BOULDER — Before Saturday night’s 73-68 victory over No. 15 Kansas State, it must have felt like an eternity since Colorado had defeated a ranked opponent.
College players can hardly remember games of last week, never mind those back-to-back wins over Wyoming and Vanderbilt in early December.
“We had a lot of good wins at the beginning of the season . . . then we went away from our game,” CU senior forward Jackie McFarland said. “It feels good to get that confidence back, that swagger.”
McFarland, a native of Derby, Kan., scored 17 of her 19 points in the second half, clinching the victory with an old-fashioned, three-point play with 16.1 seconds remaining when she was fouled on a layup after grabbing an offensive rebound. The free throw made it 72-68.
Colorado (15-11, 4-9 Big 12) won its second straight game after losing six in a row.
An enthusiastic crowd of 3,446 saw Kansas State even the score at 66-66 before CU sophomore guard Bianca Smith buried a 3-pointer from the left corner with one minute remaining after taking a cross-court lob pass from Brittany Spears.
“(Kansas State) just backed off Bianca for a second,” CU coach Kathy McConnell-Miller said.
A freshman forward, Spears hit a crucial 3-pointer with 1:41 remaining. She led all scorers with 20 points.
The Wildcats (18-8, 10-3) rode strong performances from their veteran backcourt of Shalee Lehning (19 points) and Boulder-native Kimberly Dietz (16), who played high school basketball at Monarch.
KANSAS STATE (18-8, 10-3 BIG 12)
Sweat 5-11 3-4 15, Gipson 3-8 0-0 6, Lehning 5-8 9-10 19, Dietz 6-14 0-0 16, Kincaid 0-3 0-0 0, Spani 0-0 0-0 0, Zanotti 2-2 0-0 6, Wheeler 3-4 0-0 6, McCullough 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 24-50 12-14 68.
COLORADO (15-11, 4-9)
Spears 8-16 0-0 20, Putnina 1-3 6-6 8, McFarland 5-10 9-11 19, Smith 6-11 0-0 17, Powers 1-3 0-0 3, Houston 2-4 0-0 6, Skildum 0-2 0-0 0, Dow 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 23-49 15-17 73.
Halftime — Colorado 40-34. 3-point goals — Kansas St. 8-20 (Dietz 4-8, Zanotti 2-2, Sweat 2-7, Kincaid 0-3), Colorado 12-25 (Smith 5-9, Spears 4-8, Houston 2-3, Powers 1-3, Putnina 0-1, Skildum 0-1). Fouled out — Gipson, Sweat. Rebounds — Kansas St. 26 (Lehning 8), Colorado 28 (Putnina 8). Assists — Kansas St. 13 (Lehning 5), Colorado 16 (McFarland 6). Total fouls — Kansas St. 16, Colorado 13. A — 3,446.
Tom Kensler: 303-954-1280 or tkensler@denverpost.com
