BOULDER, Colo.—Aija Putnina scored a career-high 20 points, and Jackie McFarland had 16 points and nine rebounds to lead No. 25 Colorado to a 91-64 victory Sunday over Jacksonville State.
Putnina was 4-for-4 from behind the arc and 8-of-9 from the field. Colorado (10-2) led by as many as 30 in the second half.
Jacksonville State (5-8) had an early six-point lead to open the game before Colorado took over for its ninth straight win.
“I thought Jacksonville State was strong in taking it to us,” Colorado coach Kathy McConnell-Miller said. “We talked about two things: no second-chance opportunities for them and stopping penetration, and that’s exactly what they did to us in the first four minutes of the game.
“We came out and really took that away from them in the first four minutes of the second half. I think was the turning point as far as us not looking back.”
Cassi Stuart led the Gamecocks with 15 points, but they were hampered by 30 percent shooting from the field, a season low.
The Gamecocks played without their second-leading scorer Eren McMichael, who was injured in their previous game against Alabama.
It was the second time Jacksonville State played a ranked team since joining Division I in the 1995-96 season.
Susie Powers had a career-high nine rebounds and tied a career-high 12 points for Colorado, and Bianca Smith had 10 points off the bench.
Colorado finished the month undefeated and is now off to its best start since the 2003-04 season, when the Buffaloes last appeared in the NCAA tournament.
“There is just a real strong bond with this team right now, different than I’ve seen since we’ve been here. It’s exciting,” McConnell-Miller said.
“It’s all a result of chemistry,” Powers said. “We understand each other, we can read each other really well. We know what each other is thinking. Playing with Jackie for three years now, I’ll know what she is going to do before she even does it.”
