Colorado University Athletics
Colorado
6-1
Colorado State
4-2
| Team | 1 | 2 | F |
|---|---|---|---|
| Colorado | 39 | 42 | 81 |
| Colorado State | 40 | 34 | 74 |
SENIORS STRONG AS BUFFS BUCK RAMS
December 03, 2003 | Women's Basketball
FORT COLLINS ? On the strength of senior center Tera Bjorklund's game high 28 points and nine rebounds, the No. 17/15 U
“It's a tough place to play, and I think we're all just excited to get a win here, and really any win on the road,” said senior guard Kate Fagan, who finished with 17 points. “CSU is a really tough team, and they always get really wound up to play against us. I think they always circle this game on their schedule, so we know we're always in for a challenge. They're a feisty, scrappy team, and they are the type of team that doesn't roll over, they always climb back into the game.”
The first five minutes of the game saw no team lead by more than two points as both teams were shooting well from the floor. CSU got to the first media timeout shooting a blazing 85% from the floor on 6-7 shooting, while the Buffs trailed with 40%, 4-10.
The physical battle began as
With less than a minute to play in the first half, CU forward Amber Metoyer grabbed a defensive rebound to kick-off the Buffs last drive of the half. Billingsley hustled down the court and passed the ball off to Randie Wirt who completed a perfect give-and-go combination with Fagan to get the Buffs within one point with eight seconds left. The Rams had one last opportunity to seal their lead as
The Buffs came out strong in the second half despite the physical first half pressure with Fagan's outside jumper in the first minute, followed by a Billingsley-Bjorklund combination to start off the Buffs' 6-0 run. CU jumped out to 3-3 from the floor while CSU trailed at 0-3 in first two minutes of play.
“They played me one on one pretty much the entire game, there were a couple of times they tried to double up,” said Bjorklund. “In the second half they came out more aggressive and they were denying me the ball.”
CU's Fagan had a total of 17 points in tonight's contest and took two charges in the paint to help the Buff's overcome the Rams 18 fouls and physical play. With 9:00 remaining in the second half CSU's
Even with Bjorklund on the bench the Buffs were still able to create scoring opportunities that extended their lead to 12 thanks to heavy efforts from Wirt, who rattled off seven of her 14 points with her frontcourt-mate riding the pine.
“It was great basketball to watch from the bench,” said Bjorklund. “Our defense was great in that time. Maria had great ball pressure, Randie was tough in the post"CSU couldn't do anything offensively”
With the time winding down to under a minute left in the game and the Rams trailing by six, 76-70, CU had just two seconds on the shot clock to create a scoring opportunity and stop the Ram run. Billingsley found backcourt mate Fagan, who fought through a CSU defender, got the ball and spun around to nail the three-pointer that solidified CU's lead 79-70 with 56 seconds to go.
“It was exactly what we drew up," said Fagan. "Throw it in along the baseline just in case we did turn it over, it wouldn't lead to a transition bucket. Coach Barry said for me to start high and break to the corner and so I did. Whoever was guarding me lunged for the pass, so when I caught it, I turned the other way and it was a wide open look.”
CSU tried hard to turn things back around and on the next play Lindsay Thomas, who was 6 of 11 on the night, missed a jumper that was recovered by Billingsley who hit Fagan on the outlet pass and drew the foul. Fagan nailed both her free-throws to put the Buffs ahead by nine. The teams traded buckets as
“It was good to have a win, we knew coming in they were going to be fired up, because they are always fired up for us,” stated Bjorklund. “I had a lot of fun tonight, it was a good game.”
The Buffs are off for a few days but will return to action on December 9 when they host
