PARADISE ISLAND, The Bahamas – Columbia took the lead with four minutes remaining but Indiana scored 12 of the game's final 14 points to defeat the Lions, 72-62, on Saturday at the 2024 Women's Battle 4 Atlantis. The women's basketball tournament is being played from Imperial Arena at Atlantis Paradise Island.
Columbia (4-2) led for the majority of the first half until the Hoosiers (3-2) used a 7-0 run to snag a 27-24 advantage at the break. They extended that lead to as many as 11 in the third quarter but the Lions answered with a 10-1 run to climb back and it was game-on in the fourth quarter.
Columbia and Indiana went back and forth, at one point exchanging nine consecutive baskets. Each time Indiana scored, they increased the lead to three. Each time the Lions answered, they pulled back within a point.
Riley Weiss finally made it two consecutive baskets for one of the two teams, rebounding an Indiana missed three-pointer, driving coast-to-coast and finishing with her right hand to give the Lions their first lead, 59-58, since the last minute of the second quarter.
Kitty Henderson went 1-for-2 at the foul line to make it a 60-all affair with 2:39 remaining. Unfortunately, Columbia would only score one more time down the stretch. Indiana put the game away at the free-throw line.
"I think Indiana just out-toughed us in that game, I would say for the majority of it," Columbia head coach
Megan Griffith said. "There were definitely some bright moments for us but very few and sporadic at that. [Indiana] is a well-coached team. They were obviously very prepared. I wish we would have executed our game plan a little bit better … If we don't learn from this one, then what was the point of us coming down here? It's time for a response. We need a big response."
Cecelia Collins carried the Lions through the first quarter, scoring six straight Columbia points to lead the Lions to an 11-10 edge at the end of 10 minutes. The senior co-captain finished with 17 on 7-of-14 shooting, adding five rebounds and four assists.
"I think [Indiana] became a little bit more physical as the game went on. We got complacent and our tag-ups weren't great," Collins said. "They started hitting bodies and we just folded. We have to get more offensive rebounds. We have to dig in and hit low on the defensive side and just be better because that's where we get some extra possessions. I think we had three second-chance points and that's just unacceptable."
Indiana outrebounded Columbia 20-10 in the second half. They pulled down 11 offensive rebounds for the game and took advantage, outscoring the Lions 17-3 in second-chance points. Columbia was able to take 11 more field goals for the game but just could not convert at a high enough rate, shooting a season-low 39.7 percent, including 4-of-24 (.167) from the perimeter.
Riley Weiss (17) and
Kitty Henderson (13) joined Collins in double figures scoring. Indiana had four in double figures, led by Lilly Meister's game-high 20 on a 10-for-15 shooting night. Yarden Garzon had 18 points and recorded a double-double with a game-high 10 rebounds.
Columbia moves to the consolation bracket, where it will meet Southern Miss (2-3) on Sunday at 6:30 p.m. ET. It will be the first meeting between the two programs since 2004.
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