NEW YORK – Columbia's unfinished business will have to wait for the trip to Boston and the Ivy League Tournament.
Princeton's Kaitlyn Chen scored a career-high 27 points and the Tigers went up by as many as 30 points in the first half to defeat Columbia, 73-53, Wednesday night at Levien Gymnasium.
Despite being down 26 at halftime, Columbia (19-5, 10-2 Ivy) came out of the locker rooms inspired, using an 11-2 run to get the raucous home crowd back into the game. Back-to-back buckets by first-year Noa Comesaña and Kitty Henderson cut the deficit to 51-36 with 2:40 left in the third quarter.
That was as close as it got. The seasoned Tigers took a 21-point cushion with their first basket of the fourth quarter and were happy to trade buckets the rest of the way to stay unbeaten in league play.
"Unfortunately, we didn't show up today. It's a shame because [of the] environment the whole University and athletics department worked to create for us," Columbia head coach Megan Griffith said. "It's not about talent. It's about discipline, intelligence and teamwork. Those are the things they beat us in very clearly today."
Columbia announced an attendance of 1,913 for the highly anticipated national television matchup on ESPNU. More than half of those in attendance were students, who packed the bleachers opposite the benches and hung around with the Lions until the very end.
Kaitlyn Davis and Abbey Hsu led the Lions offensively. Davis scored a team-high 17 and was a career-best 3-for-4 from the outside. Hsu scored 13 on 5-of-10 shooting.
Columbia scored the first basket of the night on a Jaida Patrick layup, but Princeton came out on fire from the field to go up 26-8 at the end of the quarter. The Tigers shot 11-of-19 in the frame (.579), led by a dozen from Chen.
Princeton's 16-2 run to end the quarter swelled to a 26-3 run by scoring 10 of the first 11 of the second quarter. At that point, Griffith had seen enough, calling for time at the 6:23 mark with the Lions trailing, 36-9.
Another Chen field goal later in the half made it a 30-point game, 43-13. The Tigers only turned it over once in the first half, outrebounded the Lions 11-6 on the offensive glass and shot over 50 percent from the field.
Columbia's finest moments of the game came in the third quarter. Jaida Patrick hit a three to get the crowd going. A couple minutes later, Hsu hit a three to spark a 7-0 run that cut a 26-point halftime to 17.
Columbia remains in second place in the Ivy League standings and is locked into the No. 2 seed for the Ivy League Tournament.
The Lions return to action on Saturday when they host Brown (6-18, 1-11 Ivy League) at 2 p.m. on Schiller Court at Levien Gym. The game will serve as Senior Day for Columbia's lone senior, Mikayla Markham.
Tickets for the Lions' remaining home games are available by visiting gocolumbialions.com/tickets or calling 888-LIONS-11. For venue policies, click here.
For the latest on Columbia men's basketball, follow @CULionsWBB on Twitter and Instagram, and the web at GoColumbiaLions.com.
