Colorado University Athletics
Colorado
22-8
UC Santa Barbara
26-6
BUFFS SEASON ENDS IN NCAA FIRST ROUND
March 20, 2004 | Women's Basketball
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - Mia Fisher scored 20 points and UC Santa Barbara defeated No. 17 Colorado 76-49 Saturday night to reach the second round of the NCAA tournament for the third consecutive year.
The 11th-seed Gauchos (26-6) took the Buffaloes out of the game early. Eight times this season they held opponents to less than 20 first-half points; the Buffaloes managed just 26.
Santa Barbara will play ninth-ranked Houston, a 62-47 winner over 14th-seed Wisconsin-Green Bay, on Monday night. The winner advances to the East Regional semifinals in Hartford, Conn.
Sixth-seeded Colorado (22-8) started the season 17-2, but struggled down the stretch. The Buffaloes went 5-6 in their final 11 games, including a loss to Oklahoma in their Big 12 tournament opener.
It was their lowest-scoring game in 12 NCAA tournament appearances. They were 12-of-42 from the floor for a season-low 29 percent. Only Ohio State and Idaho have shot better than 50 percent against the Gauchos this season.
The host Gauchos found themselves in the unfamiliar position of sitting on the visitors' bench and wearing their blue road uniforms at the Thunderdome. But the partisan, raucous crowd made up for it.
"We didn't handle their pressure well and made poor decisions," CU head coach Ceal Barry said. "Their crowd was into it and they were playing well."
The highly anticipated matchup in the middle between 6-foot-8 Lindsay Taylor of Santa Barbara and 6-5 Tera Bjorklund of Colorado was nullified by foul trouble. Taylor had nine points - seven below her average - and six rebounds before fouling out with 7:18 remaining; Bjorklund led the Buffaloes with 15 points and six rebounds.
Randie Wirt added 12 points for Colorado.
Kristen Mann and Fisher dominated the first half with 14 points each for the Gauchos, who lost to Colorado 81-54 in the second round of the 1993 NCAA tournament. Mann finished with 16 points and April McDivitt added 14. Fisher made 10 of 11 free throws.
Santa Barbara's fans booed once all night and that was before tip-off. The Gauchos got a technical foul for failing to get their starting lineup to the scorers' table.
They led by five points when they outscored the Buffaloes 16-6, including seven by McDivitt, to end the half ahead 41-26.
Colorado committed 13 of its 22 turnovers in the first half.
"The biggest thing was us not taking care of the ball," CU guard Kate Fagen said. "We knew they were going to come out and play pressure. We gave them second shots."
It got much worse for the Buffaloes. They were outscored 20-9 to start the second half and trailed 61-35 with 10:26 remaining. Playing with three fouls, Taylor scored six of Santa Barbara's first eight points while Bjorklund picked up her third and fourth fouls.
Colorado never made a dent in a deficit that was nearly 30 points for much of the final 10 minutes.
