Kansas 67, No. 19 Colorado 52

Kansas 67, No. 19 Colorado 52

Published Mar. 24, 2013 3:07 a.m. ET

The Kansas Jayhawks still have Colorado's number.

Angel Goodrich and Carolyn Davis each scored 14 points and the 12th-seeded Jayhawks upset their former conference foe and fifth-seeded Buffaloes 67-52 Saturday night on Colorado's home floor.

The number the Jayhawks swear they aren't the least bit concerned with is their seeding.

So, no, they don't feel slighted that the selection committee made them a 12.

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After all, they lost five of their last seven coming into the tournament: ''We lost a lot of games down the stretch,'' Davis said.

When she and Goodrich were asked if they felt snubbed, their coach stepped in and said: ''I'll be honest, we were just excited to have the opportunity to play.

''We were sitting on pins and needles and grateful for the selection committee to give us a chance to play. So, we're just thrilled with the opportunity. And we're not going to get caught up in that.

''It doesn't matter who you play, it doesn't matter where you play - but it does matter how you play.''

The Jayhawks (19-13) proved that, using a 15-0 spurt spanning halftime to take control and advance to face fourth-seeded South Carolina on Monday at the Coors Events Center.

The Buffaloes (25-7) saw their first trip to the NCAA tournament in nine years come to an unexpected end.

All the more maddening, it came against their former foe from the Big 12 that always seemed to have their number.

The Buffs, ranked 19th, were favored, but they missed Rachel Hargis' presence in the post. The junior center sprained her right knee in practice a week ago and didn't play, robbing Colorado of an inside player to counter Kansas' size down low.

They also missed plenty of shots - Arielle Roberson and Chucky Jeffery, their two leading scorers, combined to shoot just 5-for-29 from the floor. Roberson finished with 11 points and Jeffery eight.

''We knew ... if we could take them out, then we had a good chance to win,'' Davis said. ''I think we did a great job executing that and defending them and keeping them off the board and making them take tough shots.''

Chelsea Gardner and Charlicia Harper each scored 12 for the Jayhawks and Monica Engelman added 10 points.

Both teams were coming off a two-week layoff, having last played on March 9, but the Jayhawks shot 45 percent to the Buffaloes' 25 percent, and Colorado made just five of 29 shots after halftime.

''It's tough to win games when you shoot the ball 25 percent and then you don't play defense either,'' Buffs coach Linda Lappe said.

The Buffaloes raced out to a 14-4 lead, and it looked as if they were going to exact some payback for all those losses to Kansas back in their days in the Big 12.

Now a member of the Pac-12, the Buffs talked during the week about how excited they were to host the Jayhawks again even though Kansas beat them by double figures three times in their last year together in the same conference two years ago.

That year, they lost to Kansas 68-58 at home, 81-53 in Lawrence and 71-45 in the conference tournament. They were sure this time would be different, especially with the big crowd on their side.

They were wrong. The Buffaloes saw their big lead wither away quickly as the Jayhawks closed the first half on a 33-13 run to take a 37-27 halftime lead.

This was just the third time all season the Buffs trailed at the half at home.

After making six of their first seven shots, the Buffaloes made just six of their next 35.

Roberson, whose brother, Andre, also lost his first-round NCAA game when the Buffaloes' men's team was bounced by Illinois on Friday night, said ''we don't want to hang our heads too low. ... Looking back the journey we had, it was a great run and it's a lot to build on.''

Colorado trailed 30-27 with two minutes left in the first half and by the time the Buffs scored again, the game was out of hand at 43-28.

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Follow Arnie Melendrez Stapleton on Twitter: http://twitter.com/arniestapleton

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