After Friday evening's thrilling come-from-behind win over Missouri, the OU women's basketball team hoped to use that momentum to upset the 16th-ranked Colorado Buffaloes.

The Sooners were matched up against a much tougher squad than the Missouri team they beat two times before.

In the end, the Buffaloes' talent overwhelmed OU's effort. Colorado won 68-53.

"They have a great basketball team," Sooner Head Coach Burl Plunkett said.

"They have about the same team that they had last year, and we're awfully young."

The Sooners stayed within striking distance most of the first half, with Colorado's largest led coming at the 6:45 mark when the went up 26-14.

OU, however, refused to let the Buffaloes pull away, scoring six unanswered points. When the teams went to the locker room at the half, the Sooners found themselves trailing 35-25.

"We didn't play that well in the first half," Plunkett said.

"But we played hard, and that kept us in the game."

OU started quickly in the second half, scoring six straight points to cut the lead to 35-31, and when Pam Pennon scored with 11 minutes left, the Sooners had climbed within three, 44-41.

The experienced Buffaloes refused to let the Sooners draw any closer, however, out-scoring OU 10-3 over the next three minutes, to extend their lead to 54-44.

OU's offense struggled down the stretch. Despite a solid effort from both Pennon and LaNae Jones, the Sooners fell to 11-8 overall and 3-4 in the conference, losing 68-53.

"They really picked up their defense down the stretch," Plunkett said. "They play a tough man to man, because they're so big and strong, and in the end it looked like we just got worn down."

Pennon ended up with 15 points and 4 assists for the Sooners, while Jones chipped in 14 points and pulled down a game-high 12 rebounds.

Colorado (18-5, 5-2) was led by 6-4 center Raegan Scott's 18 points and 9 rebounds.

Etta Maytubby was the story in OU's win over Missouri Friday night. Maytubby poured in 20 points on seven of 10 shooting from the field.

The Sooners, who trailed by 10 points at the half in that contest as well, out-scored the Tigers 46-22 in the final half to beat Missouri 69-55.

As for the loss to Colorado, Plunkett said it was a good learning experience for his squad.

"We just got beat by a better basketball team today," he said. "But they never quit, and we hope to learn from this and improve after this."

OU will return to action Friday night when the team travels to Aimes, Iowa to battle the Cyclones of Iowa State.