Buffs Bow Out To K-State

OKLAHOMA CITY - No. 22 (AP)/21 (WBCA) Kansas State made the most of second opportunities and takeaways to claim a 68-51 win over Colorado in the first round of the 2009 Big 12 Championship tournament at the COX Convention Center.

The 12th seeded Buffaloes end their season at 11-18, losing their last six and nine of their last 10. No. 5 seed Kansas State moves on to face No. 4 Texas A&M in the quarterfinal round Friday afternoon.

Sophomore Brittany Spears scored 23 points and senior center Kara Richards had 22, but that was it for the Colorado offense as the other 10 players who entered the game accounted for just six points.

"I don't think you are going to be very good with only two people scoring," CU head coach Kathy McConnell-Miller said. "We have needed more scorers all year. We have not had a consistent third scorer and teams have changed the way they play us."

Kansas State held a 32-21 edge on the boards and grabbed 17 on the offensive end which resulted in 15 Wildcat points. Colorado also committed 17 turnovers which led to 19 Wildcat points.

Spears became the 22nd player in CU history to reach 1,000 points, reaching the milestone on a 3-pointer late in the game. She is the second-quickest to reach 1,000 in team history (63 games) and only the second sophomore to do it, joining Lisa Van Goor.

Kansas State overcame a cold start to quickly build a double-digit lead, with the Wildcats holding a 36-19 halftime advantage.

The Wildcats missed their first four shots, but made 10 of their next 14 to go ahead 24-8 on a layup by Sweat with 9:45 left in the half. Kansas State pushed its lead to 19 on a buzzer-beating jumper by Kelsey Nelson.

Colorado had 11 turnovers in the half, negating a solid effort by the 6-foot-4 Richards, who went 5 of 7 from the field and scored 11 of the Buffs' 17 points.

Despite implementing traps and presses on defense, Colorado came no closer than 15 points in the second half. Colorado pulled within 48-33 on a free throw by Richards with 11 minutes left, but Shalee Lehning answered with a 3-pointer, Ashley Sweat followed with a driving layup and Marlies Gipson added two free throws to extend Kansas State's lead to 22 points.

Sweat finished with 19 points. Kari Kincaid and Gipson each had 14.