Women's Basketball Hosts Penn, Princeton This Weekend
2/9/2017 3:30:00 PM | Women's Basketball
NEW YORK – The Columbia women's basketball team (12-7, 2-4 Ivy) closes out the first half of the Ivy League season this Friday and Saturday, welcoming defending champion Penn (12-6, 5-0 Ivy) and Princeton (9-9, 3-2 Ivy) to Levien Gymnasium. The Quakers begin the weekend Friday night at 7 p.m., followed by the Tigers on Saturday night at 6 p.m. Both games will air on the Ivy League Digital Network.
PLAY4KAY
• Saturday is Columbia's annual Play4Kay game. Fifty percent of the ticket revenue and all in-game donations will benefit women's cancer research through the Kay Yow Cancer Fund. For more information on this important cause, or to donate, visit KayYow.com.
NEWS/NOTES
OPENING TIPS
• Head coach Megan Griffith will coach against her former staff on Saturday when the Lions host Princeton. Griffith spent six seasons with the Tigers (2010-16), including the last four seasons as an assistant coach.
• Columbia has played five of its first six Ivy League games on the road, as well as eight of its last nine overall. The Lions are 8-5 this season on the road and 2-3 on the road in Ivy League play.
• Camille Zimmerman joined Tori Oliver as two of Columbia's top five scorers in program history last weekend. Oliver (1,272 points) and Zimmerman (1,214 points) rank fourth and fifth, respectively. Each also ranks among the program's top 10 in career rebounds and free throw percentage.
• Columbia has not been outrebounded all season and ranks No. 3 nationally in rebound margin (+11.7) behind Baylor and Maryland. The Lions are 13th nationally in rebounds per game (43.84).
• Camille Zimmerman leads the Ivy League in eight statistical categories, including points (21.8) and rebounds (10.1), and is the only player in NCAA Div. I women's basketball averaging 20-10 a game (through Feb. 8). In Ivy League play, she is averaging a league-best 24.7 points and 11.0 rebounds. Overall, Zimmerman leads Columbia points, rebounds, blocks (0.8) and steals (1.3). She is No. 8 nationally in scoring.
• The Lions will look for their first win against Penn since 2011 and their first against Princeton since 2008.
HISTORIC DUO
• Senior Tori Oliver and junior Camille Zimmerman added another accomplishment to their historic season when Zimmerman joined Oliver as two of the program's top five all-time scorers with a 26-point performance at Yale (Feb. 3). Oliver (1,272 points) and Zimmerman (1,214 points) rank fourth and fifth on Columbia's career scoring list. Both also rank top 10 in career rebounds.
• Oliver and Zimmerman have each also 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 and Zimmerman join Ula Lysniak (1983-87), Kathy Gilbert (1987-91), Shawnee Pickney (1997-01), Ellen Bossert (1984-86) and Lauren Dwyer (2007-11) in the program's 1,000-500 club.
ZIMMERMAN ON RECORD SCORING PACE
• Junior Camille Zimmerman is on pace to break Columbia's single-season Div. I scoring record. Zimmerman enters the weekend with 413 total points through 19 games, which puts her on pace to finish the regular season with about 587 points. The program's Div. I scoring record is 521 points, accomplished by Judie Lomax '10BC during her senior 2009-10 campaign. Zimmerman is averaging 21.8 points per game this season, which would break Columbia's Div. I record for scoring average, also set by Lomax (18.6) in 2009-10. The program's all-time single-season records in total points and scoring average are held by Columbia Hall of Famer Ellen Bossert (1984-86), who totaled 598 points and averaged 22.1 per game in the 1985-86 season (NCAA Div. III).
THE ONLY ONE
• Junior Camille Zimmerman is the only player in NCAA Div. I women's basketball averaging 20 points and 10 rebounds per game. She enters the weekend at 21.8 points and 10.1 rebounds. The closest to joining Zimmerman is Cal's Kristine Anigwe, who averages 22.0 points and 9.8 rebounds. Both Zimmerman and Anigwe hail from Arizona and were on the all-state team together.
• Zimmerman leads Columbia in points (21.8), rebounds (10.1), steals (1.3) and blocks (0.8) per game, and is also second in assists (2.8) behind Paulina Koerner. Zimmerman leads the Ivy League in scoring and rebounds, both overall and in conference play, and also ranks No. 8 nationally in scoring.
CRASHING THE GLASS
• Columbia ranks No. 3 in the NCAA in rebound margin at +11.7, behind Baylor and Maryland. The Lions have not been outrebounded all season and have outrebounded four opponents by 20 or more. 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).
ZIMMERMAN GARNERS NATIONAL ATTENTION
• Junior Camille Zimmerman earned national recognition as the U.S. Basketball Writers Association Women's National Player of the Week for games played Jan. 23-29. Zimmerman averaged 29.5 points, 13.5 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 2.5 steals in games at Dartmouth and Harvard. It included her hitting career-highs in points (37), rebounds (19) and steals (4) in a quadruple-overtime victory, 91-88, at Dartmouth, in which she also played a career-high 58 minutes. NCAA.com also featured Zimmerman in its Starting Five Players of the Week.
QUADRUPLE-OVERTIME THRILLER
• Columbia defeated Dartmouth in a quadruple overtime, 91-88, in Hanover (Jan. 27). The game was featured that evening on SportsCenter. Trailing by four with 10 seconds remaining in the third overtime, Columbia got two free throws from Tori Oliver followed by a game-tying 3-pointer with 0.6 seconds left from Emily Surloff to force a fourth overtime. Columbia scored the first four points of the fourth overtime and held on to snap its 11-game Ivy League losing streak. Camille Zimmerman led the Lions with career-highs of 37 points, 19 rebounds and four steals. Columbia led by 10 with 6:37 remaining in the fourth quarter, but Dartmouth tied things up with a minute to go to force overtime. The Lions never trailed in either of the first two extra periods, but Dartmouth's Fanni Szabo was able to tie the game in the final seconds each time. The game ties for the longest in Ivy League history with Columbia's 114-111 4OT victory over Penn on March 5, 1988.
RAKING IN PLAYER OF THE WEEK AWARDS
• Junior Camille Zimmerman has been named Ivy League Player of the Week five times this season (Nov. 14, Nov. 21, Dec. 12, Dec. 19, Jan. 30). Zimmerman becomes the 11th Ivy to receive five Player of the Week honors in a single season and the 17th Ivy to earn seven Player of the Week awards for her career. She is the second Lion to accomplish both feats, joining Judie Lomax (2009-10), who was named 10 times in just two years at Columbia.
Zimmerman's Player of the Week Selections (2016-17)
Nov. 14 - Averaged 20 points and 12.5 rebounds through two games
Nov. 21 - 20 points with a season-high 17 rebounds against Saint Francis
Dec. 12 - 27-point, 10-rebound games against Providence and Binghamton
Dec. 19 - 20 points against LIU Brooklyn, including her 1,000th career point
Jan. 30 - Averaged 29.5 points, 13.5 rebounds at Dartmouth and Harvard
HISTORIC NON-CONFERENCE SEASON
• Columbia posted a 10-3 (.769) record through the non-conference portion of its schedule, which is the best non-conference winning percentage in program history. Along the way, the Lions secured their best 10-game start when they defeated LIU Brooklyn (Dec. 12) to move to 8-2 for the first time ever. The non-conference season also included seven straight victories, tying for the longest winning streak during the program's Div. I era. The program's all-time longest winning streak is eight, accomplished in the 1985-86 season (Div. III).
SCOUTING PENN
• The Quakers (12-6, 5-0 Ivy) are the defending Ivy League champions and are the only remaining undefeated team in league play. They have won three straight overall and nine of their last 11, with the two losses coming in Big 5 competition to Villanova and Temple. Penn is very strong defensively and likes to slow the game down, allowing an Ivy League-best 51.5 points per game, which also ranks No. 3 in the NCAA. They also lead the Ivy League in scoring margin (+10.4), field goal percentage defense (34.7 pct.), blocks per game (5.9), assists per game (15.8), fewest turnovers per game (11.6), turnover margin (+2.33) and assist/turnover ratio (1.36).
• Michelle Nwokedi and Sydney Stipanovich head the Penn offense with 13.8 and 12.5 points per game, respectively. Nwokedi is the reigning Ivy League Co-Player of the Week, averaging 11.5 points and 10 rebound in last weekend's sweep of Dartmouth and Harvard. It was Nwokedi's second Ivy League Player of the Week selection to go with one for Stipanovich. Anna Ross is averaging a team-best 13.4 points in Ivy League play.
SCOUTING PRINCETON
• The Tigers (9-9, 3-2 Ivy) got off to a slow start in conference play, dropping their first two games to Penn and Brown, but have since won three straight. They thrashed Dartmouth by 30 points last weekend, and also defeated Harvard in overtime. Princeton comes in with the Ivy League's top marks in 3-point percentage defense (27.6 pct.) and rebounds per game (44.56). They have played all five of their Ivy League games at home.
• Bella Alarie is the lone Tiger averaging double figures in the scoring column at 12.4 per contest, and also leads the team in rebounding at 7.6. The rookie's scoring output is even better in Ivy League play (14.6), where she is the reigning Co-Player and Rookie of the Week. She has been named Ivy League Player of the Week three times and Rookie of the Week six times on the campaign. Gabrielle Rush (13.8) and Leslie Robinson (13.4) also average double figures scoring in Ivy League play.
#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.
#IVYMADNESS
• Tickets on now on sale for the inaugural Ivy League men's and women's basketball tournaments, which will take place Saturday & Sunday, March 11-12, 2017, at the Palestra in Philadelphia. The top four teams will earn berths to the tournament, with the semifinals on Saturday and the championships on Sunday. All six games will be broadcast live on ESPN's networks. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit www.IvyMadness.com.
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. 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.
UP NEXT…
• Columbia welcomes Harvard and Dartmouth to Levien Gymnasium next Friday and Saturday. The Crimson visit the Big Apple on Friday (7 p.m.), followed by Dartmouth on Saturday (6 p.m.). Both games will air on the Ivy League Digital Network.
