BETHLEHEM, Pa. – First-year Kitty Henderson hit a go-ahead 3-pointer with 38.8 seconds remaining and junior Kaitlyn Davis blocked Rider's potential game-winning shot on the other end, as the Columbia women's basketball team survived an ugly outing to defeat Rider, 63-60, Sunday afternoon. The contest was the consolation game of the Christmas City Classic, hosted by Lehigh at Stabler Arena.
Columbia (6-2) made a 9-0 run early in the fourth quarter to take its first lead of the half. Abbey Hsu's triple at the 6:30 mark capped the rally and forced Rider (0-5) to call for time.
Another Hsu trey about a minute later extended the lead to five, but it wasn't over yet. The Broncs reclaimed the lead, 58-56, with seven straight points. After trading buckets on both ends, Rider maintained the slim margin as the clock wound into the final minute.
The shot of the game followed by Henderson. The Lions ran their offense and Kaitlyn Davis kicked out a pass to the open Australian, who knocked down what proved to be the game-winning trey.
"This team has shown that we can battle with anybody," Columbia head coach Megan Griffith said. "I think Rider gave us their best punch today. I really respect their coach and how they run their program … For us, this is another learning experience. We have to take today and take yesterday and make sure that we get better from these experiences. This is why we do this and test ourselves early in the season. It's going to prepare us for future games."
The Broncs ran the clock down inside 15 seconds looking for the winner, but the Columbia defense locked in and came up with the stop on a block by Davis. Carly Rivera would hit two free throws with 4.2 seconds left to increase the lead to three and Makayla Firebaugh's trey at the buzzer clanged off the rim to send the Lions home victorious.
"I think it just shows the grit we have and the way we can compete all the way down to the wire," said sophomore Paige Lauder, who contributed season-highs of seven points and six rebounds while also picking up her first blocked shot in the win. "We'll definitely have to clean up some stuff, but it shows how we'll never give up and we always have that fighting mentality."
Hsu and Davis paced the Lions in scoring with 12 points apiece. Davis also came up with game-highs of eight rebounds, four steals and three blocks. Columbia battered Rider on the glass, 49-22, including 23-7 in offensive rebounds. Forty of the Lions' points came in the paint.
Ten different Lions found the scoring column on Sunday in a weekend that saw the offense distributed amongst a number of players. Saturday against Mizzou, all nine Lions that saw the floor scored.
Columbia needed every one of those points to stop a two-game losing skid dealt at the hands of undefeated Stony Brook and Mizzou. The Lions started well on Sunday, using a 6-0 run to jump out to a 13-8 lead midway through the first quarter. They hit six of their first seven shots, all but one of which came in the paint.
What felt like it had the makings of an offensive explosion turned out to be nothing of the sort. Rider ended the quarter on an 8-0 run, including a three at the buzzer by Jessika Schiffer to take an 18-17 lead.
The Rider run extended to 12-1 as the Broncs went up, 22-18, early in the second. The Lions put an end to the bleeding on a Hsu 3-ball. Senior Mikayla Markham followed with a nice running floater as Columbia warmed up by hitting 4-of-5 from the field to reclaim a one-point advantage.
Eight second-quarter turnovers plagued the Lions and helped Rider take a two-point edge into the locker rooms. Despite the score, Columbia was up 22-12 in the paint, 11-2 on the break and 9-5 in second-chance points. Rider overcame those numbers by hitting 5-of-11 from three and causing those 11 Columbia turnovers.
Points were hard to come by through the third quarter for both teams. The Lions went down by as many as seven before scoring their first points over four minutes into the half. They trailed by three heading to the fourth.
Firebaugh, who scored a game-high 26 points with a 6-for-12 mark from the outside, started the fourth quarter with one of her threes, but the Lions finally found the answer they were searching for all game. Davis and Henderson scored inside before Jaida Patrick dropped a bucket in transition to tie things up, 48-48, with 6:59 remaining.
That set the stage for the final minutes, where the Lions prevailed to ride home winners.
At the conclusion of the game, Abbey Hsu was named to the Christmas City Classic All-Tournament Team. Hsu averaged 14.5 points in the two games and was a combined 8-of-17 (.471) from the perimeter. She also averaged 6.0 rebounds and 2.5 assists.
The Lions return home on Thursday to host Delaware. Tip-off from Schiller Court at Levien Gymnasium is set for 7 p.m. ET.
For the latest on the Columbia women's basketball, follow @CULionsWBB on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook, or on the web at GoColumbiaLions.com.
