NEW YORK — All cylinders were firing for the Columbia women's basketball team as the Lions cruised to their largest margin of victory in an Ivy League game in over a decade, defeating Brown, 93-62, Friday night inside Levien Gymnasium.

Columbia (8-16, 4-7 Ivy) remains in the hunt for one of the top four spots to qualify for the Ivy League Tournament. Friday's victory places them one game back of Yale (5-6) and Dartmouth (5-6), both of which are tied for fourth place. Cornell (4-7 Ivy) defeated Yale Friday in Ithaca to place four teams all within a game of each other for the fourth and final spot. The Lions have a chance to catch Yale when the Bulldogs visit Levien Gym Saturday.

"It's great and this is what you would hope for," Columbia head coach Megan Griffith stated. "This is the right team and we get most of them back next year … but right now we just have to stay focused one game at a time."

As for Columbia's performance Friday night, the Lions put up season-highs in points, field goals (36), and shooting percentage (.522), while scoring 30 points off 20 Brown turnovers and holding the Bears to just 36-percent shooting.

"This was one of our better defensive games and Brown is a team that is really dangerous," Griffith added. "They can put up a ton of points and we saw that the first time we played them. I'm proud that we stuck to our principles, stayed disciplined and played with our edge."

Three Lions had 20-point performances in the win. Janiya Clemmons tied her career-high with 23 points on 11-of-14 shooting to lead all scorers and added a career-high seven assists on top of six rebounds. Five-time Ivy League Rookie of the Week Sienna Durr and sophomore Riley Casey each secured their sixth 20-point games of the year, with Durr going for a 22 and Casey hitting an even 20. Durr filled up the stat sheet with six rebounds, three assists, a block and a steal. It marked the second time this season the trio all scored 20 points in a victory.

"I think what makes this unique is that we share the ball and nobody cares who is doing the scoring," Griffith continued. "I think we've really found a good balance of when to feed the hot hand and look for that person and when to make the right play. Riley got into the paint and made aggressive plays off of close outs, which shows the growth in her understanding of the game. Same thing with Sienna not being afraid to pull up from three early. Janiya also hit a three tonight and was scoring all over the place as well. It's just a really balanced attack and we focus on that every day in practice."

Twelve Lions found the scoring column before the final horn sounded to help Columbia score its most points in an Ivy League game since 1988, when it scored a program-record 114 in a quadruple-overtime victory over Penn.

Brown (9-18, 1-10 Ivy) was led by senior Shayna Mehta's 19 points. Justine Gaziano scored a dozen but was just 3-for-10 from the field as the Bears were officially eliminated from Ivy League Tournament contention.

Columbia was trailing 20-18 at the end of the first quarter but took the lead in the opening minutes of the second and never looked back. Clemmons hit each of her first three shots before Durr's 3-pointer at the 6:35 mark gave the Lions the lead for good. A triple by Stephanie Flynn and three straight 3-point possessions by Casey capped a 22-2 run that broke the game open with Columbia leading, 40-25. They maintained their 15-point edge heading into the half.

Columbia pulled away in the second half. Another Casey 3-ball made it a 20-point game before a quick 9-0 burst that spanned just 57 seconds forced Brown to call for time trailing, 61-32. The Bears never got back within 20 as the lead swelled to as many as 33 in the final minutes when junior Maya Sampleton elated her teammates and the Levien Gymnasium crowd with five straight points off the bench.

Columbia will celebrate its senior class prior to Saturday night's 5 p.m. tip against Yale. Abby Lee, Josie Little and Sarah Elston will all be honored in a pregame ceremony. 

POST-GAME NOTES

- Columbia's 93 points were its most since scoring 94 in a win over St. Francis (PA) on Dec. 6, 2017.

- Columbia's 93 points were its most in an Ivy League game since beating Penn, 114-111, in a quadruple overtime affair on March 5, 1988.

- Janiya Clemmons (23), Sienna Durr (22) and Riley Casey (20) all scored 20 points in a game for the second time this season, also doing so on Feb. 8 in a 75-65 victory over Harvard.

- Columbia's 31-point margin of victory is its largest in an Ivy League game since defeating Brown, 88-57, on Feb. 20, 2009. It matches Columbia's largest victory over the Bears in the series.

- Columbia earned its first season sweep over Brown since 2013 and has won three straight in the series.

- Columbia won its fourth Ivy League game, which is its most since going 6-8 in 2010-11.