Two numbers that will stick with Bianca Smith for a long time: 255 and 34.
The first is her record-setting number of 3-pointers, and the latter is the amount of points the Colorado women’s basketball team lost by in the same game.
The senior guard surpassed Shelly Sheetz’s record of 252 treys to become CU’s all-time leader. Smith broke the record in the first half, and put up two more in the second to tie her single-season record of 80.
However, the achievement wasn’t accompanied by a win. Twenty-two turnovers and 39.6 percent shooting from the field lead to a 95-61 loss to No. 12 Texas A&M Saturday at the Coors Events Center.
With this loss, Colorado has lost 21 straight to ranked opponents. The Buffs’ record falls to 13-14 overall and 3-11 in Big 12.
CU head coach Kathy McConnell-Miller knows just how much of a battle it is in their conference, and the Aggies brought their fighting spirit to get the win.
“They bang and they battle on every possession,” McConnell-Miller said.
She also described how A&M’s shooting efficiency, 63.6 percent overall from the field, helped them in aspects all over the court.
“We got beat by a very good team today,” McConnell-Miller said. “We got beat on the offensive end. We got beat on the defensive end. They came out. They were efficient. They hit shots.”
The Buffaloes came out with a good start behind one of Smith’s four 3-pointers. They kept the lead until the 13:33 mark, when junior forward/center Danielle Adams came in and made her presence known. Her layup and two free throws helped raise the Aggies’ lead to 16-11.
The closest the Buffs would ever narrow the margin to in the first half was five and another such occasion came with Smith laying it in from the left to end a 10-2 A&M run.
However, too many turnovers, including four in four minutes by sophomore guard Alyssa Fressle, pushed the Buffs behind beyond recovery.
CU never battled back, and the Aggies went on a 20-5 run in the last five minutes of the half to seal their lead at 45-25.
The second half didn’t start nearly as well as the first did for the Buffaloes. Frustration visibly set in, and the Aggies put on the pressure and agitated their game.
A&M outscored CU 50-36 in the second half, and poor shooting pushed the score back even further. The Aggies took advantage of the Buffs’ 23 total turnovers, scoring 30 points off of turnovers.
Coach McConnell-Miller said that a lack of interior presence and the devastating A&M trio of Damitria Buchanan, Adaora Elonu and Danielle Adams only missing three shots between them was too much for the Buffs to handle.
“We need an interior presence,” McConnell-Miller said. “It is something that when we had it, we didn’t have strong, experienced guards to be able to balance that. Now we’ve got strong, balanced guards that can score, can shoot, and we don’t have an interior presence.”
A&M head coach Gary Blair said in his own post-game press conference how happy he was for Smith, a player who had previously attended his camps, and described how it takes time to build players like her in this conference.
“She wasn’t a Big 12 player when she first got [to Colorado],” Blair said. “The coaching staff has turned her into a Big 12 player. She’s one of the best catch and shoot players in the league.”
Blair added that in the Big 12, it takes time to build a program, and said that he has faith that McConnell-Miller will do just that.
McConnell-Miller said she hopes to further build her program by instilling Smith’s winning attitude in the other players.
“Bianca believes that every shot she takes is going in,” McConnell-Miller said. “She’s surprised when they don’t go in. That’s the mentality they had the other night at Missouri and that’s the mentality they need to have night in and night out. And that just comes from experience, and believing you can do it.”
The coach said that while she isn’t happy about this season’s wins to losses, the team will keep on fighting as they face Kansas State and Iowa State next week.
“Nobody’s happy with the wins and losses, first and foremost myself,” McConnell-Miller said. “But I do think there’s a strong foundation. I think the players continue to get better. We continue to battle.”
Contact CU Independent Staff Writer Marlee Horn at Marlee.horn@colorado.edu.
