Colorado University Athletics
Colorado
4-1
Evansville
2-2
Buffs Beat Evansville 55-53
November 27, 2010 | Women's Basketball
Evansville erased a 19-point first-half CU advantage, had a lead of its own late in the second half, and had the ball in its possession for a potential game-winning shot. But the duo of Brittany Spears and Chucky Jeffery wasn't about to let that happen.
Spears had a double-double and Jeffery had 17 points and six steals, including the game-clinching swipe with five seconds remaining to seal a 55-53 Colorado win over Evansville in the first round of the 2010 Omni Hotels Classic.
Colorado (4-1) moves on to play Loyola Chicago (3-1), 74-67 winners over Eastern Washington in the early game, in Saturday's championship set for 7:30 p.m. Evansville (2-2) will face EWU in the consolation game at 5 p.m.
Colorado looked to put this one away early, jetting out to an early 16-2 lead. Spears had 12 of her game-high 19 points in the first half as the Buffaloes shot 52 percent.
Freshman Rachel Hargis put in back-to-back buckets as Colorado held its largest lead at 26-7 with 7:10 left in the first period.
The Purple Aces were able to cut the CU lead to 33-19 at halftime and had an even bigger run prepared for the second half.
Colorado missed its first eight shots of the second half as Evansville responded with a 17-4 run to trim CU's lead to 37-36 with 7:48 remaining. The Buffaloes, who shot only 26 percent in the second half, also had trouble holding onto the ball, committing 27 turnovers.
Colorado pushed its lead back up to 44-38 after a Jeffery 3-point play, but the Purple Aces scored the next nine points. Evansville took its first lead on a Samantha Heck jumper and Megan Collins put the Purple Aces up 47-44 with 5:15 left.
Defense dominated the Buffaloes final push. After a Jeffery basket cut the deficit to one, Spears and Jeffery turned Evansville over on three straight possessions, resulting in an 8-0 CU run. Jeffery had a coast-to-coast steal and layup, a Spears steal led to a pair of Jeffery free throws and another Jeffery steal led to a Spears transition layup as the Buffs led 54-49 with 1:56 left.
Buckets by Heck and Collins allowed Evansville to creep back to within 54-53 with 39 seconds left. Spears took a jumper on the baseline with 26 ticks left. She missed but Meagan Malcolm-Peck corralled the offensive rebound. The Buffaloes were able to move the ball around before Spears was fouled with 11 seconds left.
Spears made the first foul shot, but missed the second giving the Purple Aces one final opportunity. But it never materialized, Jeffery picked the pocket of Staci Gillum in the backcourt with :05 left and ran out the clock for the Buffaloes third straight win.
Spears finished with 10 rebounds, collecting her 25th career double-double and third in five games this season. She also moved past Erin Scholz (1993-97) into fifth place on CU's all-time scoring list (1,630). Jeffery added eight rebounds and six assists to her numbers.
Heck led Evansville with 16 points and seven rebounds. Collins finished with 13 points off the bench for the Purple Aces.
