CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Sydney Brown scored a season-high 14 points, including 12 in the fourth quarter alone, as the Columbia women's basketball team rallied but came up short against Illinois, 76-69, Sunday afternoon at the State Farm Center.
After trailing all afternoon and falling behind by as many as 16 points in the second half, Columbia (2-2) pulled within three, 72-69, on Brown's 3-pointer with a minute to go. Illinois (3-0) responded with a triple by Cierra Rice and the Lions could not get any closer. Two 3-point attempts in the final 30 seconds were off the mark and the Fighting Illini hung on to remain undefeated.
Brown entered the fourth quarter having played five minutes the entire game. The first-year out of Rexford, New York, checked back in with 8:59 remaining and never sat down, shooting 5-of-8 from the field over the final nine minutes to help the Lions work their way back. She scored the first five points of a 7-0 run that sliced the Illini lead to four, 66-62, with 6:47 left. After Illinois went back up nine, Brown scored on the break and followed with her second triple of the quarter to make it a one possessions game with a minute to go.
"Sydney is one of those kids that plays with a really short memory and doesn't let things phase her," Columbia head coach Megan Griffith said. "We have a high level of expectation for her and, bottom line, she showed up. She's a really hard worker and I'm proud of her."
Much like Friday's game at Milwaukee, Columbia came up with response after response to keep itself in the game. Illinois raced out to an 11-2 start and took a 14-point lead in the first quarter, 21-7, following a 3-pointer by Aerial Scott, who finished with 11 off the bench.
Columbia used a 7-0 spurt at the beginning of the second quarter to get back in the game. The Lions were a different team offensively, hitting 10-of-16 (.625) shots in the period after starting the game 2-for-13 (.154). A 9-0 run capped by a back-door pass from junior Stephanie Flynn to sophomore Riley Casey suddenly made it a 3-point game, 29-26. First-year Madison Hardy came up with a triple at the halftime buzzer to keep the Lions down four at the break.
"I'm really proud of our team's fight," Griffith added. "One thing we can take away from this is that we have to string together more stops so we can play our style. We got to see that at the end of the game. I thought we outran [Illinois] and they couldn't keep up with us once we were dictating pace."
Illinois raced back up 11 off two 3-pointers by Cierra Rice to start the second half. Rice was a thorn in Columbia's side all day, finishing with a game-high 23 points on 8-of-9 shooting, including 5-of-6 from beyond the arc. She helped her team go up, 54-38, halfway through the third period and was a perfect 6-for-6 shooting entering the fourth quarter. Columbia first-years Sienna Durr and Mikayla Markham scored the final four points of the third to cut the lead to 11.
Brown put on a show in the fourth quarter that nearly brought the Lions all the way back. In the end, Columbia created multiple open looks that gave them chances to tie or take the lead that just did not go down. Brown and junior Janiya Clemmons wound up with 14 points apiece with Clemmons hitting 7-of-14 attempts from the floor and adding a team-high seven rebounds. Clemmons and Flynn led the Lions with four assists apiece. Markham had 10 points and six boards to round out Columbia's double-figure scorers.
"I practice this stuff every day so it was just finally putting it together for the game and doing what I know I can do with the help of my teammates," said Brown, who also came up with a season-high four rebounds. "There are times that we work so well together but we obviously have a lot to clean up to get to where we want to be. I'm excited to keep going with these girls and see where we can go because I know we can be really good if we keep working together."
Both sides made 27 field goals and nine 3-pointers with Columbia generating six more attempts from the field. The final difference came at the charity stripe, where Illinois hit just 13-of-25 (.520) but got there 17 more times than the Lions (6-8). Alex Wittinger earned a double-double of 14 points and 10 rebounds.
Columbia returns to New York for one more game before the Thanksgiving break, hosting Houston (2-3) on Wednesday at 2 p.m.
POST-GAME NOTES
- Columbia played just its second game in program history against a Big Ten opponent. The Lions fell to Iowa 72-69, in November of 2009 at the University of Nevada Nugget Classic. Columbia's two games against Big Ten opponents have been decided by a combined 10 points.
- Brown joins Mikayla Markham, Sienna Durr and Madison Hardy as first-years who have tallied their first double-figure scoring games. Durr leads the way with three while Markham has two.
- Columbia's 32 3-point attempts were its most in a game since Nov. 13, 2015 when they took 33 at UMBC.
