Postgame podcast on Courtney Dunn's career night here.

What does a team undergoing growing pains do when down 10 points in a Big 12 game?

For Colorado coach Kathy McConnell-Miller, the answer Tuesday was to turn to even younger players.

Freshman guard Britney Blythe and freshman forward Courtney Dunn came off the bench to help the Buffs snap their three-game losing streak with a 59-41 win over Kansas in the Coors Events Center.

Colorado also overcame the loss of starting sophomore forward Aija Putnina, who broke her finger in the first half and sat out the second half due to having trouble breathing.

Dunn replaced Putnina and scored a career-high nine points to go with five rebounds. Blythe added eight points to go with three rebounds, two assists and no turnovers. Senior Jackie McFarland led CU in scoring with 15 points and freshman Brittany Spears added 14.

As a result of the contributions from the younger players, CU's bench players outscored KU's 27-8. At times, CU had three freshmen, a sophomore and a senior logging valuable minutes in the second half.

"We played a lot of players who haven't played a lot of minutes and got a lot of them some great experience," McConnell-Miller said. "As a coach, you feel good that when their number is called, and you feel like you prepared them. They were as poised as our seniors have looked most of the year."

The Buffs struggled coming out of the gate and fell behind 18-8 with eight minutes left in the first half.

Blythe came in and got a wild, floating shot to fall. But that's all it took.

After making just two of their first 12 shots, the Buffs began to heat up and finished the first half on a 21-4 run for a 29-22 lead at the break.

"I wanted to come in and be a spark, bring some energy," Bythe said. "Jackie told me to come in and be composed and to play your game. That's what I tried to do."

The Buffs began the second half with a 14-4 run to put away the game.

This time, CU didn't let a second-half lead slip away like they did in each of their losses during the losing streak.

But the Buffs never were comfortable with the lead until the game finally came to an end.

"I told them we've been here before," McConnell-Miller said of the second-half huddles during timeouts. "There wasn't a lot of celebrating."

It was the sixth time this year CU has held an opponent under 50 points. The Buffs matched their win total of last year when they went 13-17 as they improved to 13-5 overall and 2-3 in the Big 12.

Kansas (12-6, 1-4) was plagued by 27 turnovers. The Jayhawks were called for 23 fouls, and they shot just 32 percent for the game.

"It's just so frustrating," Kansas coach Bonnie Henrickson said. "Where does that team go that was doing so well in the first half?"

Colorado 59, Kansas 41

KANSAS (41)

min fg-fga ft-fta rb ast pf tp

McIntosh 38 3-5 0-0 5 0 2 6

Boogaard 11 1-3 0-0 1 0 4 2

Catic 35 3-7 0-0 3 1 3 7

McCray 31 4-11 4-4 10 2 3 12

Morris 31 2-8 2-2 5 1 1 6

Jacobs 18 1-6 0-0 2 1 2 2

Kohn 4 0-2 0-0 0 1 0 0

Smith 16 2-7 0-0 3 0 5 6

Weddington 16 0-1 0-0 0 0 3 0

Totals: 200 16-50 6-6 33 6 23 41

COLORADO (59)

min fg-fga ft-fta rb ast pf tp

Spears 37 5-11 3-3 8 1 2 14

Putnina 17 0-1 3-4 3 1 1 3

McFarland 34 3-5 9-14 3 0 3 15

Skildum 11 0-4 0-0 2 2 2 0

Powers 24 0-1 0-0 2 3 1 0

Smith 23 2-8 2-2 2 1 2 8

Houston 4 1-2 0-0 1 0 0 2

Blythe 21 3-6 2-3 3 2 0 8

Dale 1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0

Dunn 25 4-5 1-2 5 1 0 9

Richards 3 0-0 0-0 1 0 0 0

Totals: 200 18-43 20-28 30 11 11 59

Score by halves:

Kansas 22 19 -- 41

Colorado 29 30 -- 59

3-point field goals -- Kansas (3-11): Catic 1-2, McCray 0-4, Kohn 0-1, Smith 2-4; Colorado (3-18): Spears 1-5, Putnina 0-1, Powers 0-1, Smith 2-7, Houston 0-1, Blythe 0-2, Dunn 0-1.

Officials --Yarbrough, Parrish, Murray.

Technical fouls -- None.

Attendance -- 1,018.

STEALS

Kansas (7):McIntosh, Catic 2, McCray, Morris, Jacobs, Weddington.

Colorado (8):Spears 3, McFarland 3, Smith, Dunn.

BLOCKED SHOTS

Kansas (1):Jacobs.

Colorado (5):Spears, McFarland, Skildum, Powers 2.

TURNOVERS

Kansas (27):McIntosh 4, Boogard, Catic 4, McCray 4, Morris 4, Jacobs 3, Smith, Weddington 4.

Colorado (20):Spears 6, Putnina, McFarland 5, Powers 3, Smith 3, Dunn, Richards.