Buffs Snap Two Game Slide, Down Pacific 84-57
BOULDER - Sophomore Jackie McFarland had 26 points and junior Jasmina Ilic had 20 as Colorado ran to an 84-57 win over Pacific Thursday night at the Coors Events Conference Center.
Colorado snaps a two-game losing streak and improves to 3-4 overall. Pacific dropped their sixth-straight to fall to 1-6.
The game marked the fourth time this season that McFarland and Ilic have each hit the 20-point mark in the same game, with the Buffs winning three of the four (lone loss came Dec. 3 at Creighton). McFarland hit 8-of-13 from the field, and 10-of-15 from the free-throw line marking her second-straight game with 10-plus free throws made. Ilic hit 7-of-20 from the field, including four 3-point field goals, giving her 10 in the past two games.
Even with the usual suspects scoring in the 20's, the rest of the Buffs stepped up for a balanced effort. Nine of 10 Colorado players entered the scoring column and six had at least six points. Senior Whitney Law had 10 points and five assists while junior Anna Nedovic had nine points, three rebounds and three steals.
Thursday's game took a completely different tone than the last meeting between the two teams. Last year, Colorado squeaked out a 45-42 win in Stockton, Calif. Thursday night, CU scored 50 in the first half.
Colorado hit 50 percent from the field in the first half (17-of-34), en route to a 50-18 halftime lead. The Buffaloes, who benefited from a 24-0 run in the first half, had 15 points from Ilic to lead the effort. Six different Buffs scored at least six points in the first half including eight from McFarland and seven from Yari Escalera off the bench.
Turnovers were also CU's friend for once in the first half. The Buffs entered the game giving up over two more turnovers than its opposition per game, but on Thursday CU was on the positive side. Pacific had 14 first-half turnovers to just five for the Buffs. Colorado had 10 steals in the first half, four of which came from McFarland.
Pacific closed the gap a little in the second half, but only got as close as 20 points. McFarland put to rest any thought of a Tigers comeback scoring 18 of her points and recording six of her eight rebounds in the final 20 minutes.
Pacific was led by Karen Dawkins who had 12 points off the bench. Jerise Freeman scored 11.
Colorado will enjoy its longest break of the season as the Buffaloes begin finals week tomorrow. CU will be back in action with three games at the San Juan Shootout in Carolina, Puerto Rico, Dec. 19-21.