WACO, Texas-The University of Colorado women's basketball team fell to No. 15/17 Baylor 76-42 Saturday evening at the Farrell Center.
Senior Courtney Dunn continues to be a crucial part of the Buffs' offense during league play. She recorded nine points while teammates Brittany Spears and Chucky Jeffery contributed nine and eight points respectively.
Baylor freshmen center Brittney Griner was unstoppable for the Buffs as she finished with an impressive 24 points, 10 rebounds and 11 blocks for the Bears.
"She really changed the complexion of everything tonight, particularly what we were trying to do," said CU head coach Kathy McConnell-Miller. "I just feel like our players were tentative and went away from her quite a bit as opposed to taking it and sticking with what we do. They continued to shy away whether it was fear of getting their shot blocked or not able to have success."
FROM THE BEGINNING
Colorado hit four of its first seven shots including 3-pointers from Brittany Spears and Alyssa Fressle as the Buffaloes led 10-9 with 14 minutes, 57 seconds to go in the first half.
That trend quickly changed.
The Bears mauled the Buffs with a 12-0 run putting them up 23-10 with 8:32 left. Freshmen Meagan Malcolm-Peck put up a much needed 3-pointer to break the Baylor run and Jeffery added a runner in the lane to cut the lead to eight at 23-15 at the 6:52 mark.
But CU failed to score after that as Baylor closed the period on a 10-0 run and led 33-15 at the half.
The Buffaloes lineup was young in the first half, consisting of three freshmen including 6-foot, 7-inch Melissa MacFarlane to hopefully match up with the 6-8 Griner. MacFarlane played a career-high 12 minutes and recorded two rebounds.
"I thought she [MacFarlane] played a great game tonight," said McConnell-Miller. "She gave us good minutes, and got a little more confidence in her."
THE SECOND HALF FIGHT
The Bears continued to dominate the in every category during the second half, however, CU wasn't going down without a fight.
Colorado improved their 3-point shooting percentage to .400 in the second half shooting 4-of-10 from behind the arc. Aside from being a point contributor for CU, Jeffery tallied five assists and five steals.
Kelly Jo Mullaney stepped off the bench and recorded eight points in the second half, but the Bears' offense defeated the Buffaloes.
Morghan Medlock put up 13 points and pulled down nine rebounds for the Bears.
CU falls to 12-9 overall and 2-6 during Big 12 Conference competition while the Bears are 12-5, 4-4 in Big 12 play.
Catch the Buffs back in action at home on Wednesday, February 9 against No. 23 Texas.
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