Buffs Surge Early, Cruise Past Cornhuskers

BOULDER - After losing by almost 30 points in its previous game, Colorado needed a bounce-back performance in the worst way. The Buffaloes got it in perhaps the best way possible - a 25-point victory against a Big 12 Conference opponent that has been dominant recently in the series.

CU stunned Nebraska with a decisive early run, quashed the Cornhuskers' attempt at a second-half rally and cruised to a 70-45 win on Sunday at the Coors Events Center. Snapping a three-game skid this season and a three-game losing streak to the Huskers, the Buffs rebounded impressively from an 81-53 loss at Kansas on Wednesday.

"I thought we played an outstanding game," CU Coach Linda Lappe said. "I really saw an outstanding performance by our team. We came out and kind of had a slow start but changed out mindset after the first three minutes, for the rest of the game. Nebraska had a nice little run there and we responded very nicely. It was an all around team win."

The Buffs improved to 12-10 overall and 3-6 in the Big 12, with their three wins matching last season's conference total.  The Huskers (12-10, 2-6) have lost four of their last five and now trail the Buffs 40-28 in the final season of the series.

CU heads for the Pac-12 Conference next season, Nebraska for the Big Ten. The Buffs visit Lincoln, Neb., for the final time on Wednesday, March 2.

Senior Brittany Spears led CU with 26 points. Lappe said Spears, who reached double figures for the 100th time in her career, "played a very complete game. Offensively she hit her three's and had some nice drives and she hit a couple of pull-up jumpers. She scored in a lot of different ways and she helped move the ball . . . she wasn't forcing any of her shots and for her that is absolutely tremendous. On defense she did a great job on [Jordan] Hooper. She got some nice key rebounds for us, especially during their run. She played an all around complete game."

Said Spears: "I just wanted to win. To just come out aggressive and win, that's all I wanted to do."

CU sophomore Chucky Jeffery - returning to the lineup after sitting out the KU loss for academic reasons - barely missed her second triple-double of the season. Jeffery finished with nine points, nine assists and 10 rebounds before leaving the game in the final 2 minutes.

Coming so close to the triple-double "felt kind of good," Jeffery said. "I knew I had a lot of assists because I was dishing it a lot, and every time I was passing to Brittany she was hitting. I was trying to count but I couldn't. It was good though."

Nebraska coach Connie Yori lauded CU for being a "good three-point shooting team - and they definitely had it going today. Spears had it going. They were able to execute when they wanted to, and we didn't guard very well."

CU finished with an impressive 49.1 shooting percentage (27-for-55) while holding Nebraska to 28.8 percent (17-for-59). The Buffs hit almost half (10) of their 21 three-point attempts, including seven in the first half. The Cornhuskers, meanwhile, never got into their offensive flow and hit only nine of 30 first-half field goal attempts.

The Huskers jumped to a 4-0 lead, but the Buffs responded quickly - and impressively. CU took control with a 24-2 run that produced an 18-point lead (24-6). Shooting 53 percent from the field, the Buffs led by 20 points on three occasions in the first 20 minutes and rolled to a 39-24 lead by intermission, with their first-half total the program's largest in three seasons.

Lappe credited her team's hot shooing to "not keeping the ball in one person's hands very long. They were making the defense shift. We were reading their switches very, very well. We were moving to the open spots coming off of screens. Quite frankly we were knocking down shots in the first half. We were taking wide open shots, shots that we practice all the time. Whenever you do that, you can expect a good shooting night."

The Buffs had 18 assists on their 27 baskets and outrebounded the Cornhuskers 45-27. Eight of the Buffs' boards were courtesy of freshman Rachel Hargis, who also contributed six points. Both totals were career highs.

Of her team's 18 assists, Lappe said, "Any time you can have that many assists, it means the ball is moving, and everyone is touching it." Added Jeffery: "Everything begins on defense but on offense we got the ball moving, everybody got touches, and we were reversing the ball. When you reverse the ball it's hard to guard when the ball keeps getting reversed because the defense has to shift. So everybody was getting touches and I thought our offense was really good."

Senior Britney Blythe canned three three-pointers in the opening half, including back-to-back treys that helped CU open its first 20-point lead (30-10). Blythe said her treys weren't taken specifically to nudge Nebraska out of its zone defense: "It wasn't an objective but I think we just hit open shots. We weren't hesitant at all so once we started hitting it was just going in.

Nebraska, which had beaten CU in 10 of their past 11 meetings, opened the second half with a 9-4 run and pulled to within 10 points twice in the first 9 minutes. Each time, the Buffs responded. After Nebraska had closed to 51-41 on a pair of free throws by Jordan Hooper with 11:25 to play, CU answered with 11 consecutive points - five of them by Spears - and surged ahead 62-41 with 6:14 remaining.

Trailing by 21, the Huskers were done. Just over 4 minutes later, the Buffs took their largest lead of the game - 70-45 - on a three-point play by Spears and closed out the afternoon with a 19-4 run.

The Buffs take a five-day break before playing again. They open a Saturday men's-women's doubleheader at the Events Center against Texas Tech (4 p.m.), followed by the CU men facing Kansas State (7 p.m.).

Lappe said the respite comes at a "great time . . . I wouldn't want it any other way. We give them a couple of days off and then ramp it up again. We want to finish February strong and head into March. This is a key time to get rested."