Women's Basketball Heads to Cornell for Ivy Opener Saturday
1/12/2017 11:25:00 AM | Women's Basketball
NEW YORK – The Columbia women's basketball team (10-3, 0-0 Ivy) begins its 31st Ivy League season Saturday at Cornell (9-4, 0-0 Ivy). Tip is scheduled for 1 p.m. from Newman Arena in Ithaca, New York.
GAMEDAY MEDIA
• The game will air on both ESPN3 and the Ivy League Digital Network. Columbia's radio feed will be available on the Ivy League Digital Network. Live stats will be provided by CornellBigRed.com.
NEWS/NOTES
OPENING TIPS
• The Lions are 9-21 all-time in Ivy League openers. Columbia has opened the conference season against Cornell 18 times, with Saturday's matchup marking the 10th consecutive season the two teams have opened against one another. Cornell is 6-4 in the last 10 Ivy League openers against Columbia and has won five straight in the series overall. The last time the Lions opened the Ivy League season in Ithaca and won was 2010.
• Columbia's 10-3 record in non-conference play marked its highest non-conference winning percentage (.769) in program history. Along the way, the Lions won seven straight, recording their longest winning streak since the 1986-87 season. Last year, Columbia went 11-4 (.733) out of conference, but finished 1-13 in the Ivy League.
• Camille Zimmerman leads Columbia in scoring (20.5), rebounding (9.6), assists (2.9), steals (1.2) and blocks (1.0) on a per-game basis. The junior also leads the Ivy League in scoring, as well as double-doubles (7), field goals made (108), field goal attempts (224), total rebounds (125) and field goal percentage (.482, min. 5 makes per game). She has been named Ivy League Player of the Week four times.
• Senior Tori Oliver and junior Camille Zimmerman will take the floor together as Columbia's first pair of teammates in the Div. I era to each have 1,000 career points and 500 career rebounds. Zimmerman (1,066 points, 510 rebounds) joined Oliver (1,218 points, 557 rebounds) in the 1,000-500 club with a season-high 17 rebounds at NJIT (Jan. 4). Oliver and Zimmerman are two of seven Lions to ever post 1,000 points and 500 rebounds.
POSTGAME NOTES FROM NJIT (Jan. 4)
• Columbia finished the non-conference season 10-3 (.769), posting its highest non-conference winning percentage in program history.
• Camille Zimmerman tallied her ninth 20-point game of the season and matched season-highs in rebounds (17) and assists (6).
• Camille Zimmerman picked up her 500th career rebound, becoming the seventh Lion in program history to eclipse both 1,000 points and 500 rebounds. Tori Oliver accomplished the feat earlier this season.
• Camille Zimmerman passed both Megan Griffith (2003-07) and Lauren Dwyer (2007-11) on Columbia's all-time scoring list. She is now seventh with 1,066 career points.
• Josie Little scored a career-high 16 points.
• Abby Lee scored a season-high 12 points.
• Columbia held its opponent to 30-percent or less from the field for the fourth time this season.
• Columbia improved 4-0 all-time against NJIT.
SCOUTING CORNELL
• The Big Red (9-4, 0-0 Ivy) have won two straight and four of their last five heading into the start of the Ivy League season. The lone hiccup among their last five was a double-overtime loss at Stony Brook, 66-65, on December 30. Cornell and Columbia had four common opponents on their non-conference schedules and had identical results, earning victories over Colgate, Saint Francis and Binghamton, while falling to Stony Brook.
• Cornell averages 63.5 points and allows just 58.7 points per game, ranking among the top 70 in the NCAA in scoring defense. The Big Red are a good 3-point shooting team at 38.2 percent, which is tops in the Ivy League and No. 17 nationally. They also lead the Ivy League in steals per game (9.2) and are second in 3-point defense (27.8 pct.), and assists per game (14.5).
• Nia Marshall is the player to watch for the Big Red. The senior is second in program history in scoring (1,468 points) and averages a team-best 15.2 points per game on the season. Marhsall is also Cornell's leader in rebounds at 7.0 per contest, as well as total blocks (12) and steals (31), and has been named Ivy League Player of the Week twice this season. Fellow senior Megan LeDuc also averages double figures scoring at 11.5 points, while another senior, Kerri Moran, comes in at 9.9 per game.
RECORD START
• Columbia (10-3) is tied for its best 13-game start in program history (1984-85), and is alone as the program's best 13-game record in the Div. I era. Columbia secured the program's best 10-game start on December 12 when they defeated LIU Brooklyn to move to 8-2 for the first time ever. Along the way, Columbia won seven straight games, tying for the longest winning streak of the Div. I era with the 1986-87 team. The program's all-time longest winning streak is eight, accomplished in the 1985-86 season.
CRASHING THE GLASS
• Columbia ranks No. 3 in the NCAA in rebound margin at +14.4 (through Wednesday, Jan. 10). The Lions have outrebounded every opponent this season, including four opponents by more than 20. Columbia outdueled Richmond by 21 (Nov. 13), outrebounded Loyola Maryland 45-23 (Nov. 30), took a 47-23 advantage over UMass Lowell (Dec. 2), as well as a 50-27 showing at NJIT (Jan. 4).
HISTORIC DUO
• Senior Tori Oliver and junior Camille Zimmerman have each totaled 1,000 points and 500 rebounds in their careers, marking the first time in the program's Div. I era that two teammates actively played together with those accolades. It is also the first time since the 1990-91 season that Columbia had two 1,000-point scorers on the floor together -- the last duo was Kathy Gilbert (1,309 points) and Jennifer Beubis (1,039 points), who played together from 1987-91. Oliver enters the game fourth in program history in scoring (1,218 points) and top 10 in rebounds (557). She became one of Columbia's top 5 all-time scorers with a 15-point performance at Richmond (Nov. 13). Zimmerman ranks seventh all-time in scoring (1,066 points), breaking the 1,000-point plateau against LIU Brooklyn (Dec. 12), as well as 12th in rebounds (510).
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. Several 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.
#PATHTOTHEPALESTRA
• The Ivy League will conduct postseason tournaments for both men's and women's basketball at The Palestra in Philadelphia on March 11-12, 2017. The four-team tournaments will determine the conference's automatic bids to the NCAA Division I Basketball Championships, and all six games will be broadcast live on ESPN's networks.
UP NEXT…
• The Lions head back to New York City for Cornell's return trip next Saturday, January 21. Tip is set for 4:30 p.m. as part of a Columbia basketball doubleheader at Levien Gymnasium. The men's basketball team will square off against the Big Red at 7 p.m.
