Colorado freshman guard Brittany Wilson played like someone deserving of her first college start on Tuesday night at the Coors Events Center.
The player she replaced fared pretty well, too.
Wilson scored 15 points and Meagan Malcolm-Peck added a double-double to help fuel a 67-56 Buffaloes triumph over the North Dakota Fighting Sioux that at points was better for CU and at points was worse than the final score indicated.
Wilson — a 5-foot-8 Long Beach, Calif., product — scored 12 of her points in the first half as she helped stake the Buffs to 10-2 and 30-12 leads early. She added four rebounds and career bests in steals (4) and 3-pointers (4). And she hit nothing but net on a running 30-footer at the halftime buzzer.
“I’ve been working hard, so for it to finally pay off feels really good,” Wilson said of starting.
The win sends the Buffs into Big 12 Conference play on Saturday at Texas A&M on a winning note. Colorado improved to 9-4 overall and 9-1 at home.
But 27 CU turnovers and the feeling that the Buffs should have beaten the 2-11 Sioux by much more tempered the victory.
Colorado led by as many as 18 in the first half and as many as 25 in the second. While the game never really felt in doubt, the over-matched Sioux refused to go away and outscored the Buffs 30-26 in the second half. CU hit just one field goal and scored just four points in the final 10 minutes, 40 seconds of the game.
“We came out kind of lackadaisical I think,” Malcolm-Peck said. “If we play like that, we’re not going to get any wins in the Big 12. So we all know we have to step it up and make improvements.”
Malcolm-Peck and Wilson — and of course forward Brittany Spears, who led CU with 21 points and nine rebounds — were certainly the bright spots for the Buffs.
Malcolm-Peck played just six minutes in the first half off the bench, recording three rebounds. But she erupted in the second half to finish with 11 points and 10 rebounds for her second career double-double.
“I do whatever I can to help my team,” Malcolm-Peck said. “Brit’s been playing awesome and I think that’s awesome that she gets that opportunity (to start).”
Malcolm-Peck’s timing for her outburst couldn’t have been better.
North Dakota had just cut CU’s lead down to 46-36 with 16 minutes to play. But Malcolm-Peck scored seven points during a 15-0 run that put the Buffs up 61-36 with 11:18 to go.
CU coach Linda Lappe — who had started the same lineup the first 12 games of the season — said she made the change Tuesday because of the way Wilson had been performing the last three or four weeks in games and practice and because of the offensive spark she brings.
But the coach was equally impressed with the way Malcolm-Peck handled the move.
“She was just really solid tonight and did a great job and didn’t let not starting affect her,” said Lappe, who said she wasn’t sure if the switch would stick. “I think that shows a lot of maturity and I’m really proud of her.”
Wilson’s 30-footer was the highlight of the night and brought the announced crowd of 1,033 to its feet.
With 4 seconds to go, she took the inbound pass in the backcourt, raced up the center of the court and arced a perfect shot with a defender close by her side.
Wilson said the Buffs rehearse the situation in practice, but that it usually ends with a shot from half-court.
“I looked at the time and I know my speed, and so I knew that if I took that extra dribble and had my feet under it that it was going to be good,” she said.
Colorado dominated the game at times and out-rebounded the Sioux 43-31. But the Buffs also shot just 8 of 28 from 3-point land, and the turnovers tied a season high as several lazy passes turned into Sioux points at the other end.
Mallory Youngblut scored 19 points and grabbed five rebounds to lead North Dakota, a former Division-II power transitioning to D-I.
Lappe said she noticed a lack of focus from her team during Tuesday’s morning shootaround. But the team could never shake it.
“You can’t expect to just turn on a switch at some point and not be focused and not be lackadaisical and all those things,” Lappe said. “It’s something that from here on out we can’t have.”
Colorado 67, North Dakota 56 NORTH DAKOTA (56)
MIN FG 3PT FT Rb PF TP
Youngblut 38 7-13 3-4 2-2 5 1 19
Lof 32 0-2 0-0 0-0 5 4 0
Lauck 30 2-11 0-4 2-2 4 1 6
Wall 17 2-5 0-0 3-3 3 4 7
Cna. Mthrshd 27 2-3 0-0 2-2 1 2 6
Cni. Mthrshd 13 4-6 1-2 2-4 1 0 11
Smart 7 1-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 2
Rothfusz 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Buck 19 1-5 0-3 0-0 5 0 2
Houdek 16 1-8 0-0 1-2 2 5 3
Totals 200 20-54 4-13 12-15 31 17 56
Assists (11): Youngblut 4, Lauck 2, C.nay Mothershed 2, Lof, Cnise Mothershed, Houdek.
Steals (18): Lof 4, Youngblut 3, Lauck 3, C.nay Mothershed 2, Smart 2, Buck 2, Wall, C.nise Mothershed.
Turnovers (26): C.nay Mothershed 7, Youngblut 5, Lof 3, Lauck 2, Wall 2, C.nise Mothershed 2, Buck 2, Smart, Rothfusz, Houdek.
Blocked shots (4): Youngblut, C.nay Mothershed, Buck, Houdek.
COLORADO (67)
MIN FG 3PT FT Rb PF TP
Seabrook 20 3-4 0-0 1-3 0 2 7
Spears 31 8-15 3-7 2-2 9 0 21
Blythe 17 0-4 0-4 0-0 0 2 0
B. Wilson 27 5-9 4-6 1-1 4 4 15
Jeffery 23 3-7 0-2 5-6 8 3 11
A. Wilson 18 1-4 0-1 0-0 1 1 2
MM-Peck 19 5-9 1-3 0-1 10 3 11
Dale 23 0-6 0-5 0-0 3 0 0
Hargis 22 0-1 0-0 0-1 6 2 0
Totals 200 25-59 8-28 9-14 43 17 67
Assists (13): Jeffery 4, Malcolm-Peck 3, Dale 2, Hargis 2, B. Wilson, A. Wilson.
Steals (11): B. Wilson 4, Spears 3, A. Wilson 2, Malcolm-Peck, Hargis.
Turnovers (27): Seabrook 6, Spears 5, Jeffery 5, B. Wilson 4, Dale 3, Hargis 2, Blythe.
Blocked shots (5): Malcolm-Peck 2, Seabrook, Spears, Hargis.
Halftime score: Colorado 41, North Dakota 26.
Technical fouls — none.
Attendance — 1,033.
