NEW YORK — The Columbia women's basketball team added two players to its 1,000-point club en route to defeating NEC Regular Season Champion Fairleigh Dickinson, 69-53, Friday night in the First Round of the Postseason WNIT at Levien Gymnasium.
Just as the final horn sounded, the Lions (24-5, 12-2 Ivy) learned they will be hosting Fordham (19-12, 10-6 A-10) in the second round on Monday night at 7 p.m. ET. The Rams got by Drexel in their first-round game, 73-63, on Thursday.
Seniors
Kaitlyn Davis and
Sienna Durr both entered the night within 10 points of 1,000. Davis got hers from the free-throw line in the opening seconds of the second half. Durr added to the celebration, driving to her right and laying in the milestone with less than 30 seconds remaining in the game.
"It means a lot to me to be able to do this on our home court," said Davis, who also picked up her 500th career rebound earlier this season. "It meant a lot to do it with this team and on our home court."
"It's just amazing to do this in front of our home crowd," Durr said. "We have had such good support this year, so to be able to do this in front of our home fans is great. To be able to finish off my career here with 1,000 points is a great accomplishment, but I have to give all of the thanks to my teammates."
Durr and Davis weren't the only two to etch their names in the history of the program. Their head coach,
Megan Griffith, picked up her 95th career win and now stands alone atop the all-time wins list.
"To me, it's not even about what I did. This is my staff's, these are their wins too," said Griffith in the moments after the game. "Tyler [Cordell] won every single one of those games with me -- every alum that has supported us and just envisioned that this program could be what it is today. Those wins are for everybody in this program, absolutely."
Abbey Hsu scored a game-high 25 points on 10-of-22 shooting. She was joined in double figures by 13 from Patrick and 11 from Durr.
Columbia went back to its winning formula, gathering 50 rebounds to outduel the Knights by 13 on the glass. The Lions also got off 16 more shots than FDU, scoring 38 points in the paint.
"I'll take 38 points in the paint and 50 rebounds any day," Griffith added. "This has been one of the most challenging weeks of my coaching career. A huge credit to our team and to our staff making sure that we were ready to turn that page. I think we showed everybody that we did."
Columbia used an 8-0 run the spanned the end of the first and the beginning of the second quarter to take control. Tied at 17
Abbey Hsu hit a jumper to give the Lions the lead. Hsu and
Jaida Patrick then combined to score the opening six points of the second quarter before FDU (24-8, 14-2 NEC) called for time.
Still just a single-digit lead, Hsu drained a triple with a minute to play in the half to push the Lions ahead by 10 for the first time.
Paige Lauder extended the advantage to 11 at the foul line entering halftime.
The Lions cooled off offensively in the third but were solid on defense, turning FDU over seven times in the period and allowing just seven points. That put them in a good position entering the fourth, where Hsu nailed two more threes. Columbia led by as many as 22.
Monday night's tip against Fordham is set for 7 p.m. ET.
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