PRINCETON, N.J. — The Columbia women's basketball team rallied from nine points down in the fourth quarter to force overtime, but fell to Harvard, 72-65, in the Ivy League Tournament semifinals.
Kaitlyn Davis posted a career-high 27 points in the defeat.
Columbia (23-5, 12-2 Ivy) will now await its fate for a possible at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament. The Lions entered Friday night's matchup tied for the most road wins in the country (13-2), a 7-3 record against NET Top 100 teams and a ranking of No. 44 in the NET.
Megan Griffith coached Columbia to its first Ivy League Championship during the regular season in program history.
"Harvard played a great game and this is March, right?" Griffith said. "With every fiber in being, I believe we're an NCAA Tournament team still. We've beaten Harvard twice already this season — that's a top-100 NET team. We are 23-5. We have 13 road wins – the most in the country. We have a top-100 non-conference strength of schedule. We went 6-1 on the road against NET top-100 teams. This one game cannot define our season and I expect us to be playing in the tournament."
Davis nearly willed the Lions to the championship game. Her 27 points came on 10-of-21 shooting. She had 16 of her team's 23 points at the half and went on to record 20 of Columbia's opening 30.
"Just aggressive from the start. I like to say selfish KD. She embodied that well today," Griffith said. "She's a playmaker at heart. She's like Magic Johnson when she plays and she's out there making plays. She makes other people better."
After jumping out to a 4-0 lead, Columbia led by as many as eight before taking a 14-11 lead after one quarter. Davis led the way going four-of-six for nine points.
Harvard would battle back, taking its first lead on a right-wing 3-pointer to make it 22-20 midway through the quarter. David countered with an old-fashioned 3-point play.
At the break, Columbia trailed 28-23.
All-Ivy League honoree
Jaida Patrick would get things going in the second half and finish with 15 points, seven rebounds and three assists.
Hannah Pratt finished with 11 points, nine rebounds and three steals.
"I thought they showed up and hit some big shots," Griffith said. "I thought Hannah made some big shots. Jaida made some big plays."
The Crimson scored six straight late in the third before Pratt hit a 3-pointer in the waning moments to make it a 45-42 game going into the final stanza.
Patrick opened up the fourth quarter with a 3-pointer from the far corner to tie it back up. Harvard answered with 10 of the next 11 to take its largest lead of the game, 55-46, with 6:30 to go.
Columbia answered right back. Patrick had a layup in transition to get things going. Minute later,
Kitty Henderson corralled the defensive rebound and found Davis in transition to tie things up at 55, forcing Harvard to call timeout with 2:35 left.
The Lions then retook the lead when Henderson fired a pass from the far corner to an open Pratt on the right wing. She nailed the 3-pointer and gave Columbia the 58-57 lead with 1:43 remaining.
With things knotted up at 58, the Lions locked down on defense to force overtime.
Davis opened the overtime by scoring a couple of minutes in. A free throw by Davis would tie things back up with 2:24 remaining.
"I believe that you can have three kinds of fatigue. You can have physical, mental and emotional fatigue," Griffith said. "I thought today mentally beat us more than anything."
The Lions (23-5, 12-2) will await their postseason fate when the NCAA Tournament field is announced on Sunday, March 12, at 8 p.m. on ESPN.
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