Women's Basketball drops 67-52 decision to Colorado
BOULDER, Colorado -- Behind a game-high 22 points from guard Bianca Smith, who sank seven 3-pointers, the University of Colorado posted a 67-52 Big 12 women's basketball victory over The University of Texas Saturday evening at the Coors Events Center. The loss for Texas gives the Longhorns a 16-9 overall record and drops UT to 4-7 in the Big 12. Texas is still looking for its first Big 12 road victory of the season, as UT is 0-5 in away league games this season. Colorado snaps a six-game losing streak and goes to 14-11 overall and to 3-9 in the league. Colorado dominated on the boards, pulling down 50 rebounds to UT's 29. The Buffs went 22-for-29 from the free throw line, while Texas made 13 of 18 free throws. Smith went 7-for-14 from three-point range and five-for-five from the foul line. Joining her in double-figures for CU were Aija Putnina (14 points) and Jackie McFarland (10 points). Putnina grabbed a game-high 15 rebounds while McFarland had 10. Neither team shot well, as UT finished the game shooting 35.2 percent while the Buffs hit 32.7 percent of their shots. The Longhorns were led by sophomore guard Brittainey Raven (16 points), while redshirt sophomore point guard Carla Cortijo added 12 points and junior post Ashley Lindsey had 11. Texas took its first lead of the game with 13:22 left to play, going ahead on a three-point play (layup and free throw) by Carla Cortijo. CU immediately countered, however, as Putnina scored on a putback to start an 11-2 Buff run as CU pushed its lead to eight, 49-41 on a Smith 3-pointer with 7:52 to go. Texas then answered with its own run, and cut the CU lead to six, 55-49, on a free throw by Raven with 2:37 to go. In the final 2:22, however, CU iced the game by going 12-for-12 from the free throw line with two steals. Texas trailed at intermission, 34-29, despite holding CU's leading scorer and All-Big 12 senior forward McFarland (17.9 ppg) scoreless. The offensive damage for the Buffs came from Smith, who netted 15 points, all on 3-pointers. Smith went five-for-nine from long range in the first half to lead Colorado's perimeter assault. Colorado scored 21 of its 34 points from 3-point range, going 7-for-13 from behind the arc. CU shot 54 percent from 3-point territory in the half and hit 42 percent of its overall field goals. Texas, making just one 3-pointer in the first half, shot 48 percent from the floor but also was hurt by CU's dominance on the boards as the Buffs held an 18-13 edge in rebounding. The two teams started cold, with CU missing its first seven shots and UT missing its first four. Texas never led in the first half. With the score tied 18-18 with 6:36 to go, Colorado went on a 3-point scoring surge, making four treys over the next five minutes to lead by seven, 32-25, following Smith's fifth trey with 1:38 to go. The game against Colorado was the first of four road games for Texas over the next five-game span. Texas returns to action on Wednesday, Feb. 20, traveling to Stillwater, Okla. to face No. 15 Oklahoma State in a 7 p.m. (Central) Big 12 contest. The game is not televised, but will be broadcast on KVET Radio 1300 AM in Central Texas and via internet audio. This will be the second meeting between the Longhorns and OSU this year. Unranked Texas upset 15th-ranked Oklahoma State, 70-63 in Austin on January 23. POSTGAME NOTES · Raven (16 points) was in double-digit scoring for the 24th time in 25 games, and for the fourth game in a row · Texas is still looking for its first Big 12 road victory of the year, as the Horns are now 0-5 in away conference games this year ... UT has lost its last nine Big 12 away game (five games this season and the last four games of last year)... The last time the Longhorns won in Big 12 play on the road was ovear a year ago - on Feb. 3, 2007 - when UT defeated Kansas State, 61-34, in Manhattan, Kansas · For just the sixth time this year the Longhorns were out-rebounded... UT has out-rebounded 16 opponents and tied three others ... Texas is 2-4 in games in which it is out-rebounded · The seven 3-pointers tonight by Colorado sophomore guard Bianca Smith were the most 3-pointers by an opposing player against Texas this season ... The former 3-pointers made high was six by Oklahoma State's Taylor Hardeman ... Hardeman went 6-for-8 from 3-point territory on Jan. 23 in UT's 70-63 win over the Cowgirls in Austin .... Smith's xx 3-pointers tied/broke the CU school record for most treys in a game (formerly seven) · The win by Colorado ended UT's eight-game win streak against the Buffs, which was UT's longest active win streak against a Big 12 opponent ... Texas is now 13-4 all-time against Colorado ... Prior to tonight, the last Colorado win came eight seasons ago - a 79-75 win in Boulder on Feb. 19, 2000 POSTGAME QUOTES Compliment the play of Colorado, especially their execution on offense, their rebounding and the play of Bianca Smith. She was terrific tonight. I did not expect this type of letdown after our win over Baylor Wednesday night. But, as a coaching staff, we watched the warmups and weren't comfortable with what we were seeing from the players. Before the game, I went into the locker room and gave them a good talking to, but it is disheartening that it didn't make a difference. We were flat from the get-go against an inspired Colorado team. Right now, we are fighting for our lives for a post-season bid. It is not out of the question, but after this tough loss, we are going to need some quality wins, big wins, in the next few weeks. COLORADO HEAD COACH KATHY MCCONNELL-MILLER On the play of guard Bianca Smith (22 points, seven 3-pointers): I think a couple things contributed to her play. First she loves to play all the Texas schools. Secondly, Texas was trapping us and if we could get the ball out of the trap they had to scramble to cover our players. When you have to scramble you can't identify the shooter and that allowed Bianca to get open and get open shots.
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