NEW YORK – First years
Abbey Hsu and
Kaitlyn Davis combined for 29 points to lead the Columbia women's basketball team to a statement victory on Sunday, as the Lions took down reigning Atlantic 10 Conference champion, Fordham, 70-51, inside Levien Gymnasium.
The win was the first of the season for Columbia (1-2), which bounced back from a home loss to Saint Joseph's on Thursday and an overtime loss at Albany to open the season on Tuesday. Fordham (0-2), which went 25-9 and won the Atlantic 10 Tournament last season, was coming off a narrow five-point loss to defending national runners-up No. 16/14 Notre Dame on Tuesday at Rose Hill Gym.
"Different people are going to step up – that is the beauty of having a deep team," said Columbia head coach
Megan Griffith in her postgame interview. "I'm really excited about that … Our freshman class is special. They are so locked in to what our team needs. When you have freshmen that can mature and handle adversity, you're going to have a special team. Add that to the leadership we have with Janiya – she's been fantastic."
Ten points from
Mikayla Markham put a trio of Lions in double figures. Meanwhile,
Hannah Pratt,
Janiya Clemmons and
Madison Hardy scored eight points apiece. Clemmons added a game-high five assists and Pratt was a force on the glass with a game-high eight rebounds.
Columbia scored nine of the game's first 11 points to race out to a seven-point lead. After making only one basket over the first five minutes of the game, the Rams responded with a 7-0 run to quickly tie things up.
The two sides went on to trade leads eight times in the first half with neither team leading by more than four. After Fordham used a 7-0 run to go up 31-27 at the 1:41 mark of the second quarter, sophomore guard
Madison Hardy helped her team respond with five straight points to close the half. The Gaithersburg, Maryland native hit a triple with 58 seconds left to cut the lead to one before scoring off a beautiful bounce pass in transition from senior guard
Janiya Clemmons in the final seconds.
"It feels so great. We regrouped, we worked all week for this, we came together and we made it happen," the senior captain Clemmons said. "I'm proud of everybody … Our freshmen are unbelievable. They continue to impress me every single day. They have a great attitude, they come ready to work and they show up on game day. I love it."
The Lions created their first bit of separation with a 7-0 third-quarter run to take their largest lead of eight points. Hsu scored five on the burst, including a triple from the right wing to close out the run with her team in front, 47-39.
Columbia would lead by the same margin heading into the fourth quarter, where it put Fordham away. Back-to-back 3-pointers by
Madison Hardy and
Madison Pack spiked the lead to 14 and the cushion remained double figures the rest of the way. Hsu's 3-pointer with 30 seconds left was the exclamation point, sending the bench and the Columbia faithful into a frenzy.
"I need to write Cindy Griffin from Saint Joe's a thank you card," Griffith added. "I think that game was a wake-up call for us and for the team to understand how important [defense] is and that side of the ball."
The Lions outrebounded Fordham by 10 and shot nearly 46 percent while holding the visitors from the Bronx to 37 percent. Columbia was also a perfect 12-for-12 from the free throw line, marking just the third time in program history it shot 100 percent at the stripe (min. 10 attempts).
After playing three games over the first six days of the season, Columbia has a five-day break before its next contest. The Lions will fly to Western New York on Thursday in preparation for a Friday night battle at Buffalo. A trip to Robert Morris on Sunday concludes the road trip.
For the latest on the Columbia women's basketball program, follow @CULionsWBB on
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