BOULDER — Frankly, there isn’t much difference between a No. 11 or No. 12 seed in the Big 12 Conference tournament. But toward the end of a difficult regular season, the Colorado women’s basketball team was hoping to at least gain some satisfaction from the smallest of victories. Moving out of the cellar, perhaps. Anything.
It wasn’t to be. Colorado (11-15, 3-11 Big 12) fell into sole possession of last place in the league standings Saturday with a 66-55 home loss to Missouri — an undersized Tigers squad (13-14, 4-10) that Colorado had defeated by five points in Columbia, Mo., on Jan. 24.
CU coach Kathy McConnell- Miller can’t even count on baby steps anymore. The building process took a 40-minute break.
“This is a very disappointing game,” McConnell-Miller said. “I thought (in recent games) we had gone in the right direction, and you just want to maintain that. We didn’t today. That’s what’s most troublesome. We started flat and we finished flat.”
Down 13-2 before some of the Coors Events Center crowd of 2,931 had settled into their seats, Colorado never led.
The Buffs did wake up long enough to pull to within 47-44 with 10:14 remaining on a driving layup along the baseline by sophomore guard Brittany Spears. But CU promptly committed turnovers on its next four possessions. Missouri turned those into six points and was never threatened again.
Colorado got 26 points from Spears, tying her career best for a conference game. But three other starters — Alyssa Fressle, Kelly Jo Mullaney and Bianca Smith — combined for just 10 points. “You can’t win a Big 12 game doing that,” McConnell-Miller said.
Not to mention that Colorado committed 23 turnovers and was outrebounded 35-31.
Starting nobody taller than 6-2, Missouri surrounded Colorado’s 6-4 senior Kara Richards every time she got the ball in the paint. CU had anticipated that, but Buffs failed to execute skip passes around the defense, McConnell-Miller said.
Despite the double-teaming, Richards did her part with 12 points and 10 rebounds for her fifth career double-double.
MISSOURI (13-14, 4-10 BIG 12)
Johnson 8-12 1-4 19, Jones 5-8 0-0 12, Mills 0-5 1-2 1, Hollins 6-18 0-0 14, Brown 7-9 0-0 14, Gee 0-0 0-0 0, Richbow 0-0 2-4 2, Scott 0-1 0-0 0, Flores 2-4 0-0 4. Totals 28-57 6-14 66.
COLORADO (11-15, 3-11)
Spears 10-22 3-6 26, Richards 4-6 4-4 12, Fressle 0-5 0-0 0, Smith 1-5 0-0 3, Mullaney 3-8 0-0 7, Skildum 0-1 0-0 0, Dale 1-1 0-0 2, Dunn 2-3 0-0 5. Totals 21-51 7-10 55.
Halftime — Missouri 33-29. 3-point goals — Missouri 4-13 (Johnson 2-3, Hollins 2-8, Mills 0-2), Colorado 6-19 (Spears 3-8, Dunn 1-2, Mullaney 1-3, Smith 1-4, Fressle 0-1, Skildum 0-1). Fouled out — None. Rebounds — Missouri 35 (Brown 8), Colorado 31 (Richards 10). Assists — Missouri 10 (Mills 5), Colorado 10 (Fressle 5). Total fouls — Missouri 13, Colorado 13. A — 2,931.
Tom Kensler: 303-954-1280 or tkensler@denverpost.com
