NEW YORK – The Columbia women's basketball team cruised to an 84-50 victory against Pacific on Wednesday night from Schiller Court at Levien Gymnasium. In the win, senior
Kitty Henderson became the 15th player in program history to score 1,000 career points.
Columbia (4-1) has now won 16 consecutive regular season games on its home floor. The Lions got the bounce-back win they needed after suffering their first loss of the season in a 68-67 heartbreaker at Villanova.
All 10 Lions that played Wednesday night scored. Columbia's defense forced 29 turnovers by the Tigers, which were directly responsible for 26 of their 84 points. Second-year transfer
Marija Avlijas made her first start for the Lions.
"We really focused this week on honing in on details with the scouts, specifically certain players, what personnel can do," Columbia head coach
Megan Griffith said. "I think Villanova maybe surprised us a little bit. I feel like we knew what they were going to do but, overall, sometimes you have to lose to learn lessons the hard way."
Riley Weiss led the way with 20 points, shooting 50 percent across the board with four made threes.
Cecelia Collins followed close behind with 18 points on 6-of-7 shooting from the field and 4-of-5 from three, as well as eight assists, three rebounds and a career-high five steals.
Susie Rafiu posted a career-high six assists to go with eight points and seven rebounds.
Columbia's strong first half saw them leading by 18 heading into the break. The Lions' defense forced Pacific (2-3) into an abysmal 8-of-28 (.286) showing from the field with 14 first-half turnovers. Weiss and Collins combined for 23 of Columbia's 43 first-half points.
The Lions continued to pull away in the third quarter, going on a 9-2 run fresh out of the locker room. After
Kitty Henderson splashed a three,
Blau Tor stole the ball on the next play and Henderson found Collins for a three of her own. That gave Henderson the her 373rd career assist, matching Griffith for fifth all-time. On the play that saw
Kitty Henderson join the 1,000-point club, Collins found her for an and-1 layup and the Lions' lead increased to 31.
"I think it's just a sign of a player that's left her mark on the program in a really tangible way," Griffith added on Henderson's milestone. "She's really grown as a scorer here. It's a great accomplishment, and for anybody, a great milestone, and it's nice to get it over with so she doesn't have to think about it anymore.
The rest of the evening was smooth sailing for Columbia. The first-half foul trouble Columbia faced never ended up being a significant issue.
The Lions wore gold laces Wednesday as part of the Go4theGoal foundation's Lace Up 4 Pediatric Cancer initiative. The foundation raises funds and awareness for pediatric cancer research.
Columbia will head to the Bahamas for the Bad Boy Mowers Battle 4 Atlantis tournament, where they will first face Indiana (2-2) on Saturday. The Hoosiers are coming off a statement, 79-66, victory over then-No. 24/23 Stanford. Tip-off is scheduled for 4 p.m.
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