BJORKLUND MOVES INTO SECOND ON CAREER SCORING CHART AS BUFFS DOWN COWGIRLS 72-57

Saturday, February 21

Boulder, Colo.

2 p.m.

Colorado

20-5, 9-4

Oklahoma State

8-17, 3-11

Team	1	2	F
Oklahoma State	37	20	57
Colorado	37	35	72

Photo by: Associated Press

BJORKLUND MOVES INTO SECOND ON CAREER SCORING CHART AS BUFFS DOWN COWGIRLS 72-57

February 21, 2004 | Women's Basketball

Box Score

By: Associated Press

BOULDER, Colo. -- Tera Bjorklund recorded her fourth double-double on the season with 18 points and 16 rebounds to lead No. 13 Colorado to a 72-57 victory over Oklahoma State on Saturday afternoon.

Bjorklund also became the second leading scorer in Colorado basketball history when she hit a lay-up from the right side with 11:25 remaining in the first half. Bjorklund now has 1,791 points in her career, trailing only Lisa Van Goor's 2,067 career points.

“It's kind of fun and I feel extremely honored to be on a list with the top scorers,” Bjorklund said of the accomplishment. “But if it wasn't for my teammates getting me a lot of good shots, obviously, I wouldn't be there. I pretty much owe all of it to my teammates around me.”

Bjorklund had plenty of support from those teammates in the win over the Cowgirls as three other Buffs (20-5, 9-4 Big 12) reached double-digits in scoring. Randie Wirt and Kate Fagan scored 16 points each while Veronica Johns-Richardson notched 12.

“Veronica Johns-Richardson came out right away and hit some big ones,” head coach Ceal Barry said. “I think this was a huge win for us, a huge win. Oklahoma State's personnel was excellent and they have the leading scorer in the conference in (Trisha) Skibbe.”

Skibbe led the way for the Cowgirls (8-17, 3-11) with 19 points. Oklahoma State's second leading scorer was Nina Stone, who scored 12 points in the first 14 minutes before leaving the court on a stretcher. Precautionary X-rays were taken on her neck, but came back negative.

The Cowgirls forged a 37-37 tie with Colorado at the half, but the Buffs drove their lead to as many as six before the Cowgirls tied the game at 52 with 8:54 left to play.

Oklahoma State faded from there as the Buffs went on an 11-0 run capitalizing three Cowgirl turnovers to put the game out of reach.

“I think our defense in the second half was more active,” Barry said. “In the first half, their guards were pretty active and out-quicked us to the basket.”

The win snapped a two game skid for the Buffaloes, who had only two losses before dropping three of the last five.

Barry now stands at 499 career victories and will go for her 500^th on Tuesday night against Kansas at home. The game is the final home one of the season for Colorado and the final chance to see seniors Tera Bjorklund, Randie Wirt, Kate Fagan and Maria Billingsley on the Sox Walseth basketball floor.