Jackie McFarland walked onto the court with just less than two minutes to play and her team still trailing by one point, glanced up into the frenzied crowd and broke into an appreciative smile.

Goodbye?

Not yet.

McFarland scored 32 points and finally got some help down the stretch during Colorado's dramatic 64-58 comeback victory over Villanova on Thursday night in the third round of the WNIT at the Coors Events Center.

The Buffs -- thanks to a stunning 20-3 run over the final 5:42 -- will host TCU in the quarterfinals at 2 p.m. on Sunday.

"My mind-set was: Find a way, find a way, find a way," McFarland said after setting a program record for made free throws (15) and coming within two points of her career high (34).

Kathy McConnell-Miller is also a positive person but admitted that she was losing faith after looking at the scoreboard as the Wildcats took their largest lead (55-44) on an easy basket by Maria Getty with 6:00 remaining.

"There was a serious concern," CU's third-year head coach said. "Not one that I discussed with the team during any of the timeouts, but I was concerned that there would not be enough time asmethodical as they are with their possessions. ...

"People are going to ask me all night and tomorrow how that happened. The only thing that I can say is Brittany Spears decided to play for three minutes."

With 3:16 remaining, Spears stopped hitting the snooze button and made the most important 3-pointer of her young career to bring the Buffs to within 57-51. That finally gave the crowd of 1,673 something to scream about, and the freshman added another clutch shot from behind the arc and a layup to close the deficit to 57-56 with 2:00 remaining.

"It just hit me that if we lose then we would have to start conditioning tomorrow," Spears quipped after scoring 11 of her 13 points in that final 3:16.

A three-point play by McFarland with 1:33 left gave CU its first lead of the game at 59-58. The Buffs finally solved Villanova's motion offense and went 6-for-7 at the line down the stretch to complete the improbable win.

"We never gave up and stuck together," point guard Whitney Houston said after playing 33 minutes without turning the ball over. CU finished with a program-record three turnovers. "I've never seen a team screen that much and read plays like that."

The Wildcats (17-16) led 35-28 at the intermission after making seven 3-pointers in the first half and shooting 60.9 percent from the field compared to 31.3 percent for the Buffs (18-14).

Stacie Witman made the first three shots of the game, all from behind the arc, to give the visitors an early 9-0 lead before McFarland's first basket dropped through 4:44 into the game.

Back-to-back 3-pointers by Getty and Siobhan O'Connor gave Villanova a 33-22 cushion with moments later. McConnell-Miller called a timeout, and CU only allowed one more field goal down the stretch, a backdoor layup to Witman.

Witman and McFarland had 15 points each at the break.

"It was a very difficult game defensively. Villanova runs numerous sets that they're very smart and very great at reading," McConnell-Miller said. "They know exactly how people have guarded it all year and they make the adjustments."

CU's adjustments to the adjustments included:

Putting Hannah Skildum, perhaps the team's best perimeter defender, on Witman instead of Kara Richards. After making her first five shots, Witman went 3-for-11 from the field.

Having Spears (6-1) guard Getty instead of Houston (5-5). The move clearly bothered the Wildcats' 5-9 point guard in crunch time as Villanova failed to make a shot in the final 6:00.

Switching on screens instead of chasing Villanova's 3-point shooters. CU limited the visitors to only two made shots from behind the arc in the final 24:54 after the Wildcats opened the game by making seven of their first 10 3-point attempts.

"I just had a good feeling about this game and I didn't know what was happening," McFarland said. "Time was just running down and I was like, 'When are we going to step up and play?'

"I was just waiting for us to make a run and hoping it wouldn't come too late."

Colorado 64, Villanova 58

VILLANOVA (58)

min fg-fga ft-fta rb ast pf tp

Kurz 25 3-7 2-2 8 2 3 9

Witman 32 8-16 0-0 6 1 4 20

O'Connor 23 1-2 0-0 5 5 1 3

Getty 34 5-11 3-4 6 1 2 15

Grant 37 3-8 0-0 3 4 1 7

Weiss 15 0-0 0-0 2 0 2 0

Dougherty 7 2-2 0-0 0 0 1 4

Swiezynski 15 0-1 0-0 0 2 3 0

Elliott 12 0-3 0-0 1 0 4 0

Totals: 200 22-50 5-6 33 15 21 58

COLORADO (64)

min fg-fga ft-fta rb ast pf tp

Spears 33 4-13 3-4 7 4 3 13

McFarland 40 8-15 15-16 12 2 3 32

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

Smith 26 1-6 0-0 2 1 0 2

Powers 7 0-0 0-0 0 0 1 0

Houston 33 2-8 2-3 4 1 2 6

Skildum 21 1-6 0-0 2 1 2 2

Putnina 32 3-8 2-2 4 0 1 9

Dow 5 0-0 0-0 1 0 0 0

Totals: 200 19-57 22-25 36 9 12 64

Score by halves:

Villanova 35 23 -- 58

Colorado 28 36 -- 64

3-point field goals -- Villanova (9-25): Witman 4-11, Getty 2-6, Kurz 1-2, O'Connor 1-2, Grant 1-2, Swiezynski 0-1, Elliott 0-1. Colorado (4-17): Spears 2-7, Putnina 1-3, McFarland 1-1, Smith 0-3, Houston 0-2, Skildum 0-1.

Officials --Randy Campbell, Eric Larson, Debbie Adams

Technical fouls -- None.

Attendance -- 1,673

STEALS

Villanova (1):O'Connor

Colorado (2):Spears, Houston

BLOCKED SHOTS

Villanova (2):Kurz, Elliott

Colorado (5):McFarland 2, Spears, Skildum, Putnina

TURNOVERS

Villanova (11):Kurz 5, Witman 2, O'Connor 2, Grant, team.

Colorado (3):Smith, Powers, Skildum