Colorado Hands Arkansas State Loss 80-69

Future CU women's basketball opponents must be wary of a versatile Buffalo offense with a variety of scoring threats.  And when that offense fires on all cylinders as is it did tonight, outscoring Arkansas State 80-69, Colorado will be a handful for any opposition.

"We are very balanced, it's one of the strongest parts of our game," said Coach Linda Lappe.

Four Buffs scored in double figures tonight led by a career high 16 points for guard Haley Smith and another 16 for forward Jamee Swan.  This game marked the end of their WNIT with another hotly contested match-up.

"All of our players understood the shot that we wanted to take, and they did a nice job of putting each other in positions to be able to hit shots," said Lappe.

CU was able to break away with a mix of inside and outside scoring.  Forwards Jen Reese and Zoe Beard-Fails added 12 and nine points, respectively, and guards Lexy Kresl and Lauren Huggins contributed 10 and nine, respectively.

Arkansas State was led by a commanding performance from their star Aundrea Gamble who had a 30-point game.  The Buffs were able to slow Gamble down near the end of the game, and force her into more difficult shots.

Colorado went 2-1 in the Preseason WNIT with wins against North Dakota and Arkansas State and an overtime loss to Western Kentucky.  The tournament pitted difficult completion against CU to start the season.

"I know this has been really great for us, not to start off slow, and jumping in and seeing where we're at and seeing what we need to work on," said Smith about the tough competition to start the season.

CU's next opponent will be at Denver on Tuesday.