Colorado women’s basketball junior Jade Masogayo has a kind demeanor off the court and perhaps a bit too kind on the court at times.

During a 65-60 upset of then-No. 14 West Virginia on Dec. 21, however, Masogayo went into beast mode. She scored 18 points, pulled down seven rebounds and blocked two shots, delivering the type of performance that the Buffs (10-2, 1-0 Big 12) need from her throughout conference play.

“You can be sweet and aggressive,” CU head coach JR Payne said to Masogayo during a news conference after that game. “That’s what we’re telling her. Look how sweet she is, but she was a monster out there.”

Looking for help in the paint last offseason, CU signed Masogayo out of the transfer portal from Missouri State because it saw her potential of being an athletic, dominant force.

The kind-hearted Masogayo is still working on believing she’s that dominant.

“Coach has been talking to me about, like, just trying to stay aggressive as much as I can,” she said. “I was just trying to apply that to the game as much I can, contribute to the team, stuff like that.”

So far this season, Masogayo has been one of CU’s best players, averaging 11.5 points, 4.3 rebounds and two assists, while connecting on 59.4% of her shots.

Although averaging 2.6 fewer minutes per game than last year at Missouri State, Masogayo is averaging 3.1 more points and her field goal percentage has taken a big jump from 50.0%.

Masogayo hit a different gear against West Virginia, though. She had eight of her 18 points in the pivotal fourth quarter and went 9-of-10 from the floor overall.

“(Masogayo) killed us in the fourth quarter and all night long,” West Virginia head coach Mark Kellogg said. “We just tried different people (to guard her) and couldn’t answer her. They got what they wanted at the rim. Jade, in particular, was the one that we just didn’t have an answer for.”

Senior Frida Formann, who had 22 points in that game, was so proud of her new teammate that she deflected praise away from herself and handed it to Masogayo.

“No one could stop her,” Formann said. “We’ve been talking to her so much about it, and I’m just so proud of her for actually taking it upon her. Like we needed her, we really needed her to score and go on that run for us.”

Sitting next to Masogayo, Formann then turned to her teammate and said, “It was just so great that you just were, like, ‘Give me the ball.’ I haven’t seen that as much, but you just knew that’s what we needed.”

Following the West Virginia game, CU went on a break for several days and doesn’t play again until Jan. 1 at No. 11 TCU. For the Buffs to make some noise in the Big 12, they’ll need several players to step up, including Formann, Kindyll Wetta, Lior Garzon and more. But, they’ll need the beast mode version of Masogayo to show up most nights.

“Coaches have been telling Jade since she walked on campus, ‘This is what you can be,’” Payne said. “She’s so sweet and humble and hasn’t always been … able to receive it. She was like, ‘Oh, thank you.’ I don’t know that she really believed it.

“When you’re doing that against the No. 2 defense in the country (West Virginia), like, you should come in knowing you could do it against anybody.”

The West Virginia game could have been a turning point for Masogayo, who, even through her humility, admitted it was a boost of confidence.

“Honestly, it means a lot, hearing it from my peers, my coaches, just hearing that they believe in me, and they just trust me, in a sense,” she said. “Because in the past, I haven’t heard that, and so just getting confirmation from the people that I’m with all the time, it’s just really nice to hear. It’s great.”