NEW HAVEN, Conn. – The Columbia women's basketball team took another big stride toward its first Ivy League postseason berth on Saturday, building a 17-point first-half lead and finding the grit to hold off Yale, 74-65, at Lee Amphitheater.
The win is Columbia's fourth in a row in league play, improving to 15-8 overall with a 6-4 mark against the Ancient Eight. The Lions conclude the weekend tied for third place with Yale in the Ivy League standings, a game ahead of fifth-place Harvard which dropped to 5-5 after getting swept over the weekend by Princeton and Penn. The top four teams in the league standings qualify for the Ivy League Tournament, presented by TIAA (March 13-14).
Columbia's four-game Ivy League winning streak is just the second in program history – the only other came in 2008 – and its 15 total wins are its most in a decade.
"We knew Yale is an experienced team … we knew they would make a run at us at some point," Columbia head coach
Megan Griffith said. "I think for our players to understand we could still have runs in us -- we need to still string together stops – it was a lot of good growth that we saw tonight. I'm really proud of them."
Columbia and Yale (16-7, 6-4 Ivy) entered as the top two scoring teams in the Ivy League. The Lions held the Bulldogs to just 25 first-half points on their home court. Yale also ended the game at less than 40 percent shooting – Columbia shot over 47 percent – and was outrebounded by the Lions, 40-31.
"It showed that our team was ready to execute a defensive game plan," Griffith said. "We were sharing the ball really well with a lot of people getting on the stat sheet."
For the second straight night, sophomore
Sienna Durr led the Lions in scoring. The Grinnell, Iowa native put up a team-high 18 points on 6-of-11 shooting, including 3-of-6 from long range. She also recorded a team-high eight rebounds and three assists. Meanwhile, first-year
Kaitlyn Davis, a native of nearby Norwalk, Connecticut, scored 14 points and gathered seven rebounds in front of a group of close family and friends.
Sophomore
Mikayla Markham rounded out a trio of Lions in double figures with 10 points off the bench. Led by Markham's 10, Columbia's bench outscored Yale's, 25-3.
For Yale, Camilla Emsbo led the way with a game-high 28 points (11-15 FG). Roxy Barahman had 13 while Megan Gorman had a good shooting night from three and finished with 11.
The crowd at Lee Amphitheater made for a playoff-like atmosphere between two teams competing for one of the four spots in the Ivy League Tournament. Columbia fed off that energy early, putting together a 21-2 run that resulted in a 32-15 lead. It forced Yale head coach Allison Guth to call for time with 6:40 left in the first half. Durr, Markham and senior
Janiya Clemmons all hit from the perimeter during the run that spanned 5:19 between the first and second quarters.
"To have our band come in and support us all the way from New York and have our SWA come here and have our people in the stands – you know people are cheering for us in a road environment – that stuff carries you," Griffith added. "It's like having a sixth man out there. It was a really great feeling and I'm thankful we have that support and people are excited about what we're doing."
The Lions maintained a double-digit lead at the half, 39-25, and opened the second half with a bucket by
Kaitlyn Davis to push the margin to 16. Yale answered with eight straight to cut the lead in half but sophomore
Hannah Pratt came through with a triple followed by an old-fashioned 3-point play to stop the run.
However, the Bulldogs would not go down easily. Eight straight points to close the third quarter cut the lead to six before two free throws by Barahman brought it to a bucket, 49-47, with 8:54 remaining. Davis stopped the bleeding and the two teams traded buckets over the next several minutes. Columbia's lead was just three, 60-57, entering the final four minutes.
First-year
Abbey Hsu hit the big three that spurred the final run of the game and the Lions went 8-for-8 at the charity stripe across the last 41 seconds to seal back-to-back Ivy League weekend sweeps for the first time in program history.
Columbia will continue its four-game road swing next weekend when it heads to Harvard and Dartmouth. Friday night's tip at Lavietes Pavilion is set for 7 p.m., followed by a Saturday night game in Hanover, New Hampshire at 5 p.m. Both games will be available on ESPN+.
For the latest on the Columbia women's basketball program, follow @CULionsWBB on
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