Women's Basketball Returns to Levien Sunday against Colgate
11/26/2016 1:06:00 PM | Women's Basketball
NEW YORK – The Columbia women's basketball team (2-2) returns to Levien Gymnasium on Sunday to play host to Colgate (1-4) at 2 p.m. The Lions played their last three games on the road, defeating Richmond and Saint Francis (PA) before dropping a two-point game on Tuesday at Stony Brook.
GAMEDAY MEDIA
• Sunday's game will air on the Ivy League Digital Network. Columbia will host an internet radio broadcast, also available on the ILDN and GoColumbiaLions.com. Live stats will be provided by GoColumbiaLions.com.
MEN'S BASKETBALL YOUTH CLINIC
• The Columbia men's basketball team will host a youth basketball clinic (ages 6-11) from 12:45 - 1:45 p.m. Clinic participants will receive top-tier basketball instruction from Columbia men's basketball players, lunch and a ticket to the Columbia women's basketball game - all for only $20. Additional game tickets can be purchased for $5 through the registration link.
ZIMMERMAN'S HOT START
• Junior Camille Zimmerman has been named Ivy League Player of the Week each of the first two weeks ... Zimmerman heads into Sunday averaging a team-best 18.8 points, 12.8 rebounds and 2.0 blocks ... Through the first four games, Zimmerman ranks atop the Ivy League in eight statistical categories, including points per game, field goals made (32), field goal attempts (79), total rebounds (51), rebounds per game, offensive rebounds per game (6.0), double-doubles (3) and minutes per game (37.0) ... Zimmerman's 6.0 offensive rebounds per game is tied for the best mark in the nation ... She is also among the top 10 nationally in rebounds per game and double-doubles ... Zimmerman scored a season-high 22 points in the season opener against UMBC (Nov. 11) and collected a season-high 17 rebounds in Columbia's 84-77 victory at Saint Francis (Nov. 19).
OLIVER MOVING IN ON 500 REBOUNDS
• Senior Tori Oliver is eight rebounds shy of becoming the 12th Lion in program history to record 500 career rebounds ... Oliver enters Sunday's game with 492, which currently ranks 13th in program history ... Oliver will move into sole possession of 12th when she gets to 500, ahead of Kristina Tyer's 499 from 1984-88.
AMONG NATIONAL LEADERS
• Columbia ranks among the top 30 nationally in four statistical categories, which includes free throw percentage (81.4 pct.), rebounding margin (+14.8), 3-point field goal defense (23.4 pct.) and rebounds per game (46.25) ... Three of those four marks lead the Ivy League, with the exception of 3-point defense, which ranks second ... Columbia's best ranking is No. 10 in free throw percentage, followed by No. 12 in rebounding margin, No. 26 in 3-point defense and No. 27 in rebounds ... Last season, the Lions finished the season No. 2 in free throw percentage (79.7 pct.), which was second to UConn.
SECOND-HALF COMEBACK
• Columbia came back from a 10-point halftime deficit to defeat Saint Francis (PA) on Nov. 19, marking the team's first victory when trailing by 10 or more at halftime since Feb. 2, 2008 against Brown ... The Lions trailed SFU 46-36 at the half and went down by as many as 12 in the third quarter ... Back in '08 against Brown, the Lions trailed 28-18 at the half and came back to win in overtime, 56-52 ... In that game, Brown led by as many as 12 with 9:37 remaining in the second half.
OLIVER BREAKS INTO TOP 5 SCORERS
• Senior Tori Oliver enters Sunday's game fifth in program history with 1,110 career points ... Oliver moved into the top 5 with a 15-point performance at Richmond (Nov. 13), passing current head coach Megan Griffith (2003-07) and Ellen Bossert (1984-86) in the process ... Oliver is 70 points from fourth place on the list, which belongs to Shawnee Pickney, who scored 1,180 points from 1997-2001.
ABOUT COLGATE
• Colgate has already faced two Ivy League opponents, falling at home to Cornell, 70-57, on Nov. 16 before bouncing back to defeat Brown four days later in Providence, 67-62 ... Sunday will mark Colgate's fifth road game through its first six games of the season ... The Raiders rank atop the Patriot League and are 14th in the country in free throw percentage (79.5 pct.) ... Colgate is among the top three teams in its conference in scoring offense (65.8), rebounds per game (40.20) and rebound margin (+1.4) ... Colgate ranks seventh or worse in the Patriot League in 10 statistical categories, including last in scoring defense (73.0).
• Rachel Thompson leads Colgate's offense with a team-best 12.6 points per game and is the only Raider averaging double figures ... Katie Curtis (9.4) and Kateri Stone (9.0) round out Colgate's top three scorers ... Mylah Chandler averages a team-best 7.2 rebounds ... Curtis averages a team-best 2.8 assists.
• Head coach Bill Cleary is in his first season at Colgate and 14th season as a head coach overall ... Cleary spent the previous eight seasons at NCAA Div. II Bloomsburg, winning five PSAC East Division titles and making four trips to the NCAA Div. II Tournament ... Prior to Bloomsburg, Cleary spent five seasons at Div. II Wilmington (Del.), turning a two-win team into a 22-win team in his final season.
COLUMBIA BASKETBALL PODCAST
• The Columbia University Sports Management program is producing a series of podcasts involving the Columbia men's and women's basketball programs this season ... The podcasts are part of the program's podcast series, The CUSP Show ... The first two episodes are already available and can be downloaded for free in the App Store ... Fans can access the podcasts in a variety of other ways as well, which includes going to BlogTalkRadio.com/TheCUSPshow ... The podcasts will also be posted as they become available to GoColumbiaLions.com.
