The Colorado women's basketball team has advanced to the Final Four.

No, it's not an early April fools joke. Believe it or not, Kathy McConnell-Miller's team has actually brought some March Madness to Boulder.

The Buffs' remarkable run in the WNIT continued with a 96-90 overtime victory over TCU in the quarterfinals on Sunday at the Coors Events Center.

CU will play an April game for the first time in program history at 7 p.m. Wednesday night against Marquette at the Coors Events Center. North Carolina State will face Michigan State in the other WNIT semifinal with the winners meeting on Saturday for the championship.

"I can't stop smiling," said Jackie McFarland, who has scored 83 points and grabbed 29 rebounds in three home victories since the rest of the student body abandoned campus for spring break. "I feel there's a lot of pressure taken off because you just go as far as you can. At the same time, it's winding down."

The Buffs (19-14) have been at their best in this tournament when facing some serious adversity on the scoreboard. They allowed Villanova to score the first nine points and overcame an 11-point deficit with a 20-3 runover the final 6:00 of Thursday's 68-64 victory.

This time the Horned Frogs led 8-0 barely two minutes after the opening tip and 20-4 with 12:38 remaining in the first half before CU adjusted.

"It didn't look good at that point," McFarland said of the 16-point deficit. "But after the Villanova game, that gave us all the confidence we needed at that point. Our defense was not really hooked up and ready to go at the start."

Brittany Spears scored 11 of her 13 points in the final 3:16 to lead the comeback against the Wildcats. The heroes this time were Aija Putnina (career-high 22 points with 10 rebounds and four blocks in 41 minutes) and Whitney Houston (13 key points and just one turnover in 27 minutes).

"That was an amazing game," said Putnina, who came off the bench for the third consecutive game and finished 4-for-7 from behind the arc. "I had open shots and knocked them down."

Putnina hit a 3-pointer with 4:32 left to give CU its first lead at 69-68. TCU regained a one-point edge and appeared to have earned a key defensive stop when Houston banked in a 3-pointer from about 24 feet as the shot clock expired to give the Buffs a 74-72 lead.

"I thought the shot clock was reset," said Houston, who often works on long, buzzer-beater shots after practice. "I looked up and saw three seconds, so I just shot it."

A basket by TCU senior standout Adrianne Ross, who led the visitors with 26 points, tied the score in the final minute. Houston ran the shot clock down again and made a clutch jumper in the paint to give CU a 76-74 lead with 4.8 seconds on the clock.

But just as the Buffs were about to celebrate, an alert Moneka Knight grabbed a missed shot out of the air and forced overtime with a brilliant basket as time expired in regulation. The officials quickly, and bravely, ruled the shot good, and because there was not a television monitor available the play was not reviewed.

Members of CU's staff watched the play frame by frame after the game and still couldn't tell if Knight released the ball before the red light went on.

"That was a pretty proud moment when they responded," McConnell-Miller said of her players. "They didn't get deflated. ... I'm excited and proud that they came back in the overtime."

The Horned Frogs (23-12), who switched to a zone defense after McFarland kept the Buffs in the game by scoring layups and drawing fouls, allowed Bianca Smith to open OT with a 3-pointer.

CU never trailed in the extra session. McFarland finished with 30 points and gave her team its largest lead of the game (88-79) with two of her 13 free throws.

"Wow," McConnell-Miller said. "I didn't think we could top Thursday night's game, but I would say this one ranks right up there as far as an exciting comeback. Everyone knows how important postseason is and everyone knows how your performance carries over into the future."

Colorado 96, TCU 90

TCU (90)

min fg-fga ft-fta rb ast pf tp

Rayford 42 7-18 2-4 9 1 4 17

Lohse 19 5-6 0-0 2 1 3 10

Sverrisdottir 30 2-7 0-0 10 2 3 4

Knight 25 5-9 2-5 6 2 5 14

Ross 42 9-18 6-6 8 4 3 26

Roden 31 6-14 0-0 5 2 3 13

Carter 8 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 0

Nunn 16 0-3 2-2 3 2 3 2

Garoutte 7 2-4 0-0 1 0 3 4

Younger 5 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 0

Totals: 200 36-81 12-17 49 14 27 90

COLORADO (96)

min fg-fga ft-fta rb ast pf tp

Spears 37 6-17 2-3 8 4 4 15

McFarland 45 8-12 13-14 8 4 2 30

Richards 4 0-0 0-0 1 0 1 0

Smith 35 2-9 3-4 2 3 0 9

Powers 18 1-1 2-2 1 1 1 5

Houston 27 5-9 2-2 0 1 3 13

Skildum 18 1-3 0-0 2 2 1 2

Putnina 41 6-10 6-8 10 1 2 22

Totals: 200 29-61 28-33 34 16 14 96

Score by halves:

TCU 44 32 14 -- 90

Colorado 38 38 20 -- 96

3-point field goals -- TCU (6-23): Rayford 1-7, Sverrisdottir 0-4, Knight 2-3, Ross 2-4, Roden 1-4, Carter 0-1. CU (10-26): Spears 1-9, McFarland 1-1, Smith 2-6, Powers 1-1, Houston 1-2, Putnina 4-7.

Officials --Campbell, Pantoja, Larson.

Technical fouls -- None.

Attendance -- 2,767.

STEALS

TCU (6):Lohse, Sverrisdottir, Ross 3, Nunn.

CU (4):Spears 2, Smith, Putnina.

BLOCKED SHOTS

TCU (1):Nunn.

CU (8):Spears 2, Skildum 2, Putnina 4.

TURNOVERS

TCU (14):Rayford 2, Lohse, Sverrisdottir 2, Knight 2, Ross 3, Roden, Nunn, Younger.

CU(14):Spears, McFarland 4, Richards, Smith 3, Powers 3, Houston, Skildum.