Buffs Host Western Kentucky Monday In WNIT At 7 p.m.

THE GAME: The University of Colorado hosts Western Kentucky University in the quarterfinal round of the 2014 Preseason WNIT on Monday, Nov. 17, at 7 p.m. at the Coors Events Center.

BROADCAST: Monday’s game will air live on KKZN 760 AM. Cory Lopez will have the call with former Buffalo and KDVR Fox 31 personality Kami Carmann with the color commentary.  A free live video stream will be available through Colorado’s Pac-12.com video player. All CU women’s basketball home games that are not televised will be available through Pac-12.com at this link
http://pac-12.com/videos/university-colorado
Non-televised Pac-12 road games are scheduled to be available on the opponents’ similar video player, free of charge.

WHO IS IN THE WNIT?: Five NCAA Tournament teams from a year ago along with four Postseason WNIT participants, including Colorado, highlight the field. Notable potential opponents include perennial national power and 2014 NCAA Region semifinalist Penn State, Big 12 Conference regular season champion West Virginia, Mississippi State out of the SEC, and tradition-rich Western Kentucky out of Conference USA.

Rounding out the field, in alphabetical order is, Albany, Arkansas State, Central Arkansas, Eastern Kentucky, Jackson State, Mercer, North Dakota, Rider, Seton Hall, St. Francis Brooklyn and Towson.

FIRST ROUND RESULTS
Friday, Nov. 14
Seton Hall 66, Rider 47
Penn State 71, Towson 64
Albany 90, St. Francis Brooklyn 47
Western Kentucky 93, Central Arkansas 57
Arkansas State 92, Jackson State 60
Mississippi State 97, Mercer 66

Saturday, Nov. 15
Colorado 68, North Dakota 59
West Virginia 67, Eastern Kentucky 42

QUARTERFINALS
Sunday, Nov. 16
Albany 54, Penn State 53
Arkansas State at Mississippi State, 5 p.m.

Monday, Nov. 17
Western Kentucky at Colorado, 7 p.m.
Seton Hall at West Virginia, 5 p.m.

WHAT’S NEXT?: The winner of Monday’s game will play Albany, most likely on Thursday, Nov. 20, in a semifinal game. Albany picked up a 54-53 road win at Penn State in a quarterfinal game Sunday afternoon. Monday’s loser will play another quarterfinal loser in a single game on either Friday, Nov. 21 or Saturday, Nov. 22.

The championship game is scheduled for Sunday, Nov. 23, at 1 p.m. MST and will be televised nationally on the CBS Sports Network.

Teams are guaranteed three games in the tournament with the two schools in the championship contest earning a fourth. All games are played at campus sites.

The eight teams that lost in the first round are playing in two separate four-team consolation brackets Nov. 21-22. North Dakota, Colorado’s first round opponent, is in a bracket at Towson along with St. Francis Brooklyn and Rider

BUFFS’ WNIT HISTORY: Colorado is competing in the Preseason WNIT for the third time, and with its first round win Saturday, improves its record to 7-1.

The Buffaloes won the event in 1995. Coming off an NCAA Elite Eight appearance the year before, No. 14/11 ranked Colorado won home games against New Mexico State (63-56), Utah (63-61, OT) and Texas A&M (74-68) before upsetting No. 9/9 Arkansas on the road, 73-71, for the title.

Colorado also played in the 2001 event, winning games over Oral Roberts (78-49) and New Mexico (78-63) before falling to No. 3/3 Vanderbilt, 72-51, in the semifinals. The rosters for that game at Vanderbilt included CU head coach Linda Lappe for the Buffaloes and coach Jenni Benningfield for the Commodores.

OVERALL IN REGULAR SEASON TOURNAMENTS: Colorado is 107-40 since the 1980-81 season in regular season tournaments, including a sparkling 44-10 in its own Omni Hotels Classic which celebrates its 29th year in 2014. The Buffaloes will host Missouri State, Colorado State and TCU for games Friday and Saturday, Nov. 28-29.

NOTING THE OPENER: Colorado defeated North Dakota 68-59 in the first round of Preseason WNIT Saturday at the Coors Events Center.

Senior forward Jen Reese scored a game-high 21 points on 9-of-19 from the field. The performance was her fourth career 20-point effort and just one point off her career best 22 which she’s hit three times. Reese’s nine field goals matched a personal best while the 19 attempts are a career high.

Junior forward Jamee Swan pitched in 16 points, eight rebounds and four blocks. Her four blocks tied a personal best, matching her effort against Kansas in the 2013 NCAA Tournament. Additionally, her four blocks moves her career total to 68, tying her for 14th on CU’s career list with former teammate Meagan Malcolm-Peck (2009-13).

Sophomore guard Haley Smith had a career-best nine rebounds and her 33 minutes played matched a personal best.

Senior guard Lexy Kresl matched a career high with six assists.

Sophomore guard Lauren Huggins had 11 points, hitting 3-of-6 from 3-point range. Huggins, who had just four free throw attempts in 31 career games, had five against UND, making two.

Four Buffs made their official collegiate debuts. Sophomore center Bri Watts had three blocks and two rebounds in four minutes. Freshman guard Brecca Thomas had five points and one assist in 18 minutes, guard Alina Hartmann had five points in nine minutes and center Zoe Correal played one minute.

ABOUT WESTERN KENTUCKY: Western Kentucky is 1-0 after trouncing Central Arkansas 93-57 in its first round WNIT game at home on Nov. 14. Five players scored in double-digits for the Lady Toppers which improved to 7-3 all-time in the Preseason WNIT.

Sophomore Bria Gaines came off the bench to score 22 points, in just 18 minutes, on 9-of-12 from the field. Sophomore guard Kendall Noble recorded a double-double with 17 points and a game-high 12 rebounds.

Western Kentucky shot 50 percent from the field (37-of-74) and had a 2-to-1 edge on the boards (44-22).

The Lady Toppers are ranked  No. 2 in the nation in ESPN’s Mid-Major poll. WKU is in its first year as a member of Conference USA and it hasn’t taken long for its peers to take notice. A long-time power in the Sun Belt, the Lady Toppers were picked to finish second in the CUSA Preseason coaches poll. Senior forward Chastity Gooch, who had 14 points and six rebounds in the opener, was tabbed Conference USA’s Preseason Player of the Year.

Western Kentucky received votes in both the Associated Press and USA Today Sports/WBCA Preseason poll. The Lady Toppers are coming off a 24-9 season in which they won the Sun Belt Tournament championship, earning their 17th NCAA Tournament appearance.

Michelle Clark-Heard is in her third year as the head coach at Western Kentucky with a record of 47-20. She is in her fifth season overall as a collegiate head coach with a mark of 71-52.

THE SERIES: This will be the second meeting between Colorado and Western Kentucky. The Buffaloes won the previous meeting a 71-68 overtime decision at the Seattle Times Husky Classic on Dec. 27, 1991. Colorado is 15-5 all-time against teams that currently make up Conference USA.

Linda Lappe has never faced Western Kentucky as a head coach. Michelle Clark-Heard has never faced Colorado as a head coach

FOR OPENERS: Colorado improved to 36-5 (.878) in all-time season openers and has won the last 15. The Buffaloes started the season with a home game for the 28th time in 41 seasons. Colorado is an outstanding 39-2 (.951) all-time in home openers and has never lost its overall season opener when played at home (28-0).

TAKING CARE OF BUSINESS: Colorado has a record of 45-22 since the beginning of the 2012-13 season. Of those 22 losses, 12 have been to ranked teams and 11 of those ranked higher than Colorado at the time the game was played. The Buffaloes have won 42 of their last 52 games against unranked opponents.

The Buffaloes have been dominant in regular season nonconference games under Linda Lappe. Colorado is 42-5 in that stretch since the beginning of the 2010-11 season. The Buffaloes have won 35 of their last 36 regular season nonconference contests with the only loss coming at No. 7/7 ranked Louisville, a highly-competitive 69-62 decision on Dec. 21, 2013. That loss snapped a 33-game non-league win streak for the Buffaloes.

REESE’S PIECES: Senior forward Jen Reese is on pace to join a pair of elite groups in Colorado history this season.

Reese has 473 career rebounds, leaving her just 27 shy of 500 and the 21st player to reach that milestone. She needs just 48 to enter the Buffaloes’ career Top 20.

The 6-2 shooter is also Colorado’s active leading scorer with 808 career points, putting her well within range to become the 26th player in team history to reach 1,000 career points.

Hitting both marks would make her just the 15th player in team history to reach 1,000 points and 500 rebounds.

KRESL SOLID FROM ARC, LINE: Senior guard Lexy Kresl ranks 10th in career 3-pointers made (124) and attempted (420). 

She has made a 3-pointer in 71 of 96 career games and has 33 contests with two or more buckets from long range.

Kresl has also been one of Colorado’s most reliable free throw shooters over the past three seasons. Her career percentage of 83.4 (126-of-151) would rank fourth on the Buffs’ all-time list (minimum of 100 attempts) just behind of her head coach, Linda Lappe, a 83.9 percent shooter from 1998-03 (296-of-353).

Kresl hit 84.1 percent from the line in 2013-14 (69-of-82) ranking third in the Pac-12 Conference. Her mark was also good for 19th on Colorado’s single-season list.

Kresl has a shot at reaching 1,000 career points. She enters the season at 738, meaning she would have to pace slightly above her 8.1 points per game average last year over 30 games to achieve that mark.

RETURN TO ‘D’: Defense has been a staple to the Colorado program under Linda Lappe and for the Buffaloes to be successful in 2014-15, toughness on that side of the court will once again be paramount.

Three of Colorado’s top four single-season field goal percentage defense totals have come under Lappe’s direction. The 2012-13 NCAA Tournament team set the bar with a school-record effort at .350. Last year’s squad came in with the third-best total at .369. Colorado’s 2013-14 total ranked third on the Pac-12 leaderboard and 34th in the nation.

Two of Colorado’s top 10 scoring defense totals have come under Lappe’s reign including a school-best 54.5 ppg in 2012-13. Three of CU’s top 10 rebounding margins have also come in that time frame, including last year’s mark of plus-5.0, the eighth best in team history.

HOME AT THE CECC: Colorado is traditionally tough at home with a 395-135 all-time record at the Coors Events Center (.745). The Buffaloes have won 10 or more games in a season at the CEC in 25 of 36 years. The Buffaloes have enjoyed five undefeated seasons (1980-83, 1992-94) at the CEC.

Colorado was 12-6 at Coors in 2013-14 and has won 19 of its last 26 and 30 of its last 40 at home.

BUFFS ON TV: Colorado women’s basketball will be televised to a regional or national audience at least 13 times during the regular season, including 12 games on the Pac-12 Networks during league play. This marks the third consecutive year the Buffaloes will have double-digit regional or national television appearances.

Colorado’s first scheduled appearance will be at Denver on Tuesday, Nov. 25, at 7 p.m., on ROOT Sports Rocky Mountain. A possible 14th televised contest could also come during the nonconference schedule. If the Buffaloes should reach the Preseason WNIT championship game, that contest on Sunday, Nov. 23, would be televised nationally at 1 p.m. MT on CBS Sports Network.

Colorado’s first eight Pac-12 games will be televised on the Pac-12 Networks as will five of the Buffaloes’ nine home conference games. All remaining home games, and conference road games, that aren’t televised will be scheduled to be streamed live through Colorado’s Pac-12.com video portal. In addition, CU’s game at Missouri on Friday, Dec. 12, will air on SEC Network +, the SEC’s online video streaming option.

Entering this season, Colorado has tipped off on 127 national or regional telecasts since the fall of 2001, and 28 since the advent of the Pac-12 Networks in 2012.