NEW YORK – The Columbia women's basketball team (2-5) concludes a three-game road swing on Sunday when it travels to Chestnut Hill to take on Boston College (6-1). Tip from Conte Forum is set for 2 p.m. with the game streaming live on ACC Network Extra.
OPENING TIPS
• Columbia is 1-2 in program history against the Atlantic Coast Conference, picking up its first win over the conference last season when it defeated Boston College, 68-60, in Manhattan. Columbia's two other games against the ACC both came against NC State during the 2008-09 and 2009-10 seasons.
• First-year Sienna Durr is coming off her first collegiate double-double on Thursday at St. Joe's, going for 16 points and 12 rebounds. Durr leads the team in points per game (14.1) and field goal percentage (.514), both of which rank among the top-five in the Ivy League. She is the only active Lion with a double-double in her career.
• First-year Mikayla Markham is the reigning Ivy League Rookie of the Week after averaging 7.0 points, 8.5 assists and 3.0 steals in games against Houston and Colgate. She went for 10 assists against the Cougars, becoming the first Lion in 10 years to post a 10-assist game. She is one of five freshmen in the NCAA this season to have 10 assists in one of their first five games, and one of only two freshmen to do so against a Div. I opponent. She leads the Ivy League in assists (37) and assists per game (5.3).
• Mikayla Markham ranks No. 7 among NCAA freshmen in assists per game (5.3). Sienna Durr ranks No. 9 among NCAA freshmen in field goal percentage (.514).
• Columbia is coming off a 68-61 overtime loss at St. Joseph's on Thursday. The Lions played their first overtime game since January 27, 2017, marking 47 contests since its last overtime game. The 2017 game came at Dartmouth and went to quadruple overtime before resulting in a 91-88 Columbia victory. It was the first Ivy League win for head coach Megan Griffith.
• Columbia hopes to end a five-game losing streak after starting the season 2-0.
• Sunday's game will be Columbia's last outside of New York City until it flies to Mercer on Jan. 6.
• Columbia's first-year class has provided 54 percent of the team's points, 50 percent of its rebounds and 60 percent of its assists this season.
• First-year Mikayla Markham ranks No. 2 in the Ivy League in minutes played (35.8/game).
• First-year Madison Hardy is 16-for-41 (.390) from 3-point range and ranks No. 2 among qualified players in the Ivy League (min. 2 makes/game).
• Junior Janiya Clemmons and first-year Sienna Durr share the team lead in rebounds (6.3/game)
• Clemmons scored 11 points on Thursday at Saint Joseph's which was her 10th career game in double figures.
• Clemmons enters Sunday averaging 10.0 points and 3.0 assists, ranking second on the team in both categories.
• Saint Joseph's 11 3-pointers (11-33) and 17 steals were the most by a Columbia opponent this season.
• First-years Mikayla Markham, Madison Hardy, Sienna Durr and Lilian Kennedy all started on Thursday at St. Joe's. It marked the first time the Lions started four first-years in more than 10 years.
SCOUTING BOSTON COLLEGE
• Boston College (6-1) started the season with six straight wins before Providence handed the Eagles their first loss, 61-57, on Tuesday. They won their first six games by an average of 27.7 points, including a 112-61 blowout over Rider. Freshman Marnelle Garraud scored a career-high 28 points against the Broncs and enters Sunday's contest averaging a team-best 15.0 points per game. Junior Emma Guy is second on the team in scoring (13.8) and leads the Eagles in rebounds (7.9). Guy is shooting 61.8 percent, a mark that ranks No. 1 in the ACC and 19th nationally. Boston College leads the conference in assists per game (17.6), rebounds per game (46.86) and offensive rebounds per game (20). Its offensive rebounding mark is 4th-best in the country. The Eagles are coached by Joanna Bernabei-McNamee, who was hired in April after spending the last two seasons at Albany.
IN RARE COMPANY
• First-year Mikayla Markham registered 10 assists Houston (Nov. 21). In doing so, Markham became the first Lion since February of 2009 to record 10 assists in a game, when Danielle Brown dished out 11 in an 88-57 victory over Brown. Markham's 10-assist performance came in just her fifth collegiate game. She is one of five freshmen in the NCAA this season to have 10 assists in one of her first five collegiate games. The other four all did it in their first game, but only one of the other four, Laura Piera of Grand Canyon, did it against a Div. I opponent. Piera had 14 assists on Nov. 9 against Incarnate Word. Markham's 10 assists were also two shy of Columbia's single-game record, accomplished twice by Charlene Schuessler '90BC, who was just inducted into the Columbia Athletics Hall of Fame in October.
#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.
