Big scoring run gives Buffs win

CU women’s basketball team defeats Kansas State Wildcats, 66-55.

The CU women’s basketball team went on a 23-0 run in the second half to defeat the Kansas State Wildcats on Wednesday night, 66-55.

As the Buffs went on a 23-0 run in 10 minutes and 24 seconds, the Wildcats were 0 of 12 from the field and committed six turnovers.

In the first half, the Wildcats were magnificent, shooting 41.2 percent from the field and making seven of 18 three-pointers. But in the second half, Kansas State scored only 16 points and made 22.2 percent of their shots.

The Buffs played like two different teams on Wednesday night. After trailing by 15 points at halftime, CU was able to outscore the Kansas State by 26 points in the second half(cq) to pull out the win. The Buffs shot 62.5 percent from the field in the second half and made four of six three pointers(cq) to help put away the Wildcats.

“As far as the game tonight for us, for both parties, it was a tale of two halves,” said head coach Kathy McConnell-Miller.

The Buffs snapped a season-high five-game losing streak in beating the Wildcats and improved their conference record to 3-5.

Freshman Whitney Houston scored a career-high 17 points and boosted the Buffs’ offensive energy. Junior Jackie McFarland added 19 points to lead the team in scoring.

“It don’t even really matter about the career high, I was just trying to get my team, get the energy and hype up,” Houston said.

Kansas State’s Claire Coggins was draining shots from everywhere in the first half to help give the Wildcats a big lead. She scored 13 points in the first half, but the Buffs managed to hold her to six points in the second half to help seal a victory.

“I was pretty surprised at the way we came out, but I do credit Kansas State,” McConnell-Miller said.

The Buffs also managed to lock down on turnovers in the second half. While the team committed 12 turnovers in the first half, the girls only had five giveaways in the second. Kansas State had 7 turnovers in the first half, but the Wildcats finished the game with 19 turnovers.

“After the first half it just couldn’t get worse, so pretty much anywhere we could go was up,” said senior Jasmina Ilic.

After the big win on Wednesday night, the team will need to carry some momentum through this week, playing Texas Tech on Feb. 3. The team’s overall record improves to 9-11 on the season.