Colorado University Athletics
Colorado
5-1
Evansville
2-3
| Team | 1 | 2 | F |
|---|---|---|---|
| Evansville | 25 | 17 | 42 |
| Colorado | 32 | 42 | 74 |
Buffs Top Evansville 74-42
December 07, 2002 | Women's Basketball
BERKELEY, Calif. - The University of Colorado women's basketball team started off their second tournament of the season in decisive style, defeating the University of Evansville 74-42 here Saturday afternoon in the first round of the Oakland Tribune Classic at the University of California.
Senior Sabrina Scott led the way for Colorado with her first double double of the season, scoring 18 points and grabbing 10 boards for the Buffs. Tera Bjorklund added 14 points and a career high eight assists, while Kate Fagan pitched in 11 points in a 32 point CU win.
The Buffs led 32-25 at halftime, due mostly to a solid effort from Scott who had 12 of her 18 points by halftime. Evansville shot a blistering 57.9-percent from the floor in the early going, and despite 18 first half turnovers, trailed by just seven at the break. Jamie Gray led Evansville with 10 first half points and six boards.
The Purple Aces held CU All-America candidate Tera Bjorklund to no points on 0-3 shooting in the first half, but the drought for the Buffs' leading scorer would end in the second half. Bjorklund fought back to score all 14 of her points in the second stanza, as well as dishing out five of her career high eight assists.
"I felt like in the first half, I only took three shots, first of all which probably isn't very good," said Bjorklund. "I don't know what it is about me in the first half, but things really opened up for me in the second half and I felt a lot more confident going to the basket."
Colorado also picked things up defensively in the second half, as they did a tougher job defending the UE shooting. The Purple Aces shot just 18.2 percent from the floor in the the second period, scoring just 17 points, nine of them on free throws. Colorado improved from 34.3% shooting to 45.0%, scoring 42 in the second half, matching Evansville's total for the game.
"In the lockerroom at halftime we didn't really talk about anything specific defensively," said Bjorklund. "The guards just really came out and put a lot of pressure on their guards and they really struggled with that. With that pressure and the forwards denying the ball, it really helped us out."
The Buffs opened up the second half with a 19-3 run that put the game out of reach in the early going, leading 47-30 with 11:10 to play. CU scored 15 points off turnovers in the second half, and also garnered seven second-chance points to help end the issue.
Colorado will play in the championship game of the tournament on Sunday afternoon at the Haas Pavilion against either host Cal or Penn. Cal will play at 4 p.m. MST regardless of the outcome of their contest with Penn, so the Buffs' game time is contingent upon the result of the first game.
