Junior Sociology major Brittany Spears (22) pushes down the court against Iowa State's Kelsey Bolte during the CU versus Iowa State basketball game in Coor's Events Center on Jan. 16, 2009. (CU Independent file/Stephanie Davis)
An injured all-star and cold shooting speared any chance the Colorado Buffaloes women’s basketball team had against No. 13 Iowa State.
The Cyclones defeated the Buffaloes 59-41 on Saturday at the Hilton Coliseum in Ames, Iowa.
In the limited amount of time junior forward Brittany Spears played, she put up eight points, one assist and one steal. Spears was limited by a sinus infection and sat out after only 13 minutes in the first half and didn’t play at all in the second half.
Despite her short time on the court, Spears now moves up to the ninth place on CU’s all-time scoring list with 1,509 points. She is the fourth player in team history to have scored 500 points in two separate seasons.
One of Iowa State’s star players was also benched by an illness. Guard Alison Lacey only played a few seconds due to an illness that had kept her sidelined in her previous game as well.
Even without their star, the 23-6-overall and 11-5 in the Big 12 Cyclones kept pressure on Colorado throughout the game.
The Buffaloes shot a dismal 27.3 percent, and an even lower 17.9 percent from 3-point range. Their 41 points scored was a season low.
Although the Buffs got into foul trouble early on and shot 28.6 percent in the first half, they kept a strong battle going against the Cyclones.
Freshman forward Meagan Malcolm-Peck’s second 3-pointer in the first half helped jump-start a 9-3 run by the Buffs. Two layups by Spears (one off a backdoor pass from freshman guard Chucky Jeffery and another off a steal from ISU’s leading scorer Kelsey Bolte) helped cut the lead to 28-24.
With 6:56 remaining in the game, junior guard Kelly Jo Mullaney hit a long shot to narrow the margin back down to six, making the score 47-41. However, the Buffs couldn’t stay with the Cyclones and ISU went on a game-ending 12-0 run.
Colorado ends the regular season with an overall record of 13-16 and 3-13 in Big 12 play, and will be the No. 11 seed in the 2010 Big 12 Championship tournament. CU will play the yet to be decided No. 6 seed at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday at Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City, Mo.
Contact CU Independent Staff Writer Marlee Horn at Marlee.horn@colorado.edu
