Columbia Takes 2-0 Start to the Midwest to Face Milwaukee and Illinois

Friday, November 16

Milwaukee, Wis. / Klotsche Center

8:00 P.M.

Columbia

Milwaukee

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First-year Mikayla Markham is averaging 6.0 points, 5.0 rebounds and 4.0 assists through the first two games.

Photo by: Columbia University Athletics/Mike McLaughlin

Columbia Takes 2-0 Start to the Midwest to Face Milwaukee and Illinois

11/15/2018 1:07:00 PM | Women's Basketball

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Lions meet Milwaukee for the first time in 14 years on Friday, look for first Big Ten win Sunday

NEW YORK – The Columbia women's basketball team (2-0) flies to the Midwest for two games against Milwaukee and Illinois. The Lions play the Panthers (0-2) for the first time in 14 years Friday night in the Klotsche Center at 8 p.m. ET (7 p.m. CT). Columbia and Illinois (2-0) square off for the first time on the hardwood Sunday afternoon at the State Farm Center at 2 p.m. ET (1 p.m. CT).

OPENING TIPS
• The Lions are coming off a dominating, 70-49, home-opening victory over Army West Point on Monday. First-year Sienna Durr continued her impressive start with a game-high 21 points (7-10 FG), including eight in the second quarter to help the Lions take the lead for good. Columbia outscored the Black Knights 21-9 in the third period to pull away. Junior Stephanie Flynn posted career-highs of 10 points, six rebounds and three triples.

• Sunday will mark Columbia's second game in program history against a team from the Big Ten. The only other matchup came against Iowa in November of 2009, which the Lions lost, 72-69, at the University of Nevada Nugget Classic. Iowa's Kamille Wahlin hit a go-ahead three-pointer with 16 seconds remaining to give the Hawkeyes the victory. The game featured 15 ties and 30 lead changes. Lauren Dwyer led the Lions with 20 points.

• Columbia is winless in eight games against the current members of the Horizon League. The Lions did defeat Loyola Chicago, 72-61, when they were a member of the league in 2001.

• The Lions are 3-2 against teams from the power conferences since Megan Griffith was named head coach in 2016. Columbia defeated Boston College last season, 68-60, for their first win over an ACC opponent in program history. Columbia also earned its first Big East win under Griffith and has defeated Providence two years straight.

• Columbia held Army scoreless from 3-point range (0-11) Monday night, marking the first time an opponent went without a made three since defeating Central Penn, 102-18, on Jan. 3, 2016. The last time the Lions held a Div. I opponent without a 3-point field goal was Bryant (0-9) on Dec. 30, 2013.

• The Lions improved to 15-18 in home openers since joining the NCAA Div. I ranks in 1986-87.

• Columbia's 21-point margin of victory was its largest in a home opener since 2009 vs. Sacred Heart (W, 79-55).

• Columbia's 12 steals were its most in a game since going for 23 against Central Penn on Jan. 3, 2016. The 12 steals were the most against a Div. I opponent since recording 13 against Vermont on Nov. 17, 2015.

• Columbia has now won two of its last three meetings against Army and improved to 4-10 in the all-time series against the Cadets.

SCOUTING MILWAUKEE
• Milwaukee (0-2) has started the season with two close losses to a pair of Big Ten opponents, falling by two at Indiana, 68-66, before dropping a 11-point decision in its home opener against Wisconsin, 68-57. The Panthers started hot against the Badgers on Tuesday, hitting six triples in the first quarter to take a 24-15 lead. The rest of the night was an offensive struggle, getting outscored, 15-4, in the second quarter and, 38-29, in the second half. Milwaukee is the Horizon League's best team in turnovers through the early going at just 14.0 per game. Junior Jamie Reit is the leading scorer (15.0 ppg), including a 21-point night against the Hoosiers. UWM is coming off a 21-12, 11-7, season from a year ago in which they earned a berth into the WNIT.

SCOUTING ILLINOIS
• Illinois (2-0) has been dominant in each of its first two games, disposing of Alabama A&M, 88-60, in its season opener and pulling away from Valparaiso, 73-54, on Wednesday. The Fighting Illini will play their third straight home game to begin the season on Sunday against the Lions. Senior Alex Wittinger (13.5) junior Brandi Beasley (12.0) and junior Ali Andrews (10.0) are all averaging double figures scoring. Wittinger is also the team's leading rebounder at 9.0 per contest. She had a double-double of 17 points and 12 rebounds against the Crusaders. Nancy Fahey is trying to turn the Fighting Illini around after a 9-22, 0-16 Big Ten, campaign in her first season with the program.

FIRST-YEAR IMPRESSIONS
• Five Columbia first-years made their collegiate debuts in the season opener at Hofstra – Sienna Durr, Mikayla Markham, Madison Hardy, Lilian Kennedy and Sydney Brown. Durr (15), Hardy (11), Markham (8) and Kennedy (2) all got in the scoring column. Durr's 15 points were the most by a Columbia first-year in a season opener since Alexa Giuliano poured in 20 points in 2014. Markham had six assists, the most by a Columbia first-year in a season opener since Danielle Browne had seven against Loyola Maryland in 2006. Kennedy's four blocks were the most by any Lion in any game since Josie Little had the same amount against Yale on Feb. 5, 2016. Brown went on to score her first points in Monday's home-opening victory over Army.

NEW-LOOK LIONS
• Only two of Columbia's current starting five had started a collegiate game prior to this season. First-years Mikayla Markham and Sienna Durr debuted in the starting lineup each of the first two games. Junior Stephanie Flynn also made her first two collegiate starts after appearing in 36 career games heading into the campaign. The only two members of the current starting five that had started a game prior to this season are junior Janiya Clemmons (25 starts) and sophomore Imani Whittington (11 starts).

COLUMBIA'S RETURNERS
• Abby Lee is the lone returning senior and the most experienced Lion with 82 career games under her belt. Lee has seen her role increase through each of her first three seasons and ended her junior year averaging 4.4 points and 2.6 rebounds. She enters the year having played in 60 straight games. The three juniors are Janiya Clemmons, Maya Sampleton and Stephanie Flynn. Clemmons earned her way into the starting lineup as a sophomore, starting each of the last 20 games and finishing the year averaging 7.2 points and 4.0 boards. Clemmons is the team's second-leading returning scorer. Sampleton is the top returner in steals (0.8/game). Sophomore trio Riley Casey, Madison Pack and Andrea McCormick round out the returning players. Casey is Columbia's leading returning scorer (10.2 ppg) and was named Ivy League Rookie of the Week in back-to-back weeks last December. Casey started 26 of 29 games and led all Ivy League rookies in 3-pointers made/game (1.6). Pack started 23 times as a rookie and will look to increase her role after averaging 5.8 points and 3.8 boards. McCormick appeared in 20 games.

COLUMBIA'S NEWCOMERS
• Columbia will look like a completely different team this season with newcomers making up 47 percent of this year's roster. The guards are Madison Hardy, Mikayla Markham and Sydney Brown. Markham is expected to run the point while Hardy will act as a shooting guard and Brown will play the wing. Rookies Sienna Durr and Lilian Kennedy will play the wing. Durr was the Iowa State Class 4A Player of the Year while Kennedy led her high school team to appearances in the Sweet 16 and Elite 8 of the Georgia State Tournament. Hannah Pratt is a true forward from Boca Raton who was a key part of the Bobcats' Class 9A state championship team in 2017. Sophomore Kallin Spiller will sit out the season after transferring in from Seattle. Spiller was the 2017-18 WAC Freshman of the Year after averaging 9.2 points and 6.5 rebounds.

GRADUATING AN ALL-TIME GREAT
• Camille Zimmerman, perhaps the greatest player in program history, graduated at the end of last season. Zimmerman completed her four-year career as the program's all-time leader in scoring (1,973), rebounding (940), field goals made (728), field goals attempted (1,707), free throw percentage (.826), games played (113) and games started (112). She also ranks 10th all-time in assists (255), No. 2 in free throws made (443), No. 3 in free throw attempts (536), No. 5 in blocks (102) and No. 7 in steals (135). The future Hall of Famer also holds single-season records in scoring (608), scoring average (22.5), field goal attempts (539) and holds the No. 2 spot in field goals made (234). Zimmerman was a three-time All-Ivy League and two-time First Team selection. She was the 2016-17 All-Met Women's College Basketball Div. I Player of the Year and 10-time Ivy League Player of the Week. She ranks fourth in Ivy League history in total points and among the league's top 10 in scoring average (17.5), field goals made, field goal attempts and free throws made. She led the Lions in points, rebounds, assists, blocks and steals in both her junior and senior seasons.

• Last season, Zimmerman ranked among the top 50 NCAA statistical leaders in the following categories: No. 22 in double-doubles (17), No. 23 in free throw percentage (.866), No. 28 in offensive rebounds (4.0/game), No. 28 in rebounds (10.2/game), No. 37 in points per game (19.5), No. 47 in free throws made (142).

HALL OF FAME INDUCTEES
• The Columbia Athletics Hall of Fame ceremony took place in October, where the 1985-86 women's basketball team and Charlene Schuessler Fideler '90BC were all inducted.

• The 85-86 Lions remain the winningest team in program history, going 21-6 en route to the N.Y. State Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women's Division III Championship, as well as the program's first and only bid to the NCAA Tournament (Div. III). The team included Hall of Famers Ellen Bossert '86CC and Ula Lysniak '87BC. The duo held Columbia's career and single-season scoring records for more than 30 years and can still be found throughout the record books.

• Schuessler came to Morningside Heights for Columbia's first year of Div. I basketball in 1986-87. In four seasons, Schuessler scored 1,002 career points, tallied 456 assists and 169 steals. She became the first 1,000-point scorer of the program's Div. I era, still holds the career assists record 28 years after graduation and ranks third in program history in career steals. The two-year team captain also left her mark in the single-season record books, where she sits fifth and sixth all-time with 129 assists in 1989-90 and 126 assists in 1988-89. Schuessler became one of the program's first great 3-point shooters with the inception of the 3-point line in the late 1980s, where she ranks fifth in single-season history and ranked as high as second nationally that season. Her 66 steals as a senior and 59 as a junior still rank No. 3 and No. 7, respectively.

#ROADTOIVYMADNESS
• The Ivy League men's and women's basketball tournaments have a new home this season. After the first two years of the tournaments were held at the Palestra in Philadelphia, this year's tournaments will be hosted by Yale at Payne Whitney Gymnasium. The top four men's and women's teams will earn berths to the tournament with the semifinals on Saturday, March 16, and the championships on Sunday, March 17. All six games will be broadcast live on ESPN's networks. For tickets and more information please visit IvyMadness.com.