McFarland comes up strong in win over Missouri
The Big 12 women’s basketball championship begins Tuesday. After losing the past two games, Colorado had one last chance to build momentum going into the championship in their final home game against Missouri, Wednesday.
They did just that, kind of.
The Buffs made only 2-of-16 shots from 3-point range and missed 36-of-55 shots. CU head coach Kathy McConnell-Miller said her team’s offense was very poor.
Their struggles were not enough to lose to the last team in the Big 12, the anemic Missouri. Colorado stomped the Tigers 63-47 Wednesday in the Coors Events Center.
Compared to Colorado’s 34.5 percent, the Tigers shot 25.4 percent from the field, and they were only 11-of-20 from the free-throw line.
In the final game of her career in Boulder, it was forward Jackie McFarland who led the Buffs to a victory. The senior earned 25 points and 14 rebounds, and she was a perfect 12-12 from the free-throw line.
Fellow senior Susie Powers said McFarland has played consistently strong all year.
“She has been known all season to strap the team on her back,” Powers said. “We know we can always count on her.”
Throughout the first 30 minutes of the game, the Buffaloes allowed the Tigers to keep pace, and at the 10:15 mark in the second half, the Tigers were only down a bucket, 33-35.
The Buffs closed out the game on a 28-14 run led by McFarland and sophomore guard Whitney Houston, who came off the bench.
“Once Jackie got on a role, then Whitney started to penetrate the zone and find some easy looks,” McConnell-Miller said.
McFarland, 6-11, and Houston, 2-4, were the only two players to shoot at or over 50 percent from the field.
Bianca Smith, who averages 2.4 3-pointers per game, went 0-7 behind the arc. Powers did not produce any points of her own, and starting forward Aija Putnina went 1-6 for only two points.
“There was not any life to the team tonight,” McFarland said. “They did not know how to react to senior night I guess.”
While they struggled in their shooting, the Buffs did click in their rebounding in their final regular season game of the year. Colorado out-rebounded the Tigers 51-37.
“As many shots we missed throughout the game, I would hope to get some rebounds,” McConnell-Miller said.
With the win, the Buffs moved up to the No. 9 seed in the Big 12 going into the conference tournament where they will face the No. 8 seed, Iowa State.
The Buffaloes have lost the prior two meetings with the Cyclones this season.
Contact Staff Writer Brent New at brent.new@colorado.edu.
