Colorado Loses Halftime Lead, Game, 56-46 to ISU

AMES, Iowa - The University of Colorado led by six at halftime but Iowa State outscored the Buffs 39-23 in the second half to win 56-46 at the Hilton Coliseum on Thursday night.

Senior Whitney Law scored 18 points and Jackie McFarland added 13 for Colorado (9-20, 3-13 Big 12) in its regular season finale.

McFarland became the eighth player in Colorado history to score 500 points in a season when she hit a jump shot from the paint with 4:46 remaining in the game. The sophomore has 505 points, just 11 behind Isabelle Fijalkowski who scored 516 in the 1994-95 season.

Iowa State (16-11, 7-9 Big 12) was lead by senior Brittany Wilkins who scored 16 of her game-high 22 points in the second half. Colorado held Lyndsey Medders to just two points in the first half but the junior who averages 17 points per game scored 13 in the second stanza.

Iowa State came out of the lockerroom and in the first 6:51 of the second half outscored Colorado 11-3 to take their first lead of the game. The run got as big as 23-3, and the Buffs would get no closer than the 10 point deficit at the finale.

"We allowed them to get hot and a few of our players did not want to get in foul trouble," Colorado head coach Kathy McConnell-Miller said, "We just allowed them to get too many easy buckets, particularly on the inside."

Colorado jumped out to an 11-4 lead in the first 4:19 shooting 71 percent (5-7) from the field and limiting the Cyclones to just 29 percent (2-7) including 0-3 on 3-point shots. McFarland scored six of the Buffs first eight points then Law got hot and scored Colorado's next eight points.

After that hot start Colorado hit just 5-18 for the rest of the half but the defense still stayed tough. Although CU scored just two points in the final 8:56 of the half, the Buffs also held Iowa State to only four points and went into halftime with a 23-17 lead.

Colorado's next game will be on Tuesday, March 7 at 7:30 MST in the Big 12 Conference Tournament.  CU will be the No. 11 seed and take on the No. 6 Nebraska. Last year as the 12th seed, Colorado nearly upset No. 5 seed Iowa State but lost on a 3-pointer at the buzzer.