Columbia Secures Winning Season; Battles Past Brown, 76-66

Friday, February 21

Providence, R.I. / Pizzitola Sports Center

6:00 P.M.

Columbia University

14-8, 5-4Ivy

Brown

7-15, 1-8Ivy

Columbia

Brown

Photo by: Columbia University Athletics/Mike McLaughlin

Columbia Secures Winning Season; Battles Past Brown, 76-66

2/21/2020 10:36:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score Box Score Highlights Postgame: Coach Griffith Postgame: Sienna Durr Highlight: Davis' Block Springs Rivera Highlight: Durr Gets Hot Early

Five Lions reach double figures in Columbia’s third straight Ivy League win

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Sienna Durr scored a game-high 17 points and five Lions scored in double figures to lead the Columbia women's basketball team to victory over Brown, 76-66, Friday night at the Pizzitola Sports Center.

With the win, Columbia improves to 14-8, 5-4 Ivy, and locks up its first overall winning season since posting an 18-10 mark back in 2009-10. The victory also catapulted the Lions to the all-important fourth spot in the Ivy League standings, owning the head-to-head tiebreak over Harvard, which has an identical record.

Columbia had to grind out Friday night's victory over a tough Brown side (7-15, 1-8 Ivy). The Bears jumped out to a 12-4 lead before the Lions went on a 10-0 run to flip the scoreboard. The margin grew to 14 in the third quarter but the Bears put together a rally that got them back within five with just over nine minutes left in the ball game. A 7-0 run sparked by a corner trey from first-year Abbey Hsu finally created the separation Columbia needed to hold on.

"I'm proud of them for figuring it out and finding a way," Columbia's fourth-year head coach Megan Griffith said in her postgame interview courtside. "I thought Brown came out really well in that first half and set the tone. Big credit to them trying to defend their home court but it was nice to see a response [from us] in the second half."

Durr had 10 first-quarter points to help erase the early deficit. She completed the night 7-of-9 from the field and 3-for-4 from long range, adding three rebounds, two steals and an assist. Meanwhile, rookie Kailyn Davis impressed with her third double-double of the season, posting 13 points on 5-of-10 shooting with a game-high 12 rebounds. Davis was all over the stat sheet, adding four assists, four steals and a career-high four blocks.

"I think they've matured a lot over the season," added Griffith when asked about her rookie class. "The three freshmen that start for us are wiser than normal freshmen. They've really shown that in the experience they've gotten and in their work ethic. They earned the respect of their teammates pretty early in the season and there is a lot of trust between our team."

First-year point guard Carly Rivera dished out a game-high seven assists to mark three straight games with at least a half dozen. Abbey Hsu, the reigning USBWA Tamika Catching National Freshman of the Week, didn't have her best shooting night but found her groove late to finish with 13 points.

Senior Janiya Clemmons scored 11 and sophomore point guard Mikayla Markham added 10 to round out Columbia's double-figure scorers. Clemmons also came a rebound shy of a double-double.

For Brown, McKenna Dale scored a team-high 16 points to go with seven boards. Justine Gaziano had 15 points while Sydney Rosant chipped in with 13.

Columbia heads to New Haven to take on Yale in less than 24 hours. Tip from Lee Amphitheater is scheduled for Saturday at 4 p.m.

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.