PHILADELPHIA — The Columbia women's basketball team's program-record winning streak was stopped at 10 Saturday night, falling in a heartbreaker to Penn, 71-67, at The Palestra.
A 12-3 burst to start the second half had Columbia (13-3, 2-1 Ivy) leading by as many as 10 points on two different occasions. Penn (10-5, 3-0 Ivy) later scored eight straight as part of a 13-3 run to close the period and take its first lead since the game's opening minutes
A back-and-forth final stanza included six lead changes. Trailing by five,
Kitty Henderson and
Paige Lauder combined to hit three consecutive 3-point attempts that made the Quakers call for time at the 4:51 mark down by two.
Jaida Patrick's layup a minute later doubled Columbia's advantage, but those would be the final two points the Lions scored the rest of the night. The Lions missed their final nine looks from the field and the Quakers ended the game on an 8-0 run to hand Columbia its first Ivy defeat of the season.
"We're going to get everybody's best. I'm happy about that — it's what I want for this program — but we didn't bring it the same way that we needed to tonight," Columbia head coach
Megan Griffith '07CC said. "Last night, I thought we were too locked in. Today, it was almost like we weren't locked in enough. It's just finding that balance. We've got to be better at that."
Columbia got into foul trouble early in the fourth quarter, putting the Quakers in the bonus with nearly seven minutes remaining. It resulted in 14 fourth-quarter free throws for Penn, which ultimately had 21 looks at the foul line in the game. The Lions only had three.
Kaitlyn Davis and
Paige Lauder scored a team-high 14 points apiece. Davis notched her second consecutive double-double by grabbing 12 rebounds to go with five assists and three steals. Lauder, a native of nearby Malvern, Pennsylvania, was 6-of-10 from the floor and 2-for-3 from long distance, hitting both of her treys in succession midway through the fourth.
"Paige plays hard all the time," Griffith touted of the junior. "She's just a great athlete. She has a knack for the ball, she rebounds, she can hit a shot and she's extremely versatile … I think every junior in our league lost their freshman year and she was one of those kids … She just keeps getting better."
Hsu scored a dozen on a tough 4-for-16 shooting night. All 16 of those looks came from beyond the 3-point line. She also matched Davis' team-high five assists, as Columbia totaled 20 on 27 made baskets.
Jordan Obi and Kayla Padilla combined for 45 of Penn's 71 points. Obi had a game-high 24 and registered a double-double of her own with 13 rebounds. Padilla netted 21 on 8-of-18 shooting.
The Lions will look to bounce back next Saturday when they host a game for the first time this Ivy League season. Tip-off against Harvard (9-6, 2-1 Ivy) is slated for noon Eastern, with the game scheduled to air live on SportsNet New York (SNY).
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.
