STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. – The Columbia women's basketball team used a 19-2 run over the first six minutes of the fourth quarter to pull away down the stretch from Wagner, 77-53, Saturday afternoon at the Spiro Sports Center.
Columbia (8-4) put four in double figures, led by a game-high 15 points from
Kitty Henderson. The senior co-captain from Australia added a season-high nine assists to become just the fourth player in program history with 400 in their career. She now has 406 and is 50 shy of Charlene Schuessler's (1986-90) program record.
Cecelia Collins, Henderson's fellow senior and co-captain, netted 14 points on 6-of-7 shooting with six rebounds and four assists. Sophomore transfer
Marija Avlijas scored 11 and sophomore
Riley Weiss rounded out Columbia's double-figure scorers with 10. Three other Lions –
Susie Rafiu,
Perri Page and
Nasi Simmons – scored nine.
The Lions dominated the glass, 54-26, thanks in part to a game- and career-high 12 rebounds from Page. The junior had seven of Columbia's 18 offensive rebounds, leading to 14 second-chance points and a total of 44 points in the paint. The Lions also assisted 26 of their 31 made baskets.
Mia Broom had six assists off the bench.
For Wagner (2-9), Taleah Washington matched Henderson's scoring output with 15 points off the bench. Julia Fabozzi had 11.
Columbia scored just two seconds into the contest as Rafiu tapped the opening tip ahead for Collins. The Lions went on to score the game's first seven points and led 13-5 after Weiss hit in transition, which forced Wagner head coach Terrell Coburn to call for time.
The Seahawks fought back behind Washington. She scored 13 of her 15 points in the first quarter and closed a 12-3 run by giving her team the lead just before the end of the period, 17-16.
That was Wagner's only lead of the game. The Lions responded with a 9-0 run to open the second quarter and never trailed again. Weiss, this time connecting from long range, forced Wagner to call for its second timeout. A
Nasi Simmons triple at the 6:22 mark opened up Columbia's largest lead of the half, 31-19.
Just as they did in the first quarter, Wagner went on a run to get back into it. Columbia's 12-point cushion was quickly trimmed to five in a matter of less than a minute. They took a seven-point lead into halftime.
Avlijas had seven third-quarter points to help push the lead back into double figures. She hit from deep at the 7:00 mark to make it a 12-point game. A free throw by
Perri Page midway through the frame had Columbia ahead by 13.
The Lions finally put the game away with a big run to start the fourth. Collins, Rafiu and Henderson all scored inside to make it 60-42 just over a minute into the period. Wagner's Lijirin Modesayor Doyinsola connected on a pull-up jumper to try and stop the bleeding but the Lions kept on scoring, stringing off the next 13 points to make it 73-44 with 4:13 to go. The margin was never closer than 20 after that.
Columbia breaks for the holiday week before heading to Towson to take on the Tigers (2-8) next Sunday at 1 p.m.
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