Texas A&M star Danielle Adams didn't score in the first 10 minutes Saturday night against Colorado.
The seventh-ranked Aggies were still able to build a 15-point lead thanks to a smothering defense and contributions from her teammates.
Adams got going after that and finished with 18 points and 10 rebounds and Tyra White scored 16 points to help Texas A&M roll to an 85-57 victory over Colorado in the Big 12 opener for both teams.
Texas A&M (13-1) won its seventh straight overall and eighth in a row against Colorado (9-5).
''That says a lot about the balance of this team,'' coach Gary Blair said of the Aggies strong play with Adams struggling early. ''She didn't play all that well. She missed a couple of her early outside shots that have been going in. In the second half she said: 'Let's go down low and take care of business,' and that's what she did. She did her thing.''
Adams was happy to see the team playing well despite her struggles.
''It's always good that my teammates pick up anything I'm not doing,'' she said.
Texas A&M built a big first-half lead and was up by 28 at halftime. The Buffaloes used a 14-6 run to start the second half and pull to 51-31, but the Aggies answered with a 14-7 spurt to make it 65-38 with about 10 minutes left.
Brittany Spears scored 21 points to lead Colorado.
The victory was A&M's 10th this season by at least 25 points and the 11th time the team has scored at least 70.
Skylar Collins added a career-high 11 points in just 10 minutes for the Aggies and Sydney Colson had nine points and seven assists.
The Aggies scored 21 points off Colorado's 17 first-half turnovers and led 45-17 at halftime. The Buffaloes had 10 turnovers the rest of the way, playing much cleaner in the second half and matching Texas A&M's second-half scoring with 40 points, but couldn't overcome the first-half deficit.
Blair said he thinks their defense left Colorado stunned early and Buffaloes' coach Linda Lappe said that was the key to the game.
''When you watch film on Texas A&M it's like watching film in fast forward,'' she said. ''They do a great job of just all out denying and pressuring one through five. They start everything with their defense and we knew that and we didn't handle it very well.''
Texas A&M was up by one point early in the first half before using a 10-0 spurt fueled by four points each by White and Adaora Elonu to make it 16-5 with about 13 minutes left in the period.
The Aggies extended their lead to 23-8 midway through the half despite Adams, who entered the game leading the Big 12 in scoring with 22.6 points a game, being held scoreless. Adams finally got on the board with a pair of free throws shortly thereafter.
''When they're going to take Danielle away or Danielle is not playing well Tyra's going to step up or Adaora's going to step up or our defense steps up,'' Blair said. ''Our defense keeps giving us opportunities.''
Texas A&M led 27-12 with about 7 minutes remaining in the first half before using a 12-0 run to extend the lead to 39-12 about 3 minutes later. Adams' only field goal of the first half came in that span and she also hit a pair of free throws to finish the first half with six points.
Brittany Wilson had 12 points for Colorado and Meagan Malcolm-Peck and Chucky Jeffery scored 10 apiece.
The Aggies dominated in the paint, outscoring Colorado 42-20 inside.
Spears believes the way the Buffaloes bounced back in the second half after their tough start will help them later this season.
''We know this is the best team, we think, in the Big 12,'' she said. ''So we know we will use this to get better from here.''
