Kara Richards

Position:
Center
Height:
6-4
Class:
Freshman
Hometown:
Graham, Texas
High School:
Graham

Fifth-year senior Kara Richards has experienced the good and bad at her time in a Colorado uniform. She has had to recover from a season-ending injury, endure a coaching change and contributed to a memorable postseason run in her four years. The final Buffalo to play in the Ceal Barry era, Richards brings life and game experience to her fellow teammates as well as giving Colorado a strong presence on the inside. Colorado’s active leader in scoring, rebounding and blocked shots, Richards enters her senior year 13th in career blocks with 55 and is on pace to finish in the top 15 in CU history in field goal percentage.

2007-08 (Junior-Redshirt): Richards played in 30 of 34 games as a junior, starting in seven including all four of CU’s postseason WNIT games. Had a season-high 11 points in the home win over Dartmouth (12/21), hitting all five field goal attempts in that game tying for team season best. She logged a season-best 11 rebounds on senior night against Missouri (3/5) while pitching in eight points. Richards made 52.6 percent of her shots from the floor on the season, ranking second on the team. She was named CU’s Co-Practice Player of the Year along with classmate Hannah Skildum.

2006-07 (Sophomore-Redshirt): Richards combined with teammate Jackie McFarland to create the most accurate shooting front court duo in the Big 12 Conference. She led the Big 12 in field-goal percentage in conference only games at an even 60 percent (48-of-80) and was second on the overall league charts at 57.9 percent (70-of-121), trailing only McFarland. She shot 60 percent or better on 10 occasions in 2006-07, including a perfect 5-of-5 from the floor against Missouri (1/3) in the 2007 Big 12 opener in which she also recorded her first career double-double, tallying 11 points and a career-high 13 rebounds. She would register one more double-double later on in the Big 12 schedule as she had a season-best 22 points, on 10-of-15 from the field, and 10 rebounds against No. 14 Baylor (2/21). Richards missed seven games during the non conference schedule with a fracture to the fourth metatarsal of her left foot. The fracture was on the same foot, but a different bone than the injury that forced her to miss the 2005-06 season. Due to her injury in 2005, the Big 12 granted Richards a medical hardship on Dec. 2, which allowed her to revert back to sophomore status.

2005-06 (Sophomore): Richards suffered a Jones fracture ? a fracture to the fifth meta-tarsal ? in her left foot on Nov. 15, just three day’s before CU’s season opening win over Cal State University-Fullerton. She did appear in CU’s two exhibition games in November averaging 12 points and 6.5 rebounds.

2004-05 (Freshman): Richards averaged 9.0 points and 5.3 rebounds for the Buffaloes as a true freshman, starting 26 of 28 games. She was named to the Waco Tribune-Herald’s All-Big 12 Conference Freshman team, ranking third in scoring, fourth in rebounding and blocked shots among league first-year players. She led CU and ranked 10th on the overall Big 12 charts in blocked shots with 28, the 20th best total in team history and fifth-best by a Buffs freshman. Richards started strong right out of the gate scoring 13 points, grabbing six rebounds and two blocks in her collegiate debut against Loyola Marymount. Her start against LMU made her the first true freshman to start in the season opener for CU since Linda Lappe against Denver in 1998. The next night, Richards scored 14 points on 7-of-10 from the field. For her efforts at the Nevada Nugget Classic, she was rewarded by the Big 12 as the league’s Rookie of the Week. She earned a spot on the Coors Classic Invitational All-Tournament team averaging 10.5 rebounds, 6.5 points, three assists and 2.5 steals in games against Pennsylvania (11/26) and No. 2 LSU (11/27). Registered a career-best 24 points twice in a three-game span ? first against Manhattan (1/2) and then again in her home Big 12 debut against Iowa State (1/8).

High School: A 2004 graduate of Graham High School, Richards earned a pair of All-State honors after her junior and senior seasons. A McDonald’s All-American nominee, Richards was also a Texas Association of Basketball Coaches All-State selection. She was a four-time All-District player for Graham, was named the District Most Valuable Player for District 5-3A as a junior, and was also selected to the 2A-3A Texas Women’s Magazine All-State team. As a sophomore she was the Offensive Player of the Year in 6-3A, and a Texas Women’s Magazine All-State pick. Her freshman year she was named the Defensive Player of the Year for District 6-3A.

Academics: Richards is majoring in history at Colorado. She earned mention to the Big 12 Commissioner’s Honor Roll for the fall semester of 2004 and spring semester 2008.

Personal: Kara Richards was born October 19, 1985, in Mineral Wells, Texas. She is the daughter of Richard & Christine Richards and Cheryl Roberts. She has two sisters, Amanda Marie (8) and Victoria Lynn (6). She is interested in photography and cinematography, and her hobbies include taking pictures and acting. She was the publicity chairperson of her high school Thespian Society, the Beta Club.

Overall	GP-S	Min	Avg	FG	FGA	Pct	3FG	3FGA	Pct	FT	FTA	Pct
2004-05	28-26	670	23.9	99	215	.460	0	0	.000	53	76	.697
2006-07	23-23	493	21.4	70	121	.579	0	0	.000	20	37	.541
2007-08	30-7	278	9.3	40	76	.526	0	0	.000	17	34	.500
2008-09	29-29	898	31.0	153	265	.577	0	1	.000	85	139	.612
Totals	110-85	2339	21.3	362	677	.535	0	1	.000	175	286	.612

Overall	OReb	DReb	TOT	Avg	PF	FO	A	TO	BK	S	Pts	Avg
2004-05	58	90	148	5.3	96	8	39	96	28	18	251	9.0
2006-07	28	79	107	4.7	81	5	31	55	18	18	160	7.0
2007-08	29	31	60	2.0	53	2	12	41	9	12	97	3.2
2008-09	94	112	206	7.1	98	4	26	55	23	25	391	13.5
Totals	209	312	521	4.7	328	19	108	247	78	73	899	8.2