Buffs Face Mines Thursday In Exhibition

THE GAME: The University of Colorado will play its lone exhibition game of the 2007-08 season against the Colorado School of Mines on Thursday, Nov. 8, at 7 p.m. at the Coors Events Conference Center.

BROADCAST: Video of Thursday's exhibition game will be streamed live on BuffsTV, the premium subscription package offered through CU Athletics' official website, www.CUBuffs.com.

THE BUFFALOES: Colorado returns eight letterwinners and five players that started at least 13 games from its 2006-07 squad that finished 13-17 overall and tied with Texas and Texas Tech for seventh place in the Big 12 Conference at 6-10. The Buffaloes enjoyed their best overall and league showing since 2003-04, which was also CU's last appearance in the NCAA Tournament. CU's six Big 12 wins surpassed the total from the previous two seasons combined (3-13 in 2005-06 and 2-14 in 2004-05).

Senior forward Jackie McFarland returns as one of the top players in the Big 12. A 2007 All-Big 12 first team selection and Associated Press honorable mention All-American, McFarland averaged 17.8 points and 10.8 rebounds for Colorado as a junior while ranking third in the nation and leading the Big 12 in field goal accuracy at 60.5 percent. She is complimented in the post by junior Kara Richards who led the Big 12 in field-goal percentage during conference only games at 60 percent and trailed only McFarland on the overall Big 12 charts, giving CU the top two shooters in the league. Richards averaged 7.0 points and 4.7 rebounds as a sophomore.

The Buffs' front court rotation includes junior Caley Dow, sophomore Aija Putnina and redshirt freshman Courtney Dunn. Putnina saw the most time of the post trio last season averaging just under three points a contest and ranked second on the team in overall rebounds with 113 (4.3 rpg). All three players can play either up top, or with their backs to the basket.

Sophomores Whitney Houston, Bianca Smith and senior Susie Powers return to the CU back court. Houston, primarily a point guard, came on strong at the end of last season, starting the final 11 games and finishing the season third in team scoring (7.9 ppg). Powers, CU's best defensive player a year ago, can play both guard positions and did so in just about every game last year. Smith will put most of her time in at shooting guard and is the Buffaloes top returning 3-point shooter. She had 32 as a first-year player, the most by a CU freshman since 2003-04.

True freshmen Britney Blythe and Chelsea Dale will bring their individual expertise to the floor. Blythe is a true point guard with a good ability to see the floor while Dale is a pure shooter with great range.

The Buffaloes will be looking to replace Jasmina Ilic, their second-leading scorer last season (12.4 ppg), at the small forward/wing position. Junior Hannah Skildum is the lone returner with a wealth of experience at that position and she was one of the first players the bench last season. Skildum averaged 3.1 points last season, but scored in double digits in two of her final three games. Although inexperienced at the Division I level, three up-and-coming players will give the Buffaloes depth at that spot. Odessa College transfer Dina Piterniece, comes in and is eligible right away as a junior. She had 200 3-pointers in her two seasons at Odessa, helping her team to a junior college national championship last season and a runner-up finish in 2005-06. Freshman Brittany Spears, an all-state performer out of Pasadena, Calif., is one of CU's most athletic players and redshirt junior RyAnne Ridge, is eligible to play after sitting out the 2006-07 after transferring from the University of Tulsa.

THE COACH: Kathy McConnell-Miller begins her third season as Colorado's head coach. She is 22-38 in her first two seasons with the Buffaloes and has an overall eight-year head coaching record of 113-126.

ABOUT THE OREDIGGERS: The Colorado School of Mines competes at the NCAA Division II level and is a member of the prestigious Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference. The Orediggers, coming off a 15-13 season, were picked to finish fourth in the RMAC Eastern Division in the league's annual coaches poll. Colorado Mines opened its exhibition schedule on Nov. 2 dropping a 76-59 decision at the University of Northern Colorado. Sophomore forward Emily Dalton led the Orediggers with 11 points while freshman forward Brecca Gaffney had six points and a team-high nine rebounds.

BUFFS IN EXHIBITION: Colorado has played at least one exhibition game every season since 1997, featuring a mix of NCAA II schools, foreign teams and traveling all-star teams. The Buffaloes are a perfect 18-0 in those contests, outscoring their opponents by 29.5 points per game (87.5-58.0). CU's closest exhibition contest came in 1997, a 77-72 win over Athletes in Action. Colorado won both of its exhibition contests last season defeating CU-Colorado Springs 80-45 on Nov. 3 and Colorado Mines 73-37 on Nov. 5. In the game against Colorado Mines last season, Jasmina Ilic had a game-high 23 points and Aija Putnina had 12 points and seven rebounds off the bench to lead the Buffaloes. Peanut Eickelman, the lone returning starter for Colorado Mines, had four points, four steals and two assists.

PITERNIECE OUT 2-3 MORE WEEKS: Junior forward Dina Piterniece will have to wait 2-3 more weeks to make her CU debut as she continues to recover from a broken toe suffered during practice on Oct. 19. The injury is to the third metatarsal on her left foot. Piterniece is expected to make a significant contribution to the CU lineup this season after a two-year career at Odessa where her teams went 66-3, winning the 2007 junior college national championship and a second place finish in 2006.

McFARLAND PRESEASON ALL-BIG 12; BUFFS PICKED 11TH: Senior forward Jackie McFarland has been named to the 2007-08 Preseason All-Big 12 Conference Women's Basketball team by a vote of league coaches.

McFarland is CU's second preseason All-Big 12 honoree as former Buffaloes standout Erin Scholz was named to the 1996-97 squad. She joins Nebraska forward Kelsey Griffin, Oklahoma center Courtney Paris and Texas A&M guards A'Quonesia Franklin and Takia Starks on the five-member preseason team. All five players were first team All-Big 12 picks last winter.

A native of Derby, Kan., McFarland topped the Big 12 and ranked third in the nation in field-goal accuracy in 2006-07 at 61 percent. She was second in the Big 12 in scoring (17.8 ppg) and rebounding (10.8 rpg) and led the league in minutes at 36.4 per game.

McFarland, a 2007 Associated Press honorable mention All-American, is one of just five players in Colorado history with career numbers totaling 1,300 points and 700 rebounds and just one of three players to record back-to-back 500 point seasons. She is already in Colorado's career Top 10 for rebounding (fourth at 770), free throws made (sixth at 383) and blocked shots (sixth at 100) and is on pace to enter the Top 5 in all three categories as well as scoring and field goals made.

She was one of just two players in the Big 12 with 18 or more double-doubles in 2006-07 and missed five additional double-double opportunities by either a single point or rebound. Her 18 double-doubles were equal to or more than 10 of the 12 conference teams. McFarland's 37 career double-doubles are tied with Scholz (1993-97) for second on CU's all-time list.

Her 325 rebounds were a school-record for a junior and the fifth best single-season total in team history. McFarland's 10.8 rebounding average was the school's third best single-season mark while her 17.8 scoring average listed as sixth.

Despite returning eight players from a team that finished tied for seventh last season, the Buffaloes were picked to finish 11th in the Big 12 in 2007-08 in annual preseason coaches poll.

Defending co-champion Texas A&M was picked to win the 2008 title with seven first place votes and 117 points overall, just edging out the the league's other co-champion, Oklahoma who had the other five first place votes and 115 points. The Big South held down the top five spots in the poll as Baylor was third with 97 points followed by Texas (86) and Oklahoma State (66). Iowa State was the top North school (64) followed by Nebraska (56), Kansas State and Texas Tech (54 each), Kansas (43), Colorado (29) and Missouri (11).

TOUGH SCHEDULE: Colorado once again faces a tough schedule with no less than 16 games against 2007 NCAA or WNIT tournament teams. The Buffaloes will travel to perennial NCAA women's powers Southern California and Vanderbilt during the non-conference season as well as region rival Colorado State. Colorado will host 2007 WNIT Champion Wyoming and will also see Rice, Clemson and Pepperdine at the Coors Events Center. Texas A&M, Oklahoma State and Texas come to Boulder this year out of the Big 12 South along with the Buffs' usual Big 12 North opponents.

HOME AT THE CECC: Although the exhibition games will not count in the record books, Colorado is traditionally tough at home with a 307-92 all-time record at the Coors Events/Conference Center (.769). The Buffaloes have won 10 or more games in a season at the CECC in 19 of the previous 29 years including, 2007-08 when the Buffaloes went 11-5 at home with four of the five losses coming to ranked teams. The Buffaloes have enjoyed five undefeated seasons (1980-83, 1992-94) at the CECC.