NEW YORK – Cecelia Collins and
Perri Page combined for 43 points to lead the Columbia women's basketball team to its third straight victory to begin the season, 62-51, over eight-time reigning Atlantic Sun champion Florida Gulf Coast on Monday night at Levien Gymnasium.
Page's 21 points, 19 of which came in the second half, were a career-best and came on 7-of-10 shooting. She tacked on four steals, matching a career-high, and seven rebounds. Collins led all scorers with 22 and a game-high eight boards. She was a perfect 3-for-3 from 3-point range.
Kitty Henderson, who was named Ivy League Player of the Week earlier in the day, put up nine points, three rebounds, three steals, and five assists.
Columbia's defense, led by a combined seven steals from Page and Henderson, proved to be the difference-maker against the Eagles (0-2). The Lions held them to 30 percent shooting from the field and forced 20 turnovers that they turned into 19 points.
Columbia's 3-0 start is their first since the 2021-22 season when their 5-0 start marked the first in program history. This victory also brought the Lions' winning streak at home to 15 straight in the regular season.
The first quarter saw both teams playing suffocating defense on each other, only making three field goals each. Columbia's first points of the evening came when
Kitty Henderson snatched an offensive rebound and passed the ball to
Riley Weiss, who then dished it to Collins for the open three. FGCU retook the lead with 3:47 left and neither team scored the rest of the quarter with the Eagles ahead, 9-8.
The defensive struggle continued into the second. Columbia held FGCU to a staggering 1-for-17 on field goals and the Eagles failed to put any points on the board aside from a lone mid-range jumper with 1:13 left on the clock. Columbia found its rhythm in the final five minutes and pulled ahead for a 20-11 lead heading into the locker room.
The lead that Columbia spent the second quarter building nearly evaporated in the opening minute of the second half. FGCU went on a 7-0 run but, fortunately, Collins hit a big-time three to slow their momentum. Page kept it going with back-to-back steals in which she went coast-to-coast for easy layups, bringing the lead to 12 points. Page capped off an excellent third quarter, which saw her score nine points in the final four minutes, with a three just before the clock expired.
The Lions entered the fourth quarter with a 12-point lead. Despite a scoring outburst from FGCU's Maddie Antenucci, who made three consecutive shots from behind the three-point line in just under three minutes, Columbia retained control to ride out the win.
The Lions have nearly an entire week to prepare before hitting the road to take on Villanova (1-0) on Saturday. Tip-off from Finneran Pavilion is scheduled for 2 p.m.
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