NEW YORK – Abbey Hsu scored a game-high 26 points, all but two of which came in the first half, to lead the Columbia women's basketball team to a bounce-back, blowout victory over Northeastern, 88-45, Saturday afternoon from Schiller Court at Levien Gymnasium.
Hsu went 10-of-16 from the floor and drained 6-of-10 from beyond the arc to go with eight rebounds in 28 minutes of action. She also eclipsed 300 career 3-pointers with her first make of the game, joining Syracuse's Dyaisha Fair (330) and Caitlin Clark of Iowa (365) as the only active players with 300 or more makes from beyond the arc.
"In the second quarter, Coach G told me I needed to score more," Hsu said with a laugh during the postgame press conference. "I started shooting more and it was going through the hoop. My teammates found me. It's easy to get those points up when your teammates know where to find you and my only job is to just shoot it. That was fun. I just have to carry it over to the second half."
The senior from Parkland, Florida rattled off 14 second-quarter points, going 5-of-7 from the field and 4-of-5 from deep in the period alone. Those 14 points all came in the final 4:31, including a trey from well beyond the arc at the 1:00 mark and a buzzer-beater from the corner to send the Lions into the locker rooms up by 20.
"We like to play fast and getting the ball up the floor is our main objective every game," Hsu added. "We did a really good job this game and we're working toward getting better at that."
In the third, the Lions held the Huskies to just 3-of-14 shooting and pushed the margin to 65-36 heading into the final period. They never looked back, marking the largest margin of victory since last December's 103-54 stomping of Marist.
"Our team went through some hard things recently … real adversity. I think this team is starting to understand where we lack maturity, what are strengths are and how we can balance those two things better," head coach
Megan Griffith said. "Today was a really good step in the right direction."
The Lions were coming off a pair of tough losses against Georgia and Florida at the Baha Mar Hoops Pink Flamingo Championship, which was held this past week in the Bahamas.
Columbia put that in the rear-view mirror on Saturday, shooting 61.4 percent, the sixth-highest mark in program history, with 52 points in the paint. The Lions held the Huskies (4-2) to a season-low 30.4-percent shooting and also dominated on the glass, holding a 42-24 edge in rebounding.
Paige Lauder had a career-high 11 boards.
"We always talk about next-man-up [mentality] and to be ready for your moment. I thought they did a great job of that and I thought Ava [Sciolla] led that group so well," said Lauder when asked about the Lions who were tasked with closing out the game. "Mary [Lobon] was great out there. It's just about always being ready for your opportunity."
Kitty Henderson chipped in 15 points, going 6-of-9, and
Cecelia Collins posted 12 points and four assists.
The Lions were able to get to the rim at will in the early portion of the game to take control. At one point, Columbia converted on four straight field goals to build an early 12-7 edge after a transition layup from Hsu at the 6:27 mark of the first quarter.
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Kitty Henderson triple extended the margin to 19-9 at the 3:10 mark and the cushion ballooned to 28-11 after back-to-back triples from Hsu to close the quarter. Columbia shot a blistering 11-of-15 from the floor and forced six turnovers by the Huskies, leading to 11 points.
Northeastern trimmed the deficit to 12 with 6:42 remaining in the half, but a free throw and lay-in by
Nicole Stephens halted their momentum. Hsu rattled off the next eight to bring the lead back up to 42-21 and then nailed back-to-back 3-pointers to make it 50-27 after 20 minutes of action.
The Lions are back in action on Wednesday, November 29, when they host Providence (3-2) at 11 a.m. The Lions will be holding Education Day for the first time since before the pandemic, welcoming New York City elementary schools to pack Levien Gymnasium. Fans unable to attend can watch the game on ESPN+.
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