By: Matt Sugam
NEW YORK – Columbia punched its ticket to the Ivy League Tournament and Abbey Hsu set the regular season record for 3-pointers, as the Lions defeated Harvard, 74-70, Friday night in front of a healthy crowd of more than 1,000 fans at Schiller Court at Levien Gymnasium.
However, there's still plenty of unfinished business to take care of.
After COVID canceled the 2020 tournament, the Lions will get their long-awaited chance to play in March Madness, compete for an Ivy League Tournament Title and reach the NCAA Tournament for the first time in program history.
Jaida Patrick led the way with 20 points, eight rebounds and three assists. It's part of a recent emergence in Morningside Heights for the Duke transfer, who's beginning to find more of a comfort level after transferring into Columbia prior to the season, amidst a pandemic.
"It's really hard to transfer into a program, especially as a junior it's really, really hard. And especially with a team that's very solid culturally," head coach Megan Griffith '07CC said. "It took her some time to figure that out, now that she has and she has the trust of her teammates and our coaches, her career's going to take off from here.
"When we recruited her, I told her 'you're going to be a pro. You can be a pro, it's going to be hard and you have to go out and earn it.' So I'm excited for her. I know that she's not satisfied and she's hungry to continue to get better and I think we're just starting to see the potential of Jaida Patrick."
And in turn, the Lions.
Columbia is on the cusp of finishing the weekend with the most Ivy League wins in a season in program history with Dartmouth (3-20, 2-9 Ivy League) on tap Saturday.
With three more games to play after that, they already boast the most wins in a season in program history.
"I told them, 'we clinched a spot. That's awesome. Let's celebrate … but we have to treat every game like its the Ivy League Tournament,'" Griffith said. "To me, the Ivy League Tournament isn't in three weeks. The Ivy league Tournament is tomorrow night if we want to go out and continue to do what we want to do."
With the first Ivy League title in school history within reach, Columbia controls its own destiny with first-place Princeton looming on Wednesday night.
"All this record setting, breaking, whatever it is – it feels good, but we're never satisfied," Hsu said. "We're never satisfied because then we don't want to get complacent. We're still trying to get better every day. And I feel like that's what we're focusing on. Not focused on records right now."
Hsu's record-breaking and record-tying shots displayed her silky smooth sharpshooting ability. The first 3-pointer was a lightning quick release from the wing on an inbounds. Then, she closed out a back-and-forth first half with a step-back jumper to break the regular season record for 3-pointers by a Columbia player (74) and put the Lions up 35-31 at the break.
Hsu finished with 13 points and six rebounds.
After foul trouble in the first half, Kaitlyn Davis scored 12 of her 18 points and four of her six rebounds in the second half for Columbia, as Harvard trailed by as many as nine.
The sweep of Harvard (12-11, 6-5 Ivy League) was Columbia's (18-4, 9-1 Ivy League) third season sweep of the season.
"We have a group of people that really believe in our culture and the people that are here and when you have that, you can really accomplish great things," Griffith said. "This is just a byproduct of that."
Carly Rivera dished out a team-high nine assists to go along with eight points and five rebounds. Kitty Henderson added seven points, eight rebounds, and five assists.
After the omicron variant wreaked havoc on the schedule and limited attendance due to COVID policies, Columbia celebrated Alumnae Weekend at Levien Gymnasium. As part of the festivities, the Lions held both Barnard College Night and their annual Play4Kay game on Friday. It included a robust student section.
"It felt great. The crowd gave us so much energy. And gave them a close game," Hsu quipped. "Their energy really gave us the extra push."
Columbia was plagued by 21 turnovers, as Harvard racked up 14 steals.
The Lions return to action on Saturday when they host Dartmouth (2-20, 1-9 Ivy League) at 5 p.m. on Schiller Court at Levien Gym. Saturday's game against the Big Green is Columbia's second annual Pride Night. The first 1,000 fans in attendance will receive a free Pride Night rally towel.
"I'm excited to see where we're going. I think the ceiling is still very high," Griffith said. "We have a lot of things we still need to figure out as a program and this is definitely not the finished product of Columbia women's basketball."
Tickets for the Lions' remaining home games are available by visiting gocolumbialions.com/tickets or calling 888-LIONS-11. For venue policies, click here. Fans unable to watch the games can see them live on ESPN
For the latest on Columbia men's basketball, follow @CULionsWBB on Twitter and Instagram, and the web at GoColumbiaLions.com.
Matt Sugam '23 SPS has been covering sports in the NYC Metropolitan area for over a decade. He has spent the last eight years covering college and professional sports as a stringer for the Associated Press, while also contributing to The New York Times, USA Today Network, NJ.com, and SNY.tv. He will be covering Lions Athletics for gocolumbialions.com while pursuing an M.S. in Strategic Communication at Columbia's School of Professional Studies. Follow him on Twitter @MattSugam.
