Forward Brittany Spears powers the Buffaloes

The junior forward posted 34 points.

By Emily Durfey

Published Feb. 26, 2010

During its 80-79 overtime loss against Colorado on Tuesday night, the Tiger women's basketball team began to rely on 3-pointers in order to spark its offense, as did Colorado.

The Tigers attempted 20 threes; the Buffaloes attempted 29. The Tigers made six of their 20, and Colorado was 14 for 29.

"It's a tough game because there were two teams that truly and desperately wanted to win this game tonight, and both teams played like it," Colorado coach Kathy McConnell-Miller said.

Notably, the large amount of shots attempted came from just a few select players. Senior forward Amanda Hanneman hit 3-of-9 from beyond the arc as junior guard RaeShara Brown, who had a career night scoring 21 points, was 2-for-4 from deep. Senior guard Toy Richbow hit her only attempt of the game.

The Tigers could find no answer for Colorado's junior forward Brittany Spears. Spears, who was 6-for-8 in treys, had 34 total points including the shot that tied the game with 30 seconds remaining and capped Colorado's rally after being down by seven after the first half. Spears also hit 11-of-20 field goals attempted.

"Obviously Spears is a tremendous player, and we had to challenge every single look that she had," coach Cindy Stein said. "It takes away some great play from so many people when we suffer a loss like this."

Coming into Tuesday night's contest, Spears had hit 10 of her last 15 threes. Spears has scored 20 points in 10 games for the Buffaloes. In the Big 12, Spears is ranked fourth in steals and defensive rebounds, fifth in overall scoring and rebounding and sixth in free-throw percentage. Tuesday, Spears became the sixth player in team history to reach 1,400 points and 700 rebounds by pulling down 10 rebounds during the game.

"Brittany has a such a quick release," Stein said. "She's a great athlete, and it's hard to put a guard on her because she's so tall. She can shoot over the top of you. I thought we guarded her well, and we were trying to make everything a challenge for her."

This was especially noteworthy for Spears because she has recently snapped a long shooting slump.

"Spears is capable of playing like she did tonight every night," McConnell-Miller said. "She has refocused right now after taking extra shots and extra time in the gym. She has this team on her back. She's making her free throws, and she's playing with a sense of purpose."

Spears summed up Colorado's mindset going into the game and looking forward toward the upcoming Big 12 Tournament.

"We needed this win tonight," Spears said. "We just needed to stay together and play together."