NEW YORK – Winners of nine straight and off to its best start in program history, Columbia women's basketball (12-2, 1-0 Ivy) hits the road for its first back-to-back Ivy League weekend of the season. A long-awaited rematch of last year's Ivy title game takes place Friday night at 7 p.m., when the Lions battle Princeton (8-4, 0-1 Ivy) on ESPNU. Twenty-two hours later, they'll look for their third straight win over Penn (8-5, 1-0 Ivy), tipping off against the Quakers at The Palestra at 5 p.m.
GAME COVERAGE
Friday night's national television broadcast can be accessed online on
Watch ESPN and the ESPN app. Angel Reyes and Christy Thomaskutty will have the call. Fans can also track the action with
live stats courtesy of GoPrincetonTigers.com. Saturday night's game at Penn will be available
live on ESPN+. Live stats will be available through
StatBroadcast. Fans can also follow the Columbia women's basketball team's Twitter account (
@CULionsWBB) for live highlights and updates throughout the weekend.
WHAT TO KNOW:
NINE IS FINE
• Columbia's nine-game winning streak stands alone as the longest in program history. Prior to this year, the previous record of eight was accomplished in the 2021-22 and 1985-86 seasons. Columbia is outscoring opponents by 30.7 points per game on this winning streak, averaging 89.1 points on offense and limiting opponents to 58.4 points defensively.
ROAD WARRIORS
• Columbia is 24-2 in its last 26 true "away" games. The Lions are 8-1 so far this year, went 12-1 last year and won their last four such games of the 2019-20 season. Its only two losses over that time came earlier this season at Iowa State (Nov. 20) and last season at Princeton.
IN THE POLLS
• The Lions have been receiving votes in the
AP Top 25 Poll each of the last four weeks. They received votes for the first time in program history on Dec. 12. Columbia is receiving seven votes in the latest poll (Jan. 2), which effectively ranks the Lions No. 32 in the country.
• Columbia received its first votes in the
USA Today Sports Coaches Poll in program history, debuting with four votes on Jan. 3. The Lions are one of 13 teams outside the top 25 receiving votes.
• Columbia is ranked No. 33 in the latest
NCAA NET (Jan. 5). The Lions have been ranked as high as No. 23, which they achieved for the first time on Dec. 14. Columbia is currently the highest-rated team in the Ivy League and the second-highest of all teams outside of the power six conferences (Middle Tennessee State).
• Columbia currently ranks No. 2 in the
CollegeInsider.com Women's Mid-Major Top 25. Its current ranking is the highest in program history. Columbia began the 2022-23 season ranked No. 9.
DECEMBER TO REMEMBER
• Columbia posted a perfect 7-0 record in the month of December, defeating Marist (103-54), Lafayette (91-43), Stony Brook (84-68), UMass (83-74), LIU (90-47), Ohio (81-59) and Yale (97-53). Over that span, the Lions averaged 89.9 points per game and outscored their opponent by an average of 33 points per game. It marked just the second perfect month in program history (min. 3 games), the other of which also came in the 2022 calendar year. Last season, the Lions posted a 6-0 month of January, which was the program's first undefeated month.
OUTSIDE "HSU-TERS"
• Columbia ranks No. 2 in the country in 3-pointers made (147) and made per game (10.5).
• The Lions have made 10 or more threes in eight of their 14 games so far this season.
• The Lions made a program record 18 threes (18-42) earlier this year at then-No. 7 Iowa State.
•
Abbey Hsu ranks top five in the country in 3-pointers made (48) and made per game (3.43).
• Columbia is 38.6 percent from the outside, ranking No. 8 in the NCAA.
QUICK HITS
• Columbia is now a combined 37-9 (.804) over the course of the last two seasons.
• Columbia's starting five of
Abbey Hsu (17.9),
Jaida Patrick (13.2),
Kaitlyn Davis (12.2),
Hannah Pratt (10.6) and
Kitty Henderson (10.1) all average double figures scoring. Each also ranks top 20 in the Ivy League.
•
Kaitlyn Davis (7.1) ranks No. 4 in the Ivy League in rebounding. Five Lions (Davis, Pratt, Patrick, Hsu, Henderson) rank among the top 25 in the Ivy League.
• Davis is two rebounds away from becoming the 14th player in program history to reach 500.
•
Kitty Henderson leads the Ivy League in assists (68) and ranks second in assists per game (4.9). She ranks top 50 in the NCAA in each of those categories. Henderson, Davis, Patrick and Hsu are four of the Ivy's top 11.
•
Kaitlyn Davis (.544) ranks No. 2 in the Ivies among qualified players in field goal percentage. Pratt (.464) ranks fourth, Hsu (.445) is seventh, Henderson (.436) is 10th and Patrick (.416) is 12th.
•
Abbey Hsu ranks No. 1 in the Ivies and No. 29 in the NCAA in 3-point percentage (.449).
• Hsu ranks top 5 in the country in 3-pointers made (48) and made per game (3.43).
• Davis (1.1) and Patrick (0.9) are Nos. 4 and 5, respectively, in the Ivy League in blocks. Pratt (0.6) is eighth.
• Columbia is 10-0 this season when getting to the foul line more than its opponent. The Lions have won each of its last 23 games when committing fewer fouls than the opponent.
THE OPPONENTS
• Princeton (8-4, 0-1 Ivy) is coming off its first Ivy League loss in 1,423 days, snapping its 42-game league winning streak in a 67-59 loss at Harvard on Saturday. The Tigers played a challenging non-conference schedule that included three teams that were ranked at one point in the Top 25 (Villanova, Texas, UConn). They lost all three of the matchups, but rallied late to nearly upset UConn, 69-64. Junior Kaitlyn Chen is the team's leading scorer (15.8). Julia Cunningham (12.5) and Grace Stone (11.5) also average double figures. Ellie Mitchell ranks fourth in the country in rebounding, averaging 12.3 per contest. The Lions will be looking to end a 27-game series losing streak to the Tigers which dates back to 2008.
• After dropping five straight early in the non-conference season, Penn (8-5, 1-0 Ivy) enters the weekend winners of seven straight. Their winning streak began Nov. 29 with a 72-59 Big 5 victory at La Salle. The Quakers have since gone on to defeat Bucknell, St. Francis Brooklyn, Temple, Gwynedd Mercy and Brown in succession. They opened Ivy play with a 74-53 victory over the Bears, using a 21-0 first-half run to control the game. Mandy McGurk scored a career-high 28 points to lead the way. Kayla Padilla (14.9) and Jordan Obi (12.2) lead the team in scoring. Floor Tooners (8.3) heads the effort on the glass.
FOLLOW THE LIONS
For the latest on the Columbia women's basketball, follow @CULionsWBB on
Twitter,
Instagram and
Facebook, or on the web at
GoColumbiaLions.com.
