Saturday, January 27 | 1:00 p.m.
Newman Arena | Ithaca, N.Y.
Columbia (6-12, 0-3)
Cornell (5-11, 1-2)
NEW YORK – The Columbia women's basketball team gets a second crack at Cornell this Saturday, traveling up to Ithaca to battle the Big Red at Newman Arena. Tip is set for 1 p.m. on the Ivy League Network.
NEWS/NOTES
OPENING TIPS
• The Lions hosted Cornell last Saturday and suffered a 10-point loss. Columbia never led but remained close the majority of the game, cutting the lead to seven entering the fourth quarter. Cornell shot 56 percent in the final 10 minutes and limited the Lions to just nine points to secure the victory.
• Camille Zimmerman became Columbia University's all-time leading scorer last Saturday. Zimmerman, who already owned the women's program record, passed Leonard "Buck" Jenkins '93CC with her 1,768th point at the 3:53 mark of the fourth quarter. Jenkins scored 1,767 points as part of the men's basketball team. Zimmerman joins Penn's Diana Caramanico (2,415) and Harvard's Allison Feaster-Strong (2,132) as the three Ivy League females to hold their school's scoring record. Currently, there are 21 female record holders in NCAA Div. I.
• Zimmerman is 12 points from passing Donna Yaffe of Brown (1981-85) for a spot among Ivy League women's basketball's top-10 all-time scorers. Yaffe ended her career with 1,779 points.
• Columbia hopes to put an end to its current six-game losing streak, as well as an eight-game series losing streak against Cornell. Columbia's last victory came in a Dec. 11 home game versus Hofstra, 75-53. Its last road victory came at UMBC, 60-44, on Dec. 3. The last time the Lions defeated Cornell was in January of 2014, 71-64, at Levien Gymnasium. Columbia has not defeated the Big Red in Ithaca since 2010.
• Senior Camille Zimmerman leads the Lions in points (20.0), rebounds (8.8), assists (3.2), steals (0.9) and blocks (0.8). Last season, she was the only player in the country to lead her team in all five categories.
• Zimmerman leads the Ivy League in points per game (20.0), total points (360), field goals made (129), free throws made (96), total rebounds (158) and double-doubles (8).
• Zimmerman passed Judie Lomax '10BC for second on Columbia's all-time rebounding list. She enters Saturday with 803 in her career. The program record is 937, set by Kathy Gilbert White '91CC.
• Last Saturday marked Zimmerman's 85th career double-figure scoring game.
• Columbia is in the middle of a stretch in which it plays eight of nine games on the road. Among those contests, Columbia plays five of its first six Ivy League games away from home.
• Columbia is among the top-25 in the NCAA in free throw percentage (76.3 pct.), entering Saturday at No. 21 nationally. Senior Camille Zimmerman, junior Abby Lee and first-years Riley Casey and Madison Pack are all hitting at above 85 percent from the charity stripe. Additionally, Columbia boasts one of the top-40 3-point defenses in the nation, allowing opponents to shoot just 28.2 percent from beyond the arc.
• Columbia has been outrebounded in all 12 of its losses. The Lions have failed to score 60 points in every game of its current six-game losing streak. In their six wins, the Lions average 73.8 points and have never been held to fewer than 60.
• Zimmerman became the third player in program history to make 100 career starts at Penn (Jan. 13). She and senior Paige Tippet have played in all 102 games of their Columbia careers. The only game Zimmerman did not start was on Senior Night of her rookie season.
SCOUTING CORNELL
• Cornell (5-11, 1-2 Ivy) is searching for what would be a fourth consecutive season sweep over Columbia. The Big Red got the better of the Lions, 57-47, last weekend, led by sophomore Samantha Widmann's game-high 22 points on 10-of-14 shooting. Widmann also brought down a game-high 12 rebounds to record her second double-double of the campaign. Junior Samantha Clement scored 15 points, 12 of which came in the second half. Clement and Widmann combined for 10 of Cornell's 12 fourth-quarter points to help put the game away. Widmann continues to lead the team in scoring at 15.3 points per game and is the only player averaging double figures. Widmann took over the team-lead in rebounds (5.9), just ahead of senior Christine Ehland (5.6). Widmann also came up with three steals against the Lions and ranks 40th nationally at 2.75 per game.
ZIMMERMAN AMONG NCAA ACTIVE LEADERS
• As of Thursday, Jan. 25, Camille Zimmerman ranks among the NCAA's top-30 active career leaders in eight categories. She is 12th in scoring average (17.3), 14th in free throws made (397), 17th in field goal attempts (1,521), 18th in free throw percentage (.820), 18th in field goals made (653), 19th in career points (1,768), 25th in double-doubles (30) and 29th in free throw attempts (484). All of those marks lead active Ivy Leaguers, except double-doubles, which is held by Penn's Michelle Nwokedi (35).
PICKING A FIGHT
• Columbia has shown its not afraid to play anybody, as evidenced by the strong opponents on this year's non-conference schedule. Heading into Saturday, Columbia has faced six teams in the RPI top-50, which includes Mississippi State (3), Green Bay (12), Arizona State (32), Buffalo (22), Houston (45) and Princeton (44). According to the Jeff Sagarin ratings, Columbia's strength of schedule ranks 111th nationally, which is second-toughest in the Ivy League behind only Princeton (103).
ON THE APPROACH
• Senior Camille Zimmerman is steadily making her way up the Ivy League's career record books. She enters the weekend 12 points from passing Donna Yaffe for a spot among the Ivy League's top-10 all-time leading scorers. Yaffe scored 1,779 points at Brown from 1981-85. Zimmerman cracked the Ivy League's top-15 in field goals made (653) and free throws made (397). She is also among the league's top-10 all-time in scoring average (17.3) and field goal attempts (1,521), while ranking among the top-20 in free throw percentage (82.0 pct.).
ROOKIE STANDOUT
• First-year Riley Casey is making quite an impact in just her first season. The rookie is averaging 10.2 points per game, which is second among Ivy League rookies and among the top-20 in the conference overall. A guard out of Brentwood, Tennessee, Casey has scored in double figures 10 times, including a season-high 20 points in her second collegiate Ivy League game at Penn (Jan. 13). Casey buried a season-best six 3-pointers on 13 attempts in the contest, becoming the first Lion in more than two years to make six threes in a game. She is seventh in the Ivy League in 3-pointers per game (1.8) and leads all of the Ancient Eight's freshmen. Casey has been named Ivy League Rookie of the Week twice, doing so on back-to-back occasions in mid-December. Additionally, she has been recognized on the Ivy League Weekly Honor Roll four times.
43 STRAIGHT IN DOUBLE FIGURES
• Senior Camille Zimmerman ran a double-figure scoring streak that spanned 43 consecutive games. The streak came to end on Jan. 13 at Penn, as Zimmerman finished with nine points against the two-time defending Ivy League champions. The streak began with a 22-point performance against UMBC in the 2016-17 season opener. Along the way, Zimmerman scored 20 points on 31 occasions. The last time Zimmerman did not reach double figures was the final game of her sophomore season, March 5, 2016, against Yale.
LEGEND OF IVY LEAGUE BASKETBALL
• Ellen Bossert '86CC was named to the 2018 Class of Legends of Ivy League Basketball. Legends of Ivy League Basketball recognizes individuals who have contributed significantly to - and left a lasting impact on - their respective basketball programs and universities. Bossert spent just two seasons in a Columbia uniform, but left an indelible mark on the program. She owns two of the top-five single-season scoring (598, 470) and rebounding (355, 335) marks in program history, and is one of eleven 1,000-point scorers with 1,008 career points. Her .544 career field-goal percentage paces all Lions and sits second all-time in the Ivy League. Bossert helped the Lions to a third-place finish at the NCAA Div. III Tournament in 1986, defeating Buffalo State in the third-place game, 89-73, behind Bossert's 38 points. Her single-game record of 39 points still stands today.
LEGEND IN THE MAKING
• Camille Zimmerman is Columbia women's basketball's all-time leader in points (1,768), field goals made (653), field goal attempts (1,521) and free throw percentage (82.0 pct.). She is also No. 2 all-time in rebounds (803) and free throws made (397), No. 3 in free throw attempts (484) and games started (101), and No. 5 in blocked shots (95). She passed Columbia Hall of Famer Ula Lysniak '87BC earlier this season to become the all-time leading scorer, and later passed Kathy Gilbert '91CC for the top mark in field goals made.
--
