Stanford women struggle before beating Colorado 71-56

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For the No. 9 team in the country, the Stanford women sometimes look offensively challenged. At those times, every basket becomes an arduous chore.

They scored all of 31 points against a tough Arizona State team last Monday, a night when nothing clicked. Things weren’t clicking again Sunday against Colorado, a last-place team playing without its best player.

With less than five minutes left, Stanford (13-3, 3-1 Pac-12) had a five-point lead. It then scored the next 10 points and beat the Buffaloes 71-56 at Maples Pavilion.

Sophomore forward Kaylee Johnson, averaging 3.9 points, picked a fine time to have the best game of her career. She came off the bench to score a career-high 17 points and also had 11 rebounds, four assists and two blocks.

Colorado (5-10, 0-4) jumped to an 11-3 lead. Without leading scorer and rebounder Jamee Swan because of a back injury, the Buffs were shorthanded on the boards. Yet, they were down only 57-52 in the final minutes, and if the Cardinal weren’t nervous, their fans probably were. The team was being stymied by the team that has given up the most points in the conference.

“All the teams in the Pac-12 are great, so we knew this was going to be a hard game, no matter what their ranking was,” forward Erica McCall said. “Our team did well as far as keeping our composure. We’ve been in these types of situations, so I don’t think any of us were really nervous about it.”

Johnson converted a three-point play and blocked a layup at the other end. McCall scored four straight points, and Johnson drove for a layup that put Stanford in front 67-52 and on its way to its ninth straight win in the series with Colorado.

McCall scored 16 points and grabbed 11 rebounds for her usual double-double. Struggling through a 3-for-15 shooting performance, Lili Thompson still scored 12 points. Karlie Samuelson added 11.

Junior guard-forward Haley Smith and freshman guard Alexis Robinson led the Buffs with 17 and 15 points, respectively. Colorado limited Stanford to 38 percent shooting from the floor, but the Cardinal had a huge advantage at the foul line. They made 23 of 34 free-throw tries. The Buffs went 4-for-8.

Stanford also enjoyed a 42-31 rebounding advantage, including 18 offensive boards.

“A lot of their free throws came off of offensive rebounds,” Colorado head coach Linda Lappe said. “It’s hard to make up 19 points from the foul line.” Her team didn’t create “enough opportunities going to the rim, being aggressive and really putting pressure on their defense,” she said.

Johnson carried the Cardinal for much of the first half.

“Colorado came out strong, and being on the bench to start, I was able to see what was going on,” she said. “I just hoped to come out and bring some energy, take advantage of what was open and try to fit the role that the team needed at that moment.”

Stanford will need better shooting in the next two weeks as it hits the road for four games in Oregon and Los Angeles.

Tom FitzGerald is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: tfitzgerald@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @tomgfitzgerald