Jackie McFarland deserved an encore.

Colorado's first-team All-Big 12 star scored 25 points and grabbed 14 rebounds to lead the Buffs to a 63-47 victory over Missouri on March 5. Afterwards, the senior delivered a farewell speech to the 2,078 fans who showed up for what was scheduled to be the final home game of McFarland's magnificent career.

McFarland and the Buffs, thanks to an WNIT bid, will get at least one more chance to play at the Coors Events Center. CU will host the winner of Thursday's Gonzaga vs. UC Davis game in the second round of the tournament Monday at 7 p.m.

"It's nice to get those extra games, especially when you think you're done playinghere," McFarland said before Tuesday's practice. "It really doesn't really sink in that you're done playing until two weeks later when you're like, 'Wow, we're never going to play here again.'

"But now we are."

This will be the first postseason appearance of McFarland's career. Despite averaging 17.9 points, 8.0 rebounds and getting the Buffs back into the top 25 earlier in the season, the 6-foot-3 forward never got to experience the NCAA Tournament.

But after reflecting on her career and what could have been, McFarland says this is a pretty good consolation prize. And a new beginning for the 2007-08 Buffs.

"I think it's a different feeling right now for us," McFarland said. "Conference is just a grind. I think for this tournament we're excited to face different teams and more than anything focus on having fun."

Eight teams from the Big 12 received invitations to the NCAA Tournament and three others (CU, Texas Tech and Kansas) are in the WNIT field. The Buffs lost 12 of their final 16 games after opening the season with a 12-2 mark and a No. 23 national ranking.

"A lot of people weren't ready for the length and the toughness of the Big 12 season," McFarland said. "Obviously, this year I think the Big 12 is the toughest conference in the nation. We had eight teams go into the NCAA Tournament out of the 12 and 11 of the 12 teams are in postseason play. So it's just matter of having fun right now."

CU head coach Kathy McConnell-Miller wants to use this tournament to get her younger players some postseason experience so they will be ready to finish strong and get into the Big Dance a year from now.

"There's a maturity factor in knowing how to win and valuing every single game," McFarland said. "When you look and see that the top eight teams got in and we were number nine ... you just think, 'If we just won two more games.' "

For now, the program's best player will settle for playing at least one more.