ITHACA, N.Y. - In their second Ivy match-up of the season, the Lions lost to Cornell 64-55 in Newman Arena. Junior guard Megan Griffith led the Lions with 22 points and five assists.
At the start of the second half, Cornell hit three three-pointer in a row to take a sizable 17-point lead. This was enough of a lead for the Big Red, as they won by a final score, 64-55.
The Big Red jumped out to an early 6-0 lead in the beginning of the game until Columbia sophomore forward Cate Taylor netted an easy back-door layup to put the Lions on the board. After the teams traded baskets, Cornell's Lindsay Krasna hit a three to increase the lead to seven points. Griffith completed a classic three-point play on the Lions' next possession, but the Big Red retained their seven-point lead with a layup from Claire Perry and a free throw from Shannan Scarselletta.
The two teams traded baskets for the next three possessions until a layup from Scarselletta put Cornell up 24-13 with 4:30 left in the half. After a jumper from Taylor, Cornell hit another three to go up by 12 points. By the end of the half, Columbia was able to cut the lead by two and the two teams headed into the locker rooms with the score 30-20.
At the half, Griffith led the Lions with eight points and three rebounds. For Cornell, Krasna had 10 points and Perry had 12 rebounds.
At the start of the second half, Cornell fired first, going up by three more points on a basket from downtown by Perry. On the next possession, sophomore guard Michele Gage hit a jumper for the Lions to score their first basket of the second half. Cornell didn't back down and scored three-pointers on the next two possessions to go up 39-22. The Big Red kept their 17-point lead and increased the lead to 19 (45-26) with 13:38 left in the game.
The Lions were able to cut the lead to 12 at the 10-minute mark, but the Big Red built up another big lead, 54-34, over the next three minutes. Columbia brought the lead back down to eight points with 37 seconds left, but Cornell hit all of their free throws to win.
Griffith finished the game going 4-for-8 from three-point range and 6-for-7 from the line en route to her 22 points. Senior center Sarah Beato finished the game with eight blocks, matching her career-high, and eight points.
For Cornell, Perry led all players with 23 points and 17 rebounds while Krasna finished with 18 points.
The Lions continue their road trip next weekend as they travel to Harvard and Dartmouth. Columbia faces the Crimson on Friday, February 3rd and the Big Green on Saturday, February 4th. Both games are at 7 p.m.
