Colorado University Athletics
Colorado
2-1
Penn
2-1
COLORADO ADVANCES TO COORS CLASSIC CHAMPIONSHIP
November 26, 2004 | Women's Basketball
BOULDER - Leslie Howard scored a career-high 14 points and Anna Nedovic and Whitney Law added 10 points each as Colorado routed Penn 69-49 in the second game of the Coors Classic Friday.
Colorado (2-1) will play second-ranked LSU for the championship on Saturday. LSU defeated No. 22 Maryland 64-51 in the earlier game.
Kara Richards had 11 rebounds, giving Colorado a 43-31 edge in that category. The host Buffaloes shot 59 percent in the second half.
"Tonight I put all my focus and energy into this game," Howard said. "I shut out everything around me out of my mind and just focused on this game and shooting the ball."
Howard, who also nabbed a career-high eight rebounds, hit 4-of-7 from the 3-point arc after making just 1-of-8 in the first two games. She also had three steals and a pair of assists.
Colorado led by as much as 29-19 in the first half despite shooting only 36 percent. Penn was worse, hitting 10-of-31 shots, but managed to pull within 29-24 by the break.
"Until our offense got on track our defense kept us in the game," CU head coach Ceal Barry said. "They especially created some easy transition baskets in the second half. Our defense gets better every week as more players start to understand it. There were many more solid players defensively on our team tonight, our guards were dropping down and helping out and I think we were playing more team help defense."
The Buffs opened up a 45-30 lead eight minutes into the second half after two 3-pointers and a fastbreak basket by Jasmina Ilic. Two 3-pointers by Howard in a 10-0 run by Colorado with 5:31 remaining finished Penn.
Freshman center Kara Richards had a personal best 11 rebounds and six assists. Junior post Tami Garnett pitched in eight points on a perfect 4-of-4 from the field, and three rebounds.
