Cold Shooting Dooms Buffaloes
COLLEGE STATION, Texas -The weather was warm in South Texas Saturday, approaching the mid 60's, but the shooting on the Reed Arena floor was anything but for Colorado.
The Buffaloes shot just 30 percent from the field as No. 8 (AP)/12 (WBCA) Texas A&M opened up a big early lead en route to a 79-50 Big 12 Conference victory.
Colorado (10-12, 2-8 Big 12) drops its third straight game overall and 17th straight on the road against a Big 12 Southern Division foe. Texas A&M (19-5, 7-4 Big 12) rebounds from a loss at Texas Tech earlier in the week for its 10th win at home in 11 tries this season.
Sophomore Brittany Spears had a game-high 25 points and recorded her second straight double-double by adding 10 rebounds, but she was Colorado's only player to reach double-digits. Senior Kara Richards had seven points and seven rebounds while Kelly Jo Mullaney had six points off the bench.
Unable to get its inside game established early, Colorado went to the outside but made just one of its first 12 field goal attempts, a Spears drive and layup, as Texas A&M built a 20-4 lead in the first 10 minutes.
The Buffaloes fell into foul trouble as well. Starting guard Alyssa Fressle had three early fouls and was held to just two points on 1-of-6 from the field before fouling out with 9:25 left. Junior Bianca Smith, the Big 12's second leading 3-point shooter, was nearly shut out, missing her first four shots, three from downtown, before hitting a 3-pointer in the closing minutes for her only points.
Colorado made just 17-of-56 from the floor on the afternoon and made just 8-of-28 (.286) in the first half. Texas A&M meanwhile shot 44 percent in the first half, hitting on 15-of-34. Danielle Gant scored all 12 of her points in the first half as the Aggies led 38-16 at the break.
Even Spears was not immune to CU's shooting bug. Despite scoring 10 of CU's 16 first-half points, was 5-of-15 from the floor in the first period and finished the game with nine field goals on a career-high 26 attempts.
A 9-0 run early in the second half gave the Buffaloes some life. With Texas A&M leading 50-24 with 15:52 remaining in the game, Spears scored on a layup and hit a 3-pointer following an Aggie turnover. CU freshman Julie Seabrook hit a pair of free throws and Mullaney scored a driving bucket after an A&M miss to cut the Aggies' lead to 50-33 with 13:32 left.
Attempting to cut the lead down even further, Colorado missed its next four shots. Texas A&M then regrouped and put the game away. Sydney Colson broke A&M's scoring drought and Takia Starks scored six straight as the Aggies answered CU's spurt with a 9-0 run of their own.
"I don't think (Colorado) quit once," CU head coach Kathy McConnell-Miller said. "There wasn't one possession (that they did). I thought they played really hard. We were just outmatched. If we can take what we learn from this game and get better for our next opponent which is Kansas. If they show up on Monday with Colorado on their chest, they have responded. They have put this game behind and we have grown in areas that we needed to grow."
Texas A&M had four players score in double-digits led by Tanisha Smith who had a double-double off the bench, finishing with15 points and 10 rebounds. Tyra White had 12 and Starks ended with 11.
Seabrook had a personal Big 12 high six rebounds off the bench. Sophomore Chelsea Dale pulled in three rebounds in a career-most 14 minutes. Texas A&M outrebounded Colorado 50-32.
Colorado returns home to host the University of Kansas on Wednesday, Feb. 18, at 7 p.m. at the Coors Events Center. Wednesday Colorado will join the WBCA in its Pinkzone initiative in the fight against breast cancer. All fans wearing pink will be able to purchase genearl admission tickets for only $3, also, the first 500 fans will receive a free pair of Pink Crocs. For more information contact the CU Ticket Office at 303-49BUFFS.