NEW YORK – The Columbia women's basketball team (12-4. 3-0 Ivy) rides a program-best 10-game winning streak into a Saturday afternoon clash against Princeton (13-3, 3-0 Ivy). The national telecast from Jadwin Gymnasium is scheduled to begin at 4 p.m. ET.
TICKETS
• Fans are encouraged to
purchase tickets ahead of time by visiting Tickets.Princeton.edu. Fans can also purchase tickets on-site at the ticket window, located at the main entrance of Jadwin Gymnasium.
GAME COVERAGE
• Saturday's game will be televised nationally on ESPNEWS. Dave Leno and Brooke Weisbrod will be on the call. Fans can also watch the game on the
ESPN App.
• Fans can
click here to access live stats. In-game updates will also be provided on social media by following
@CULionsWBB on X.
WHAT TO KNOW:
OPENING TIPS
• The Lions are riding a program-best 10-game winning streak into Saturday, matching the record set by last year's team. Over that time, Columbia is averaging 81.3 points per game, outscoring opponents by 21.2 points, shooting 46.6 percent from the field and outrebounding opponents by an average of 10.4 per contest.
• Entering Friday, Columbia's 10-game winning streak ties with Green bay for the ninth-longest active streak in the country, No. 1 South Carolina owns the longest active streak (W16).
• Wooden & Naismith Trophy Award Watch List selection
Abbey Hsu averages an Ivy League-leading 21.4 points per game, which ranks No. 13 in the NCAA. She is top 25 in the NCAA in total points (343) and total field goals (127), as well as No. 30 in 3-pointers made per game (2.75) and No. 34 in total threes (44).
•
Abbey Hsu and
Riley Weiss are the reigning Ivy League Player and Rookie of the Week, respectively. Hsu was named Player of the Week for a fourth time this season and 11th time in her career on Tuesday. Her 11 career selections are the most in program history and tie for the fifth-most in Ivy League history.
•
Cecelia Collins is averaging 17.5 points, 6.0 assists and 4.5 rebounds over the last four games. She scored a career-high 28 points on New Year's Eve at Pacific and followed with a game-high 19 in her Ivy League debut against Penn (Jan. 6). She is shooting 53.3 percent from the field over those four games.
• Columbia enters the contest leading the Ivy League in 11 NCAA-ranked statistics, which includes scoring offense (77.3), scoring margin (+13.2), rebound margin (+6.4), field goal percentage (.449), 3-pointers made per game (8.2), assists per game (18.1), bench points per game (22.3) and assist/turnover ratio (1.11).
LAST TIME OUT
• The Lions dominated from start to finish on MLK Day, coasting to victory against Yale at Levien Gymnasium, 88-52. They took the lead at the 8:21 mark of the first quarter and never looked back, holding Yale to just six first-quarter points. A 10-0 run early in the second quarter kept the momentum going before a triple by
Susie Rafiu made it a 32-12 ball game.
•
Abbey Hsu scored a game-high 24 points in the victory and tied her season-high of six assists.
Susie Rafiu matched career-highs with 10 points, two assists and two steals, and also played a career-high 21:26.
• Columbia finished plus-10 on the glass, assisted 18 of their 32 baskets and came away with 10 steals to help force 22 Yale turnovers. The also blitzed the Bulldogs, 21-4, in transition.
CORNELL/YALE POSTGAME NOTES
•
Abbey Hsu had a season-high six assists in back-to-back games.
•
Riley Weiss scored in double figures in back-to-back games for the first time this season.
•
Cecelia Collins had a season-high eight assists against Cornell, one off her career-high nine that she posted as a freshman at Bucknell.
•
Susie Rafiu matched her career-highs in points (10), assists (2) and steals (2) against Yale, and also played a career-high 21:26.
• Hsu passed Helen Doyle (1981-85) for 13th all-time in rebounds (546).
• Hsu passed Lauren Dwyer for third all-time in games started (109).
•
Kitty Henderson climbed to eighth all-time in assists (294).
CHASING DOWN THE ALL-TIME GREATS
•
Abbey Hsu is currently No. 2 in scoring in Columbia basketball history (men's or women's) with 1,858 career points. She is 115 points behind the all-time record held by Camille Zimmerman '18CC.
• Hsu is No. 9 on the Ivy League's all-time women's scoring list. She broke into the top 10 following her 20-point performance against Cornell (Jan. 13).
• Hsu is currently No. 23 among active NCAA Div. I players in career points.
Columbia Basketball All-Time Scoring Leaders
(W) Camille Zimmerman (2014-18) - 1,973
(W) Abbey Hsu (2019-pres.) - 1,858
(M) Buck Jenkins (1989-93) - 1,767
(M) Jim McMillian (1967-70) - 1,758
(M) Maodo Lo (2012-16) - 1,756
Ivy League Women's Basketball All-Time Scoring Leaders
1. Diana Caramanico - Penn (1997-01) - 2,415
2. Allison Feaster - Harvard (1994-98) - 2,312
3. Hana Peljto - Harvard (2000-04) - 2,109
4. Camille Zimmerman - Columbia (2014-18) - 1,973
5. Vita Redding - Brown (1995-99) - 1,962
6. Gail Koziara - Dartmouth (1978-82) - 1,933
7. Katharine Hanks - Dartmouth (1999-03) - 1,870
8. Reka Cserny - Harvard (2001-05) - 1,863
9. Abbey Hsu - Columbia (2019-20, 21-24) - 1,858
10. Jayne Daigle - Dartmouth (2001-05) - 1,846
MIDSEASON CUT
•
Abbey Hsu was named to the Becky Hammon Mid-Major Player of the Year Midseason Watch List, released on January 17. She was one of 15 players in the country to make the midseason cut. Last year, Hsu was named one of 10 semifinalists for the award.
KITTY DISH
• With three assists in Columbia's win over Memphis (Dec. 6), junior
Kitty Henderson entered Columbia's top 10 all-time, passing Sara Yee (2006-10) for the No. 10 spot. Entering today's game, Henderson has 294 assists in her career, recently passing former teammate
Carly Rivera (2019-23) for No. 9. Henderson ranks No. 2 in the Ivies and top 100 nationally this season in assists (71) and assists per game (4.4).
NOTES ON NET RANKINGS
• Columbia is No. 67 in the NET rankings (Jan. 8) and is one of three Ivy League teams in the Top 80.
• Columbia's average opponent NET is 144, which ranks top 100 in terms of strength in the NCAA.
• The Lions are an undefeated 10-0 vs. NET 101+. They are 2-4 vs. the NET top 100.
• Columbia ended the 2022-23 season No. 47 in the NET, its highest final ranking in program history.
• Last year, Columbia's peak in the NET last year was 23rd, which came on Wednesday, Dec. 14.
• The NET, which stands for the NCAA Evaluation Tool, replaced the RPI after the 2017-18 season and it is used as the primary sorting tool for selection and seeding for the NCAA tournament.
ABOUT THE TIGERS
• Princeton and Columbia are the reigning co-champions and are fittingly the two undefeated teams left through the first three Ivy League games. The Tigers' current eight-game winning streak ties for the 15th-longest active streak in the country. They take pride on defense, allowing just 57.7 points per game so far this season, a mark that ranks just outside the top 50 in the NCAA. They are the best 3-point shooting team in the conference (.330) but opposing teams' 36.8-percent mark from beyond the arc ranks the Tigers 339th in the NCAA in 3-point defense.
• Princeton is led offensively by sophomore Madison St. Rose, last year's Ivy League Rookie of the Year, and senior Kaitlyn Chen, last year's Player of the Year. Rose averages 15.7 points per game and Chen is close behind at 15.3 points per game. Both rank top five in the conference in scoring. Chen also averages 4.2 assists, ranking third in the Ivies. On the glass, 6-1 senior Ellie Mitchell is a force once again, averaging an Ivy League-best 10.9 rebounds, good enough for 26th in the NCAA.
• Columbia snapped Princeton's 27-game series winning streak last season with a, 58-55, overtime victory at Jadwin Gymnasium. The Tigers split the season series by defeating the Lions in New York. The all-time tilt favors Princeton, 57-17, which dates back to the first year of the Columbia-Barnard Athletic Consortium in 1984-85.
FOLLOW THE LIONS
For the latest on the Columbia women's basketball, follow @CULionsWBB on
Twitter,
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Facebook, or on the web at
GoColumbiaLions.com.
