Columbia University Athletics

COACHING HONORS & AWARDS
• Winningest Coach in Columbia Women's Basketball History (146-91)
• Three-time Ivy League Coach of the Year (2022-23, 2023-24, 2024-25)
• Three-time Asian Coaches Association Women's Div. I Basketball Coach of the Year (2021-22, 2023-24, 2024-25)
• Two-time Maggie Dixon Met Coach of the Year (2022-23, 2024-25)
• 2024-25 WBCA NCAA Division I Coach of the Year Finalist

COACHING FILE
• 2024 and 2025 NCAA Tournament Selections (at-large)
• First NCAA Div. I Tournament win in program history (2025)
• First NCAA Div. I Tournament appearance in program history (2024)
• 2023 WNIT Runner-Up
• First WNIT Championship Game appearance in Ivy League history
• 2022 WNIT Great Eight
• 2022, 2024 and 2025 Ivy League Tournament Championship Game
• Three-time Ivy League Regular Season Champions (2022-23, 2023-24, 2024-25)
• Overall Record: 146-91 (.616), 67-45 (.598) Ivy League
• Overall Record - Last 4 Years: 100-27 (.787)
• Ivy League Record - Last 4 Years: 50-6 (.893)

The all-time winningest coach in the history of Columbia women's basketball, Megan Griffith '07CC enters her 10th year as head coach in 2025-26. She was named to her position in March of 2016.

Among the many accomplishments and program-firsts that have come under Griffith's watch, the most memorable moment to date came on March 20, 2025. After earning their second straight at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament, Griffith's Lions returned to the First Four to take on Washington in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Columbia trailed by 13 at halftime but staged a comeback that will live on for decades. Led by a game-high 24 points from Riley Weiss, including 14 in the fourth quarter, as well as 11 points, seven rebounds, seven assists and four steals from senior captain Kitty Henderson, Columbia defeated the Huskies, 63-60, for the program's first victory at the Big Dance. The 11th-seeded Lions advanced into the First Round for the first time before eventually seeing another remarkable season come to a close with a 24-7 overall record.

The 2024-25 season saw Columbia win its third straight Ivy League Regular Season Championship. This time, it was the program's first outright title, as the Lions went 13-1 in league play and swept the season series against Princeton for the first time since 2008. Kitty Henderson was named the Ivy League Defensive Player of the Year and was a unanimous First Team All-Ivy League selection. Riley Weiss joined her on the First Team and Cecelia Collins was Second Team. Griffith and her staff earned the Ivy League's Coaching Staff of the Year Award, marking the third straight season Columbia has taken home the league's Coach of the Year honors. Griffith would also be named one of 14 finalists nationally for the WBCA NCAA Division I Coach of the Year Award, as well as a finalist for the Kathy Delaney-Smith Mid-Major Coach of the Year Award. She took home her second Maggie Dixon Met Coach of the Year Award and third Asian Coaches Association Women's Division I Coach of the Year Award.

Graduating seniors Kitty Henderson and Cecelia Collins left a lasting legacy in Morningside Heights. Henderson, a four-year member of the program, graduated as the all-time winningest player in program history with a career record of 100-27 (.787). Her 100th win came against Washington in the NCAA Tournamnet. She is the only player in Ivy League history to amass at least 1,300 career points, 700 rebounds, 450 assists and 150 steals. She graduated as the program's all-time assists leader (454), while also ranking second in steals (194), fourth in scoring (1,350) and sixth in rebounds (703). Her 150 assists and 78 steals as a senior are each single-season records. Collins, a two-year Lion who transferred in as a junior from Bucknell, helped guide Columbia to its first two NCAA Tournament appearances, scored more than 1,500 career points, 822 as a Lion, served as co-captain her senior year, and posted a career record of 47-14 (.770), including 26-2 (.929) in Ivy League play. The duo of Henderson and Collins also had one of the more unique accomplishments in NCAA history, posting triple-doubles in back-to-back games with Henderson doing so against Brown (Feb. 28) and Collins the next night against Yale (Mar. 1). They are the first set of teammates in NCAA history to do that on consecutive days, and the first to do it in consecutive games since 2003.

Griffith has ushered in a new era and new brand of Columbia women's basketball. Her nine years back in Morningside Heights have combined to be the winningest stretch in program history. Over that time, the Lions have earned 15 power-conference wins over the likes of Miami, Washington, Syracuse, Villanova and Seton Hall, to name a few. They also include the program's first victories over opponents from the ACC, Big East and Big Ten.

Under Griffith's leadership, the Lions have qualified for the Ivy League Tournament in each of their last five competition seasons, playing in the championship game in 2022, 2024 and 2025. They accepted the program's first bid to a postseason tournament by playing in the 2022 Women's National Invitational Tournament (WNIT). A year later, they went back to the WNIT and made a run all the way to the championship game against Kansas. Griffith and the Lions played in front of over 11,000 fans at Allen Fieldhouse in Lawrence, Kansas and nearly came out with the win.

The 2023-24 team will live on as the first to send Columbia to the NCAA's biggest stage. After putting together a quality at-large resume for the second year in a row, Griffith and the Lions heard the Lions called on Selection Sunday. Columbia earned its first bid to the NCAA Tournament in the program's Division I history (1986-pres.), selected as a No. 12 seed in the Portland 3 Regional. Their first March Madness game came three days later, March 20, in Blacksburg, Virginia against No. 12 seed Vanderbilt in the First Four. Columbia led for more than eight minutes in the first quarter, trailed by 10 at halftime, outscored the Commodores in both the third and fourth quarters and pulled back within a bucket on multiple occasions. Ultimately, Vanderbilt hung on, 72-68, but Columbia proved it belonged on the biggest stage in college sports alongside the nation's best programs.

The 2023-24 Lions repeated as Ivy League Regular-Season Champions, lifting the Farquhar-Baker Trophy on March 9 after a dominant, 82-46, victory at Cornell in the regular-season finale. The Lions finished the Ivy League season 13-1 to set the program record for most Ivy League wins. The season included impressive non-conference victories over the likes of Seton Hall and Villanova, as well as a mere four-point loss to Duke. Columbia's non-conference schedule included seven teams that went on to compete in a 2024 postseason tournament, including Duke (NCAA), Stony Brook (WBIT), Seton Hall (WBIT), Villanova (WBIT), Florida (WBIT), Pacific (WNIT) and Providence (WNIT).

At the end of the regular season, Abbey Hsu was named the Ivy League Player of the Year, marking just the second time in program history a Lion won the award. Griffith earned her second consecutive Ivy League Coach of the Year award. Hsu was also a unanimous First Team All-Ivy honoree, while juniors Kitty Henderson and Cecelia Collins were named Second Team All-Ivy League.

Abbey Hsu picked up several national recognitions throughout the season. On top of being Ivy League Player of the Year, she was named an All-America Honorable Mention by the Associated Press (AP), becoming just the second player in program history to earn the distinction. The star guard was named to several watch lists throughout the seaosn, including the Jersey Mike's Naismith Trophy Women's College Player of the Year Award, the John R. Wooden Award, Becky Hammon Mid-Major Player of the Year Award, USBWA All-America Team, WBCA Coaches All-America Team and the Naismith Hall of Fame Ann Meyers Drysdale Award (Shooting Guard of the Year). Hsu was named Ivy League Player of the Week a program-record seven times, ranking top-25 in the country in scoring (20.4), top-15 in total threes (90) and top-10 in threes made per game (3.00). She also scored a Columbia record 611 points, surpassing the previous record of 608 held by Camille Zimmerman. On February 16 in Hanover, New Hampshire, Hsu became the all-time leading scorer in Columbia basketball history and, on February 24, Hsu became the first Ivy League player in 20 years to reach the 2,000-point plateau, scoring a game-high 26 points on her Senior Night to lead the Lions to a, 67-65, victory over then-No. 25 Princeton. The win was Columbia's first over an AP Top 25 team in program history. Hsu's final scoring total (2,126) ranks third in Ivy League women's basketball history.

The 2022-23 team will always be remembered as the first Ivy League champions in program history. After 37 long years as a member of the league, Griffith and the Lions hoisted the Farquhar-Baker Trophy in front of a sold out Levien Gymnasium crowd, defeating Cornell in overtime, 69-64, on March 4 in the regular season finale.

Columbia posted an unprecedented 28-6 overall record in 2022-23, including a second-straight 12-2 Ivy campaign that earned the Lions a share of their first regular season championship. Columbia's 28 wins bested its 25 from the year prior for the most in program history. Along the way, they earned quality non-conference road wins over Memphis (Nov. 7), Seton Hall (Nov. 17), Miami (Nov. 27) and UMass (Dec. 10), winning the Miami Thanksgiving Tournament over a Hurricanes team that went on to reach the Elite 8 of the NCAA Tournament. After a record-setting 11-2 non-conference season, Columbia earned a program-record 10th consecutive victory by defeating Princeton on the road in overtime, 58-55, beating the Tigers for the first time since 2008 and snapping their 27-game series winning streak.

After falling in overtime in the Ivy League semifinals and being named the First Team Out by the NCAA Selection Committee, Columbia accepted a bid to its second-straight Postseason WNIT. Once there, Griffith and the Lions did not disappoint. They took down NEC Regular Season Champion Fairleigh Dickinson in the first round and went on to defeat Fordham and Syracuse before avenging their Ivy Tournament loss against Harvard in the Great Eight. The victory over the Crimson made Columbia the first team in Ivy League history to advance to the National Semifinals of the WNIT, where they went on the road and led wire-to-wire to take down Bowling Green in front of a sold out crowd, 77-70. The win over the Falcons advanced the Lions to the Championship Game, which took place on April 1 at historic Allen Fieldhouse against Kansas. The Lions led 16-15 at the end of the first quarter and took a five-point lead with an 8-0 run to start the second half, but eventually fell in a hard-fought battle to the Jayhawks, 66-59. The game aired on national television on CBS Sports Network and drew in a crowd of over 11,000, the largest for a women's basketball game at Allen Fieldhouse in the last 14 years.

Abbey Hsu and Kaitlyn Davis were each unanimous First Team All-Ivy League selections, marking the first time ever the Lions placed two players on the First Team. Jaida Patrick earned Second Team honors, while sophomore Kitty Henderson was an Honorable Mention. Hsu also went on to be named Honorable Mention All-America by the Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA), becoming just the second Lion and ninth Ivy League women's player in history to earn All-America status.

The 2022-23 season saw the Lions debut in both the Associated Press (AP) Top 25 and USA Today Coaches Poll. They received their first votes in the AP Top 25 on Dec. 12 and went on to receive votes six separate times. Columbia received its first votes in the Coaches Poll on Jan. 3 and received votes for five consecutive weeks. 

With one of the nation's top scoring offenses, the Lions outscored Ivy opponents by an average of 18.4 points per game in league play. Overall, they ranked 15th in the country in scoring offense (78.2) and 14th in scoring margin (+14.9). Columbia was also No. 4 in assists per game (18.9), No. 9 in rebounds per game (43.12), No. 12 in 3-pointers made per game (8.9), No. 15 in rebounding margin (+8.0) and boasted one of the top-20 winning percentages in all of women's college basketball (.824). 

The 2021-22 season was a landmark year for Griffith and the Lions. Griffith coached Columbia to its winningest season in program history at the time, going 25-7 overall with a 12-2 Ivy League record. The Lions shattered several team records and accomplished many program firsts throughout the season, which included starting the season 5-0, defeating an ACC opponent on the road (Clemson), winning a program-record eight consecutive games, starting Ivy League play 7-0, competing in and winning its first postseason game in 36 years, competing in its first Ivy League Tournament, advancing to the tournament championship game, and advancing to the quarterfinals of its first WNIT. Columbia’s run to the WNIT quarterfinals is the deepest by any team and Ivy League history, and included victories over Patriot League champion Holy Cross, Old Dominion and Boston College. The Lions came back from as many as 17 points down to defeat the Eagles on March 24 at Levien Gymnasium, marking the largest comeback to win a game in program history.

In winning 25 games, Columbia broke the program’s previous mark of 21-6, accomplished by the 1985-86 Hall of Fame team that won that year’s New York State AIAW Championship and advanced to the NCAA Div. III Regional. The program’s winningest Div. I and Ivy League seasons prior to 2021-22 came in 2009-10, when the Lions went 18-10 and 9-5 in the Ivy League.

The 2021-22 season also saw junior Kaitlyn Davis voted First Team All-Ivy by the league’s coaches, while sophomore Abbey Hsu was named Second Team All-Ivy. It marked just the fourth time since the Lions officially joined the league in 1986-87 that Columbia placed two players on one of the two All-Ivy teams – two of those occasions have come under Griffith’s watch. Hsu went on to be named First Team All-Met by the Met Basketball Writers Association (MBWA), with Davis landing Second Team All-Met honors. Additionally, first-year guard Kitty Henderson was named the All-Met Women's Div. I Rookie of the Year, marking three consecutive competition seasons in which a Lion has taken home the award (Abbey Hsu, 2019-20; Sienna Durr, 2018-19).

At the Women's Final Four in Minneapolis, Griffith was named the 2021-22 CBB Analytics Women's Basketball Coach of the Year by the Asian Coaches Association. Griffith was honored with the award at the Association's Women's Basketball Coaches Conference. 

After building up the program over her first three seasons, Griffith led the Lions to what was a historical 2019-20 campaign, which included a record of 17-10, an 8-6 Ivy League mark and the team's first ever qualification into the Ivy League Basketball Tournament. Columbia started off the year with a 9-4 non-conference record, which included a six-game winning streak and victories over reigning conference champions Fordham, Robert Morris and Mercer. The Lions then headed into league play, where they started 2-4 before rolling off a then-program record six-game Ivy League winning streak. The streak began the weekend of Feb. 14-15 with the team's first ever weekend sweep over Dartmouth and Harvard, including a 25-point blowout over the Crimson. The following weekend, Griffith's Lions went on the road and swept Brown and Yale for their first back-to-back Ivy League weekend sweep in program history. The winning streak grew to six the weekend of Feb. 28-29, when Columbia went on the road and swept yet another weekend over Harvard and Dartmouth. The Lions overcame a 10-point deficit in Cambridge to earn their first season sweep of Harvard in program history. Less than 24 hours later, they swept Dartmouth to lock up their first berth into the Ivy League Basketball Tournament.

First-year Abbey Hsu went on to be named the Met Basketball Writers Association (MBWA) Women'ls Div. I Rookie of the Year after ranking top 10 in the Ivy League in scoring (14.3) and leading the Ancient Eight in 3-point shooting (.411). She and sophomore Sienna Durr were each named Second Team All-Ivy League, becoming the first pair of Lions in 12 years to earn All-Ivy League first- or second-team honors. Hsu was named Ivy League Rookie of the Week five times through the season, as well as Ivy League Player of the Week and USBWA National Rookie of the Week on Feb. 18 after averaging 25.0 points and shooting 50 percent (10-of-20) from 3-point range in a weekend sweep over Dartmouth and Harvard. 

Energized by a strong first-year class, Griffith coached Columbia to its most Ivy League wins in eight years during the 2018-19 campaign. The Lions took down Harvard at home, swept Brown and won at home against Cornell, entering the final two weeks of the season in contention for their first Ivy League Tournament berth. Along the way, three different Lions combined for eight Ivy League Rookie of the Week selections, including six by first-year Sienna Durr, who went on to be named both Ivy League and All-Met Women’s Div. I Rookie of the Year. Both of Durr’s Rookie of the Year honors were the first ever to be won by a Lion. Additionally, Durr was named Second Team All-Ivy League while Janiya Clemmons earned honorable mention.

The 2018-19 first-year class also found its way into the Columbia record books. Sienna Durr scored a rookie record 392 points and Mikayla Markham tallied a rookie record 120 assists. Markham’s assist total ranks eighth in Columbia’s all-time single-season record book. Markham also became the first Lion with 10 assists in a game in 10 years, as well as the first Lion in the same amount of years to record a double-double with points and assists.

In her first two seasons back at her alma mater, Griffith has coached the program to its first wins over ACC and Big East opponents, including a 68-60 victory over Boston College and two straight victories over Providence. Griffith coached the Lions to their best non-conference season in program history in just her first year as head coach with Columbia starting the year 10-3 (.769). The historic start included a seven-game winning streak, tying the program’s Div. I record for consecutive wins last accomplished in 1986-87.

Griffith's first Ivy League victory came in historic fashion, defeating Dartmouth on the road in quadruple overtime, 91-88, on January 27, 2017. The game tied for the longest in Ivy League women's basketball history, when Columbia defeated Penn, 114-111, in 1987, and was featured that evening on SportsCenter.

Under Griffith’s watch, Camille Zimmerman broke the program's all-time single-season scoring record, netting 608 points and averaging 22.5 points per game in 2016-17. Zimmerman was unanimously chosen First Team All-Ivy League after leading the Ancient Eight in seven statistical categories including scoring and rebounding (9.6). Zimmerman went on to be named All-Met Division I Women's College Basketball Player of the Year by the Met Basketball Writers Association, becoming the first Lion in program history to receive the award since its inception in 1996.

Zimmerman went on to earn a second straight First Team All-Ivy League selection in 2017-18. She surpassed the program’s all-time scoring record in just the second game of the season before wrapping up her career with 1,973 points, the most scored by any player, male or female, to don a Columbia basketball uniform. Zimmerman also owns the program’s all-time rebounding record (940) and signed a free-agent contract with defending WNBA champions Minnesota Lynx before signing on to play overseas in Finland.

On top of two power-conference wins, the 2017-18 season saw the Lions go up against a schedule that featured five NCAA Tournament teams from the year prior. Three of those matchups came at the Cancun Challenge, where the Lions faced one of the nation’s top scoring defenses in Green Bay, defending national runner-up Mississippi State and Pac-12 powerhouse Arizona State. The Lions showed their growth when they came within two points of defeating Buffalo at Levien Gymnasium, 65-63, who went on to advance to the 2018 Sweet Sixteen.

Among the 2017-18 accomplishments were a 94-81 victory over eventual NEC champion Saint Francis University. Columbia’s 94 points marked the program’s highest scoring output against a Div. I opponent in 27 years. The Lions put together another 90-point night to defeat Brown in February.

Prior to her return to Columbia, Griffith spent six seasons at Princeton, including her last four as an assistant coach and the team’s recruiting coordinator. She also served as the Tigers’ director of basketball operations from 2010-12. The last two years, Griffith has helped Princeton make back-to-back trips to the NCAA Tournament. During that span, the Tigers posted a 54-7 overall record, including an undefeated 30-0 regular season in 2014-15, and a 26-2 mark in Ivy League play.

In Griffith’s time with Princeton, the Tigers eclipsed 20 victories and reached the postseason each year, while securing five Ivy League titles. She has mentored 13 All-Ivy League players, including Blake Dietrick, who was the 2015 Ivy League Player of the Year and a WBCA Honorable Mention All-American, and 2013 Ivy League Defensive Player of the Year, Lauren Polansky.

Griffith captained the Lions for three seasons and was a two-time All-Ivy League selection (2006 and 2007). Griffith is one of nine Lions to score more than 1,000 points during her career, averaging 10.1 points per game. During her junior year, Griffth ranked 22nd in the nation in assists, averaging 5.5 per game, while chipping in 15.2 points per game. She was twice named Academic All-Ivy League and was a member of the Arthur Ashe Sports Scholar Team two straight years.

Following graduation, Griffith played three years of professional basketball in Europe. She joined FoA Nice Basketball in Forssa, Finland, during the 2007-08 season and was named the team’s MVP at the end of the season. In 2008-09, Griffith led the Espoo Basket Team to the National Finnish Championship and the Finnish Cup Championship titles. During the year she was also a youth basketball coach for Honka Basketball Club.

Griffith was also a member of the Celeritas-Donar Basketball team in Groningen, Netherlands. In addition, she was named a U20 Dames 1 assistant coach and U18 Northern Selection Team assistant coach, while working as a youth coach and clinic director for Celeritas-Donar.

Griffith founded Back to Basics Basketball in 2008, an organization developed to teach basketball skills, while providing training and mentoring in her hometown of King of Prussia, Pennsylvania.

Griffith graduated from Columbia with a degree in economics in 2007.

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