NEW YORK - Columbia women's basketball return home to Levien Gymnasium for four straight home games, after three road trips in two weeks. Thanksgiving weekend, the Lions will play host to Long Beach State, Friday, November 25 at 7 p.m., before turning around to host Army, Sunday, November 27 at 1 p.m.

The Lions suffered a loss at the hands of St. Francis (N.Y.) Wednesday, as the Terriers snapped a 21-game losing streak by beating Columbia, 48-44. The Lions led at halftime, 20-19, but struggled in the second half yet again. Junior Tyler Simpson led the Lions with nine points and seven rebounds, while senior Melissa Shafer had nine ponts and four rebounds in the loss. Columbia is now 0-4 on the season, and still seeking that elusive first win. 

All home women's basketball contests can be seen and heard live via webcast on gocolumbialions.com. A total of 13 women's hoops games will be broadcasted in '11-12, with play-by-play announcer Lance Medow calling all the action. Medow, who has done work for MLB.com, giants.com, Sirius XM Satellite Radio and MTV Networks, is in his sixth season as the play-by-play personality for Columbia women's basketball games.

Long Beach State comes to Levien Gymnasium with a 1-3 record on the season, but winless on the road. The 49ers will be taking on Columbia and Iona in their second East Coast swing of the season. Long Beach State also came east to play Syracuse, who beat the 49ers, 81-42. The 49ers only win of the season so far has come against Utah Valley in their home and season opener, 75-43. Senior forward Tipesa Moorer leads the 49ers with an 11.5 points per game average, while sopohomore forward Ella Clark contributes 11.3 points per game, and a team-high 8.3 rebounds per game average. Long Beach State is averaging 61.8 points per game, shooting 35.1% on the season, including a 68.6 free throw percentage. 

This is the first meeting between Columbia and Long Beach State. 

Army is looking to continue the team's best start since 2006-07. The Black Knights are currently 4-1, and hosting Manhattanville Friday night, before coming to Manhattan to take on the Lions Sunday. Army has been beating opponents by an average of over 17 points per game, with its lone loss coming by a mere three points to Seton Hall (53-50). Army has beaten St. Francis (N.Y.), 59-43, and Wagner, 70-46, this season, two teams the Lions suffered close losses to. Sophomore guard/forward Jen Hazlett leads the Black Knights in points with a 14.4 points per game average, as she's coming off a 20-point performance against St. Francis. Junior guard Molly Yardley, who was the team's top scorer last season, is averaging 10.2 points per game to go along with her 5.0 rebounds per game. Freshman forward Olivia Schretzman leads Army on the boards with a 7.0 rebounds per game average, the seventh-best average in the Patriot League.

Army and Columbia have played each other 11 times since the all-time series began in 1992-93, with the Black Knights leading, 9-2. Coach Paul Nixon is 0-2 against Army, with the last loss coming in 2007 in Levien Gymnasium, as Army beat Columbia, 81-55. The last time the Lions beat Army was in 2004, when Columbia took the edge, 72-39. 

Columbia first-year Amara Mbionwu was named Ivy League Rookie of the Week for the week ending November 13. She became the first Lion to earn Rookie of the Week honors since Lauren Dwyer took home the award on Feb. 18, 2008. The Bowie, Md. native averaged 6.5 points and a team-best 8.5 rebounds in two games for the Lions, who fell to Vermont, 63-52, and Sacred Heart, 60-42. Mbionwu grabbed a team-high eight rebounds to go along with 11 points against Vermont. She shot 5-of-8 from the field. In the Lions' next game, Mbionwu set a new personal-best with a gamehigh nine boards against Sacred Heart. After the first week of action, she led all Ivy League freshmen in rebounding and ranked tied for third overall.

Columbia notched its second-straight Ivy League Rookie of the Week nod, as first-year Miwa Tachibana was named the Rookie of the week for the week ending November 18. Tachibana led the Lions in scoring that week, as she was 4-for-7 against Wagner, scoring 11 points, a new collegiate career high for the Los Angeles native. She went 3-of-4 from the free throw line, and recorded two assists, one rebound and a steal.

The Lions battled under the basket for rebounds in each of their first two games, and both times, the two teams came up dead even in rebounds. In the season opener against Vermont, both the Lions and the Catamounts had 38 total rebounds, while in the second game of the year, both Columbia and Sacred Heart had 33 rebounds apiece. Both times, the Lions had more defensive rebounds than their opponents (27 to 25, and 22 to 19, respectively).

Columbia has six away games in November and December, and all are within a two hour drive of New York City, with three of the six games within the five boroughs. Columbia kicked off the away season at Sacred Heart in Connecticut, followed by games at Wagner (Staten Island), St. Francis (N.Y.) (Brooklyn), Fairfield (Conn.), Long Island (Brooklyn) and Fairleigh Dickinson (New Jersey). 

Once again, Columbia brings back two seniors, who will be crucial to Columbia's success in the 2011-12 season. Senior co-captains Melissa Shafer and Jazmin Fuller will lead the Lions into the year. Shafer returns as a starting guard for Columbia, and one of the top five all-time three point shooters in Columbia history. Fuller saw action in 22 games last year for the Lions, including four starts to close out the season. 

The Lions exceeded the expectations of last season's Ivy League preseason poll, as the team finished tied for fourth in the conference, after being projected to finish fifth. This year, the Lions will look to do the same as the media has picked them to finish tied for sixth in the Ivy League. Princeton, who went 13-1 in Ivy League play last year, garnered 14 of the 17 first-place votes to come in atop the poll while Harvard (three first place votes),Yale and Penn round out the top four.