ITHACA, N.Y. — Five Lions scored in double figures, led by senior Camille Zimmerman's 23 points, season-high 13 rebounds and six assists, as the Columbia women's basketball team earned its first Ivy League victory of the season, 72-54, over Cornell Saturday afternoon at Newman Arena.

Zimmerman left yet another mark in the record books, becoming one of the top-10 all-time leading scorers in Ivy League women's basketball history. She passed Donna Yaffe, who scored 1,779 points at Brown from 1981-85. Zimmerman bumped her career total up to 1,791 on a day in which she shot 8-of-14 from the field, including a perfect 2-for-2 from long range and 5-for-5 from the charity stripe. One of those triples came at the third-quarter buzzer from beyond half court.

"It was a totally different game this time around. We played as a team, passing and sharing the ball, and everyone stepped up and did their part" said Zimmerman, who also moved into the Ivy League's top-10 in made field goals with 661. "It's all about getting wins. The records don't matter to me. The win is what feels good right now."

Columbia (7-12, 1-3 Ivy) put together a tremendous response from last week's 10-point loss to the Big Red in New York. The Lions came up with a season-high 11 steals and scored 22 points off 22 Cornell turnovers. First-year Imani Whittington scored the team's first seven points and the Lions led throughout, exacting revenge and walking out of Newman Arena victorious for the first time since 2010.

"There was a big difference in practice all week," head coach Megan Griffith said. "We talked about running hard every time and being a great screener. They sound silly and like small things, but small things really add up. When you do them enough and do them consistently, this is the result you see. I was really proud of them this week for grinding and coming together."

Whittington went on to score a career-high 11 points. Sophomore Maya Sampleton also bested her career scoring mark with 14 points off the bench. All of Sampleton's points came in the second half, beginning with a timely triple after Cornell made a run to cut the lead to six in the early part of the third quarter. She hit her second to cap a 10-0 fourth-quarter run and went on to score eight straight Lions points to cement the victory. Sophomore Janiya Clemmons and first-year Riley Casey each scored 10.

"We have a really special player in Camille – everybody knows that and you can't hide it – but we need more people to contribute," Griffith added. "When that happens, we share the ball and get up and down, it's a lot of fun and we're harder to guard."

Three scored in double figures for Cornell, led by 15 points from Samantha Clement, but she shot just 5-of-13. Danielle Jorgenson (3-9 FG) had 14 points, while Samantha Widmann put together a second straight double-double with 13 points and 12 boards. Cornell won the battle on the glass, 41-33, including 15-8 on the offensive end, but it was Columbia that finished the contest with an 11-10 advantage in second-chance points. 

Columbia did a lot of work inside, finding high-percentage shots that led to a season-high 34 points in the paint. The Lions ended the afternoon shooting 45 percent, their highest in an Ivy League game since defeating Dartmouth by 21 last February at Levien Gym. They also continued to show why they're one of the nation's best free-throw shooting teams, hitting 11 of 12 (.917).

The Lions turned Cornell over seven times in the first quarter to hold the Big Red to just eight points. Whittington scored Columbia's first seven before Zimmerman got into gear and scored the next seven. Zimmerman's triple at the 2:38 mark forced head coach Dayna Smith to burn an early timeout with her team trailing 12-4.

Cornell hit four shots in the second quarter, all from three, slicing the Columbia lead down to four, 18-14, on Shelquist's first. It would get no closer, as the Lions scored the next nine points, including a triple by Casey, layup by Zimmerman and jumper by Clemmons. Another Clemmons bucket in the final minute of the half kept the lead in double figures heading to the break. 

A quick burst to begin the third quarter saw the Big Red score seven of the first nine points. Widmann stole the ball away from Casey for a transition bucket that forced Columbia to call for time with its lead down to six. The Lions responded with a Sampleton three from the wing. Whittington and Clemmons then scored on back-to-back possessions to push the lead back to 11. After Cornell got it back to single digits, Zimmerman's half-court heave gave all the momentum right back to the Lions entering the final 10 minutes.

A 10-0 run that began with a Casey triple and ended with one by Sampleton from the corner gave the Lions their largest lead, 66-44, with 5:09 to play. Cornell never threatened from there.

Columbia plays two more on the road next weekend, ending a stretch of eight of nine away from home when it visits Dartmouth on Friday and Harvard at Saturday. Both games will be available on the Ivy League Network. 

POST-GAME NOTES

- Zimmerman passed Donna Yaffe (Brown, 1981-85) for 10th on the Ivy League's all-time scoring list. She now has 1,791 career points. She also scored her 661st career field goal to pass Becky Brown of Princeton (2002-06) for 10th all-time in that category.

- Maya Sampleton (14) and Imani Whittington (11) each had career-highs scoring.

- Saturday marked the second time this season the Lions put five in double figures. Columbia had six double-figure scorers on Dec. 6 in a 94-81 victory over Saint Francis.

- Columbia posted season-highs in steals (11) and points in the paint (34).

- Columbia snapped its six-game losing streak and its eight-game series losing streak against the Big Red. The Lions won in Ithaca for the first time since 2010.