By: Matt Sugam - Contributor for GoColumbiaLions.com
NEW YORK —
Abbey Hsu continued to climb the all-time scoring list and the Columbia Lions remained atop the Ivy League standings with four games to go, defeating Yale, 74-46, Saturday afternoon in front of 1,485 fans on Schiller Court at Levien Gymnasium.
Three Lions scored in double figures, led by 19 points from Hsu, who found her stroke from 3-point land in the second half.
Jaida Patrick had 12 points, five rebounds, three assists and three steals.
Kaitlyn Davis had 11 points, six rebounds, and three assists, and
Paige Lauder had nine points and eight rebounds.
"We responded well from a defensive standpoint," head coach
Megan Griffith '07CC said. "Holding their top two leading scorers to four points total and keeping them under 50, which I was really happy to see."
It served as a bounce-back win after a loss last Saturday in front of a sellout crowd against Princeton. Columbia (19-4, 8-2 Ivy) remains tied with the Tigers (17-5, 8-2 Ivy) atop the Ivy League standings.
Davis deflected a Yale (11-12, 5-5 Ivy) pass, and Patrick picked up the steal and took it coast-to-coast for the layup on the opening possession as the Lions jumped out to a 7-2 lead. While the Bulldogs would go on a 5-0 run to tie things up, Columbia answered with a 6-0 run over the final four minutes to lead 13-7 after the first quarter.
From there, the Lions were off and running.
Columbia scored the first five points of the fourth quarter and capped a 14-0 run on an old-fashioned 3-point play by Davis. The jolt forced Yale to call for time By halftime, the Lions led, 32-17.
Davis opened the second half with a layup to double up the score on Yale. Columbia would balloon its lead to 20, as
Kitty Henderson banked in a driving layup three seconds before the end of the quarter to give the Lions a 52-32 advantage heading into the fourth quarter. Henderson ended the day with nine points and four assists.
The first-place Lions led 60-36 on back-to-back 3-pointers by Hsu with 7:14 remaining. It moved the sharpshooting junior into fourth place on Columbia's all-time scoring list with 1,312 points passing Kathy Gilbert's (1987-91) 1,309. Next up is Tori Oliver (2013-2017), who is in third place with 1,337 points.
"Once the game was in the second half, she was able to step up and perform when she needed to," Griffith said.
Columbia hosted its annual Play4Kay game on Saturday. Play4Kay is a women's basketball initiative to raise awareness and funds for women's cancer research on the court, across campuses, in communities, and beyond. The program honored Columbia Athletics Administrative Assistant and Tutoring Coordinator Yana Rivers pregame. Rivers has been cancer free for six years.
"This is something that's close to home for every single person in the world. We just want to make sure that we do what we can to bring awareness to our fans, to our community and to support those struggling and battling through that," Griffith said.
Columbia women's basketball also celebrated International Students Day on Saturday. The first 200 students from Columbia ISSO (International Students Scholars Office) received a free drawstring bag.
"I love to say that Columbia is like the International Ivy," Griffith said, adding, "What New York brings to an international community, being a global city, is just so important from an educational standpoint … We have people from all over the world that can come together and call this place home and that's really reflected in our team."
After a five-game homestand, Columbia is back on the road next week for an Ivy League back-to-back. The Lions will travel to Harvard on Friday, February 17 for a 6 p.m. tip on
ESPN+ before traveling to Dartmouth on Saturday, February 18 at 4 p.m. That game will air on ESPN3.
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Matt Sugam '23 SPS has been covering sports in the NY metropolitan area for over a decade. He has spent the last nine years covering college and professional sports as a stringer for the Associated Press and contributing to The New York Times, USA Today Network, NJ.com, and SNY.tv. He's covering Lions Athletics for gocolumbialions.com while pursuing an M.S. in Strategic Communication at Columbia SPS. Follow him on Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn. Visit his website at www.mattsugam.com.
