California Women's Basketball @ Colorado NIT Gamethread

Time: 6:00 PM PT/9:00 PM ET
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Radio: KKGN 960 AM
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The women will have to avenge the men tonight in Boulder as their NIT road journey continues.  The female version of the Buffaloes have had a significantly more disappointing year than their male counterparts, finishing just 6-10 in their last year in the Big 12 with a first round exit from the Big 12 conference tournament.  They did rebound to sneak past a decent UC Riverside team, and they will be playing at home, so Cal can't get by with a sub-par performance.  Cal and Colorado have both faced off against Texas Tech, Texas A&M, USC and Illinois.  Colorado went a combined 0-4 with an average margin of defeat of around 18 points, while the Bears managed to beat Illinois on the road and USC at home.

Colorado is lead by 6'1'' senior forward Brittany Spears, who is a dangerous inside/outside threat.  She leads the team in rebounding and blocks . . . and also made 3 pointers.  My guess is that DeNesha Stallworth will draw the defensive assignment, and if so she'll have to be dedicated to following Spears everywhere on the court, because she averages seven 3 point attempts a game.  That's some defense stretching range for a forward.

Beyond Spears, Sophomore point guard Chucky Jeffery is the other major threat on offense.  She averages more than 4 assists per game in addition to 14 points per game.  After Spears and Jeffery Colorado has a collection of 7 rotation players that play similar minutes and have a similar impact on the score sheet, so every defender will have to be alert.  Colorado is arguably more turnover prone than Cal, so there's incentive to pressure every player on the floor.  Go Bears!