Colorado University Athletics
Colorado-Marquette Notes
April 02, 2008 | Women's Basketball
Quickly... Colorado finished the year with a 19-15 record, its most wins since finishing 2003-04 with a 22-8 record... Colorado had four players in double figures for the second straight game after going 18 in a row with three or fewer... CU was out-rebounded for just the 13th time this year, but only the fifth time by 10 or more as MU had a 44-32 edge on the boards; the Golden Warriors had 17 on the offensive end, converting back into 18 points; that tied for the sixth most offensive rebounds against CU this year, but were only the third most in WNIT play as both Gonzaga and TCU had 20... This was first game in April in program history; CU was the last remaining team to play in the Big 12 Conference this season with Texas A & M's “loss” to Tennessee last night (if you saw the game, you know what the quotations mean)... Marquette's biggest lead was 25 twice (45-20 late in the first, 71-46 midway in the second); CU pulled as close as 12 after the first time (56-44) and 14 twice after the second occasion; CU never led and the only tie was at 2-2 (1:02 in).
Attendance. Tonight's crowd of 3,761 was the third largest of the season at the Coors Events Center, trailing the 4,165 in attendance for the double overtime 84-77 loss to Iowa State on Jan. 13 and the 3,891 on hand for the 67-52 win over Texas on Feb. 16.
Slow Starts. After blitzing Gonzaga from the get-go, the Buffs had three slow starts, falling behind in the first five minutes or so to Villanova (11-2), TCU (20-4) and Marquette (25-5), all of which could be attributed to poor shooting (0-of-8 against ?Nova, 2-of-11 versus both TCU and Marquette; or 4-of-30 combined, 13.3%). Tonight, Colorado also committed 14 turnovers in its first 29 possessions, leading to 17 Marquette points (all before CU scored a single point off a Golden Eagle turnover). To put that in perspective and how out of character it has been for CU this postseason, the Buffs had 14 in the overtime win against TCU and a school record low of three in the win over Villanova.
Halftime High. Colorado allowed a season-high 45 points in the first half, just the second time this season an opponent scored more than 39 in the first 20 minutes; the other occasion was last game, when TCU led 44-38 at intermission. The 45 was also a season best for Marquette in the first half, its previous best 43 on two occasions. Tonight marked just the fourth time CU trailed by double digits at halftime, the second by 20 or more; CU trailed USC 37-16 back on Nov. 18 before losing 70-57, and dropped the other two, both to Iowa State (65-45 in Ames after trailing 35-25 and 76-50 in the Big 12 tournament after a 39-28 deficit at the 20-minute mark). As for the Golden Eagles, it was their second largest halftime lead, behind only a 43-15 edge over Providence in an eventual 72-43 win.
Jackie McFarland (17 points/9 rebounds). She was limited to just seven shots, just the ninth time in 34 games she didn't try at least 10, but was 9-of-10 from the line to go 37-of-40 (.925) in the final three games of her career. She scored in double figures 94 times in her last 100 games and 102 times in her career, trailing only Lisa VanGoor; McFarland finished with 1,957 career points, second on CU's all-time scoring list trailing only VanGoor, who had 2,067 between 1981-85). She also finished her career at Colorado second in rebounds (1,049), third in field goals made (671), fourth in blocked shots (138), first in free throws made (586), first in free throws attempted (758), fourth in minutes played (3,928), second in double-doubles (46) and second in double digit rebounding games (48).
Seasonal?She scored 637 points this season, the second most ever in a single year in CU history (only Van Goor had more, scoring 678 in 1981-82); it was just the fourth 600-point single season in school history. She set a school record for minutes played in a season with 1,219, topping the 1,181 by Diane Hiemstra in 1981-82, free throws made (203), besting her own record of 161 set last year. She scored in double figures 32 times this season, matching VanGoor's ?80-81 total and trailing only the 34 VanGoor had in '81-82.
Bianca Smith. The CU sophomore set a school record for the most 3-pointers made in a single season, as by making 3-of-5 tonight, she finished with 80 for the season. That bested the old mark of 79 by Kate Fagan in 2003-04 (on 184 shots); Smith set the season mark for most attempts earlier this year and finished with 217.
Brittany Spears. Spears had one of the most outstanding freshman seasons in school history, finishing with 472 points and 259 rebounds. She was just the fourth player to score 450 points and grab 250 rebounds in a single season at Colorado, just the second frosh to do so (VanGoor, 1980-81). She also finished as the first Colorado player to record 50 or more assists (64), steals (57) and blocked shots (52) in the same season.
