NEW YORK – Columbia women's basketball (11-8, 2-4 Ivy) completes the first round of Ivy League play this weekend when it hosts Dartmouth and Harvard at Levien Gymnasium. The Lions will hold their annual Play4Kay game Friday night against the Big Green at 7 p.m. Both games are part of Columbia's Alumnae Weekend.

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Fans can watch this weekend's games live on SportsNet New York (SNY). The games can also be accessed online through ESPN+. Live stats will be available through GoColumbiaLions.com. You can also receive live updates by following @CULionsWBB on Twitter.


ALUMNAE WEEKEND 
• Women's Basketball alumnae who have not yet RSVP'd, please reach out to Emily Maury for event details at egm2141@columbia.edu.
 

#PLAY4KAY
• Columbia will host its annual Play4Kay game Friday night against Dartmouth. The first 100 fans in attendance will receive free pink water bottle. Additionally, fans who wear pink to the game will receive 50 percent off their ticket price (ticket discount applies only to tickets purchased at Levien Gymnasium). The women's basketball team will be wearing white warm-ups with a pink Play4Kay logo on them in support of the Kay Yow Cancer Fund and its mission is to extend and improve the lives of those who are battling cancer.
 
Click here to donate to join the Columbia women's basketball team in donating to the Kay Yow Cancer Fund.

 
OPENING TIPS
• The Lions are coming off a road weekend at Penn and Princeton, falling in overtime to the Quakers, 86-84, on Friday night and being defeated by Ivy League unbeaten Princeton, 77-55, on Saturday. Columbia's two-point overtime loss at The Palestra was the closest it has come to beating Penn since its last victory in 2011.
 
• First-year Abbey Hsu scored a career-high 28 points Friday at Penn, hitting 11-of-17 from the field and 6-of-9 from deep. Hsu scored 11 third-quarter points, giving the Lions the lead after trailing by as many as 10 late in the first half. Her 28 points are the most by a first-year since Tori Oliver netted 33 vs. Dartmouth on Feb. 28, 2014.
 
• Friday's result dropped Columbia to 0-3 this season in overtime (at Albany, at Cornell, at Penn). Columbia is 2-3 this season in games decided by four points or less. All three of its losses have come in overtime.
 
• The last time Dartmouth and Harvard visited Levien Gymnasium made for an exciting weekend. The Lions went on a 22-0 first-quarter run against the Crimson and held on to earn a 75-65 home win. It marked just the fourth time since becoming a Div. I program that the Lions defeated the Crimson. The next day, Columbia nearly completed an Ivy weekend sweep but was dealt a one-point loss, 70-69, in the final seconds by Dartmouth.


QUICK NOTES
• Abbey Hsu leads the team in scoring (14.2) and ranks No. 7 in the Ivy League.
• Hsu is tops in the Ivy League in 3-point field goal percentage (.426) and is No. 2 among all NCAA freshmen.
• Sienna Durr leads the team in rebounding (6.1) and is second on the team in scoring (12.1).
• Janiya Clemmons is top 10 in the Ivy League in steals (36, 1.9/game) and assists (59, 2.9/game).
• Hannah Pratt (0.9) and Kaitlin Davis (0.9) each rank inside the top 10 in the Ivy League in blocks per game.
• Janiya Clemmons (1.9) and Abbey Hsu (1.5) each rank in the top 10 in the Ivy League in steals per game.
• Hsu (32.1) and Clemmons (30.9) are also top 10 in the league in minutes played.
• Columbia has shot better than its opponent in 14 of its 19 games.
• Columbia is 11-0 when holding the opponent to fewer than 70 points and 0-8 when opponent scores more.
• Columbia is 9-2 in day games and 7-3 on the weekend.
• Nine of Columbia's 11 wins have come when holding the opponent under 40 percent shooting.


EXTRAS FROM PENN-PRINCETON WEEKEND
• Sienna Durr's double-double of 16 points and 15 rebounds at Penn marked her third double-double of the year and seventh of her career.
• Durr's double-double against Penn marked her second straight game with a double-double. It also marked the second time in Durr's career she has had a double-double in back-to-back games (Nov. 29 & Dec. 2, 2018).
• Despite the loss, Columbia scored a season-high 84 points against Penn.
• First-year point guard Carly Rivera tied her season-high of nine points against the Quakers. Seven of her nine points came in overtime. Her two points in regulation tied the game at 75 with less than 30 seconds left.
• Junior Andrea McCormick scored a season-high six points by hitting two late threes at Princeton.


HSU'S HISTORIC IVY START
• Abbey Hsu enters the weekend having scored 113 total points through the first six Ivy League games of her career and is averaging 18.8 points over that span. Hsu's 113 points are the most by a first-year Lion in her first six Ivy League games in program history. In those games, she is shooting 48.9 percent from the floor and 49.0 percent (24-49) from the perimeter. Her scoring average ranks third among league competitors in league play, while her 3-point percentage ranks second and her field goal percentage ranks third. She also leads the Ivies across the first six games with 24 made treys.


GROWING UP
• Columbia has significantly improved in rebounding and blocked shots compared to last season. Through 19 games, the Lions rank 54th in the NCAA in rebounds (40.79), 64th in rebound margin (+4.8) and 79th in blocked shots (4.0). At the end of last season, Columbia was sitting 200th or worse in the NCAA in all three categories, including 339th out of 348 in blocked shots (1.6).


SCOUTING DARTMOUTH
• The Big Green (7-12, 1-5 Ivy) got off to a 1-0 Ivy League start with a last-second, 63-62, victory over Harvard, but have since dropped five straight by an average margin of 22.4 points per game. Their last four losses have come at home. Friday marks the start of a four-game road swing for the Big Green. Dartmouth ranks 341st out of 348 Div. I teams in scoring offense (53.2). Annie McKenna leads the offensive effort with a team-high 11.8 points per game. Paula Lenart, a 5-11 forward, averages a team-best 6.1 rebounds.

 
SCOUTING HARVARD
started the weekend off with a 66-57 win over the Bulldogs on Friday, followed by a 68-53 victory against Brown on Saturday. Junior co-captain Rachel Levy led the Crimson, posting back-to-back double-doubles and a career-high 19 rebounds against Yale. First-year Lola Mullaney was named the Ivy League Rookie of the Week for the third time this season, scoring 19 against Yale and 14 against Brown. Mullaney averages a team-best 15.5 points on the season. Harvard has four players in the top 20 of the Ivy League in rebounds, led by Jeannie Boehm's 9.6 per contest.
 

INSIDE COLUMBIA BASKETBALL PODCAST
• The Inside Columbia Basketball Podcast is back for second season. Columbia Athletics debuted the new podcast last season, which features weekly interviews with coaches and members of the men's and women's basketball programs. New episodes are available weekly on iTunes and SoundCloud.


THE IVY LEAGUE ON ESPN+
All home Columbia games and most Ivy League road contests will air on ESPN+ as part of The Ivy League's partnership with ESPN. ESPN+ is a new, subscription-based service that offers monthly ($4.99) and yearly ($49.99) plans. Click here to subscribe to ESPN+ and start your free trial! Click here for frequently asked questions about the Ivy League on ESPN.  


#ROADTOIVYMADNESS
• This year's Ivy League Men's and Women's Basketball Tournaments will be hosted by Harvard at Laveites Gymnasium. The top four men's and women's teams will earn berths to the tournament with the women's semifinals on Friday, March 13, and the championship on Saturday, March 14. All games will be broadcast live on ESPN's networks. For tickets and more information please visit IvyMadness.com.
 
 
COLUMBIA WOMEN'S BASKETBALL ON SOCIAL MEDIA
For the latest on the Columbia women's basketball program, follow @CULionsWBB on Twitter and Instagram, on Facebook at Facebook.com/ColumbiaWBB, on the web at GoColumbiaLions.com.