By: Matt Sugam

NEW YORK – When Megan Griffith '07CC returned to Morningside Heights in the spring of 2016 with a winning pedigree, she came with a blueprint to build a championship culture.

After spending six seasons on the coaching staff at Princeton, winning five Ivy League titles, Griffith was hired to coach the program where she was a three-time captain and two-time Ivy League player at point guard, scoring over 1,000 points and still holding the single-season record for assists (148).

At 31, she was the third youngest Division I coach in the country with the second-youngest coaching staff. Six years, five seasons, and one global pandemic later, Griffith now has the Columbia women's basketball program at the precipice of its first Ivy League Title.

Taking over a program that's highlight is a 1985-86 team went 21-6 and won the New York State AIAW Championships, earning the program's lone NCAA Tournament bid and finishing third at the NCAA Div. III East Regional, Columbia had nowhere to go but up.

The Lions took their lumps through Griffith's first few years as she laid the foundation, but she kept her vision: a team built on its culture as much as its talent. Fast forward to this past weekend, she had her team playing in front of a raucous student section, filled with proud former players and alumni in the 2,700-seat bandbox, Levien Gymnasium.

To get there, Griffith sold players all over the globe. 

This year's roster is built with players from the tri-state area and across the country. The Lions' coaching staff has also helped usher in the international-player movement that is starting to be felt across the Ivy League.

One of the first to buy into Griffith's vision was 2018 Iowa Class 4A Player of the Year, Sienna Durr

While the Grinnell, Iowa native had individual success as a rookie, being selected both Metropolitan Basketball Writers Association and Ivy League Rookie of the Year, the team wasn't quite there as a whole. Though they were competitive in most games, the Lions finished with an 8-19 overall record and were 4-10 in the Ivy League.

A year later, the puzzle started to take shape. First, a non-conference season that saw the Lions defeat three reigning conference champions. Then, sitting at 2-4 in the league play, they rolled off an unprecedented six-game Ivy League winning streak, including the program's first season sweep of Harvard. By the end of it, they had punched a ticket to their first Ivy League Tournament. 

Now, the Lions have clinched their second-straight Ivy League Tournament bid and are in the midst of the best season in program history, with the biggest Ivy League game in program history on tap. In the de facto Ivy League title game for the regular season. Columbia (19-4, 10-1 Ivy) will face Princeton (19-4, 11-0 Ivy) on Schiller Court at Levien Gym on Wednesday's night at 5 p.m. ET. The game will be nationally televised on ESPNU.

"It's really cool. We haven't been in this position before, so it just shows the hard work and dedication that we've put in over the years," Durr said. "It really goes to show that every single day that we put in and all the adversity that we hit, it really matters and it's going to get us good stuff in the end."

The Lions had their shot at a dream season ripped away in 2020 when the COVID pandemic canceled the Ivy League Tournament. After the 2021-22 campaign was wiped out, the Lions came back ready to complete the unfinished business from March of 2020, restocked and reloaded. 

It's a roster built to beat teams in a lot of ways. There's a sharpshooter in Abbey Hsu, an intimidating paint presence in Kaitlyn Davis, the experience of Durr, as well as more talent in the likes of Australian first-year starter Kitty Henderson and junior Duke transfer Jaida Patrick, who has been on a tear of late.

"It's been pretty great since I first got here, just experiencing such an amazing culture like I've never experienced before," Patrick said. "We created this winning mindset and we created this winning program. It's so great to see the trajectory of where the program is going right now. We've been waiting for this moment and we've been looking forward to it, so we're excited that it's finally coming up and we're ready. We're ready."

Quite frankly, they weren't in the first matchup at Jadwin Gym on Feb. 5. The team lost its edge and underdog mentality, falling 57-39. Columbia looked like the team that hasn't been there before, while Princeton appeared every bit of the team that has won 14 Ivy League Championships.

This time, the Lions are hungry to hunt down the Tigers.

"They're ready," Griffith said emphatically. "We had a big wake-up call last time we played them."

The magnitude of the game can't be escaped. Columbia has been taking care of business all season and has the only opportunity they could ask for right in front of them, a chance to reclaim first place.

"I think it hit us but we're trying not to overthink it or get too overzealous," Patrick said. "We have just been trying to take it day-by-day, and it starts on Monday for us when we're back in the gym and back at it as a team. When we play Princeton again, we want to make sure we're as ready as possible – locked in mentally and our bodies are there physically."

As Griffith has brought her alma mater to new heights, playing to contend for the team's first Ivy League title in late February has been a long time coming for the tough-love coach.
 

"I don't know if patience is the best word to describe me," Griffith said. "But I will say this, I think I can coach them hard because they know how much I care about them and that I love them. Ultimately, I know how to win and I told them, 'I've won five championships as a coach and as a player. Nobody else in this room has done that, so if you guys want to go places that we haven't been, you have to trust me. You have to trust that everything I'm doing is for the best of the team.'

And I think our team gets that. I think they want to be good. They want to be really good. They want to be great."

Tickets for the Lions' remaining home games are available by visiting gocolumbialions.com/tickets or calling Tickets for the Lions' remaining home games are available by visiting gocolumbialions.com/tickets or calling 888-LIONS-11. For venue policies, click here. The first 500 fans in attendance vs. Princeton will receive a free t-shirt. Fans unable to watch the games can see them live on ESPN+.

​​For the latest on Columbia women's basketball, follow @CULionsWBB on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook, or on 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.