NEW YORK – The Columbia women's basketball team takes its 3-0 record to Easton, Pennsylvania on Thursday, taking on Lafayette College (0-2) inside the Kirby Sports Center at 6 p.m. ET.
GAME COVERAGE
Fans unable to make the trip to Lafayette can watch the game live on
ESPN+.
Live stats will be provided by GoLeopards.com. Live updates will also be posted to the women's basketball team's Twitter page (
@CULionsWBB)
5 THINGS TO KNOW:
1. A COMEBACK FOR THE AGES
• Columbia came back from 14 points down at halftime to defeat Clemson, 82-78, on Sunday. The win was Columbia's second against the ACC and first against the conference on the road.
• The win from a double-digit halftime deficit was Columbia's first since Nov., 19, 2016, when they trailed St. Francis (PA) by 10 on the road and came back to win 84-77. The 14-point comeback was Columbia's largest in more than 17 years.
2. PLAYER OF THE WEEK SWEEP
•
Abbey Hsu and
Kitty Henderson were named Ivy League Player and Rookie of the Week, respectively, for the first week of action. Hsu averaged 20.7 points, 4.3 rebounds and shot an impressive 10-of-24 (.417) from 3-point range, including back-to-back 22-point outings against Hampton and Davidson. Henderson averaged 12.3 points, 4.3 rebounds, 2.0 assists and shot 53.8 percent from the field. The first-year out of Australia did all of her work off the bench and had 16 points in each of the road victories at Davidson and Clemson. Henderson scored 10 of her 16 points at Clemson in the second half to lead the Lions to a comeback victory.
• Columbia last swept the Ivy honors on Feb. 17, 2020 when
Abbey Hsu was named both Player and Rookie of the Week. Hsu was also the USBWA Tamika Catchings National Freshman of the Week that week after averaging 25.0 points, shooting over 50 percent from the field and 10-of-20 from three in wins over Harvard and Dartmouth.
3. 3-0 START
• Columbia is 3-0 for the fourth time since becoming a Div. I program (1986-87). The last time the Lions started 3-0 was in 2015-16 with victories over UMBC, Vermont and UMass Lowell. The other two 3-0 starts came in 2002-03 and 1988-89. The Lions will be looking for just their second ever 4-0 start, which last happened in 2002-03.
• Through the first three games, Columbia has scored a total of 247 points (82.3 ppg), which are its most through three games in program history. Columbia's back-to-back 80-point performances at Davidson and Clemson marked the first time they had done that since Jan. 3-6, 2016.
4. TAKING DOWN THE POWER CONFERENCES
• With Sunday's win at Clemson, Columbia is 5-4 in its last nine games against power-conference opponents (ACC, Big 10, Big 12, BIG EAST, SEC, Pac 12). The Lions opened the 2017-18 season by defeating Providence on the road, 73-64, marking their second-straight victory over the Friars. In 2016, Columbia took down Providence in overtime in New York to mark its first win in program history against a BIG EAST opponent. The Lions earned their first ACC win in the 2017-18 season when they defeated Boston College, 68-60, in front of a record 2,372 fans on Education Day. In 2019-20, they added to the tally with a 54-49 victory on Education Day over Georgetown (Dec. 6).
5. THE OPPONENT
• Lafayette (0-2) will be playing its home opener Thursday night after starting with road losses to Pitt, 72-63, and Duquense, 60-47. Sophomore Makayla Andrews (13.5) and freshman Claire Gallagher (12.0) are the Leopards' leading scorers through two games. The duo combined for 36 points in the season opener at Pitt. Makaila Wilson heads the effort on the glass with an impressive 10.0 rebounds per game so far. Jessica Booth has handed out the majority of the assists (9).
• The Leopards played 13 games in a COVID-shortened 2020-21 season, going 5-8 overall with a 5-7 record in the Patriot League. The year prior, they had a winning 15-14 season with an 11-7 Patriot mark.
• Lafayette leads the all-time series 4-3. Thursday will mark the first series matchup since Nov. 19, 2014, a game which the Lions won by a score of 72-65. The series began in Easton in 2007 with a 74-66 Columbia victory.
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MORNINGSIDE HOOPS
The newly branded Morningside Hoops podcast is back for a fourth season. Formerly known as Inside Columbia Basketball, the podcast features weekly interviews with coaches and members of the men's and women's basketball programs. New episodes are available weekly on SoundCloud, Spotify and Apple Podcasts.
To listen to this week's episode,
click here.
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For the latest on the Columbia women's basketball, follow @CULionsWBB on
Twitter,
Instagram and
Facebook, or on the web at
GoColumbiaLions.com.
