Colorado University Athletics
Colorado
24-7
North Carolina
28-6
| Team | 1 | 2 | F |
|---|---|---|---|
| Colorado | 36 | 50 | 86 |
| North Carolina | 27 | 40 | 67 |
Buffaloes Advance To Sweet 16
March 24, 2003 | Women's Basketball
BOULDER - Tera Bjorklund spent most of her sophomore season a year ago backing up center Britt Hartshorn. There's no keeping her out of the lineup now.
Bjorklund scored a career-high 34 points, and Colorado hit nine 3-pointers to beat North Carolina 86-67 Monday night in the second round of the NCAA women's Mideast Regional.
"Bjorklund had a great game," North Carolina coach Sylvia Hatchell said. "It's hard to believe that kid didn't start last year."
Colorado (24-7), the No. 6 seed, advances to the round of 16 in Knoxville, Tenn., reaching the regional semifinals for the sixth time in its last eight NCAA tournament appearances.
The Buffaloes will meet the winner of Tuesday's George Washington-Villanova game on Saturday.
When the 6-foot-5 Bjorklund wasn't scoring inside, she was drawing fouls and making free throws. When she attracted double teams, she created open shots for her teammates on the perimeter.
Bjorklund was 11-of-14 from the floor and 12-of-17 from the line. She also had eight rebounds, four blocked shots and two steals.
"I definitely was in a zone," Bjorklund said. "I think anybody can relate to that, when things are just falling for you and you are just really, really focused."
Colorado coach Ceal Barry said Bjorklund "took a beating. I think part of North Carolina's strategy was to rough her up a little bit. A lot of teams look at her stature and think she's going to be susceptible to physical play. I think she responded well to that."
North Carolina (28-6), the No. 3 seed, was led by Nikita Bell and Candace Sutton, who each scored 12 points. Bell also had 10 rebounds.
The Buffaloes, playing on their home court but wearing their road uniforms because North Carolina was the higher seed, outshot the Tar Heels 49 percent to 36 percent and also made 31 of 39 free throws compared to Carolina's 9-of-16.
Barry said Bjorklund's performance was aided by the fact that Linda Lappe and Sabrina Scott "are such good passers. They feed her and they feed her, and they are pretty unselfish about that."
Kate Fagan added 16 points for Colorado, including five 3-pointers, and Lappe had 13 points and eight rebounds.
"Without a doubt, Colorado would have beaten a lot of people tonight," Hatchell said. "It would have taken a really good team to beat them, especially here. I watched a lot of their games on tape, and they played better tonight than I saw them play in any of those games.
"We missed a lot of easy shots. I can't answer why. We like up-tempo, that's usually in our favor, but it wasn't tonight."
Sutton, the Tar Heels' 6-6 center who was one of those assigned to guard Bjorklund, said Bjorklund "made a big impact for their team. We tried to rotate people in, and we just couldn't stop her."
Bjorklund has averaged 24.1 points in her last eight games.
Bjorklund scored 17 points in the first half to help give Colorado a 36-27 lead. She had 13 of Colorado's first 16 points, drawing four fouls on the Tar Heels in the process.
North Carolina, ranked 12th in the final Associated Press poll, had seven turnovers in the first eight minutes of the game and had 13 turnovers in the half.
Bell hit back-to-back layups early in the second half to cut the deficit to 38-33, but Fagan's 3-pointer and Bjorklund's short jumper made it 43-33.
Lappe's three-point play put Colorado ahead 65-49 with 5:53 left, and the Buffs steadily increased their lead to as many as 21 points, 80-59. The Tar Heels were forced to foul, and Colorado made 15 of 16 free throws in the final 4:50.
North Carolina had advanced to at least the Sweet 16 in each of its previous eight tournament appearances.
