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The women’s basketball team capped off its nonconference schedule with five straight wins and a championship in the Paradise Classic in Hawaii, where forward Brittany Spears was named most valuable player. The Buffs went into Big 12 play with an 8-4 record.

Despite a loss to nationally ranked Baylor in the conference opener, coach Kathy McConnell-Miller was pleased with her team’s progress.

“It’s exciting to know that one year ago you take away one player and you take away Colorado,” she says. “Right now we have a lot of different players who can step up for us.”

Spears, who scored a career-high 36 points — just two off the team record — in a November loss to Massachusetts, averaged almost 19 points per game in the nonconference season.

Meanwhile, former ���������� standout Lisa Van Goor (EPOBio’86), all-time leading scorer, will be inducted into the South Dakota Sports Hall of Fame on April 4.