU that several of the veterans showed their fatigue on Saturday.
Fifth-year senior point guard Jaylyn Sherrod was particularly off her game. She didn’t play poorly, just not as aggressive as normal.
The Buffs limited her to a season-low 17 minutes. In that time, she had an impressive six assists, but scored a season-low two points on 1-of-4 shooting and didn’t have any rebounds. It’s the first time since Feb. 4, 2022, against Washington State that Sherrod didn’t have a rebound in a game.
“Just tired,” head coach JR Payne said of Sherrod. “We’ve played so many games in such a short amount of time and a lot of those guys have carried a lot of weight for us, whether it’s scoring or defending. Just the emotional weight of trying to keep everyone going with this many games in a short window is really exhausting for everybody.”
Payne said the Buffs aren’t consciously trying to manage the workload for Sherrod or others, but that when the veterans need a break, they can get it.
“We’re just trying to win games,” she said. “Jaylyn does a great job of … and Frida (Formann) and some of these other guys do a great job of managing their bodies. And our trainer, they know what works for them. They know when they need time off.
“We have such a great relationship, they’re not afraid to say, ‘Coach J, I’m tired today,’ and we work with that. I don’t worry about that because I just think they’re smart and we have a great relationship to where it’s fine if people take time off. No big deal.”
In addition to Sherrod, CU limited guard Tameiya Sadler to 16 minutes and center Aaronette Vonleh to 13.
Notable
With five 3-pointers, Frida Formann moved to fifth place on CU’s all-time list, with 206. She passed Jenny Roulier, who had 203 from 1998-2002. … The Buffs are 9-0 all-time against Air Force, including 4-0 at Clune Arena. … CU improved to 71-8 in regular season non-conference games under Payne, including 26-6 away from Boulder. … Attendance on Saturday was 2,177, the largest home crowd for the Falcons since Jan. 25, 2012, against TCU (2,507). This was the first time since Nov. 13, 2019, against Army (1,113) that AFA reached as many as 900 fans for a home game.
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