NEW YORK – The Columbia women's basketball team pushed ahead in the final minute to win a back-and-forth battle against San Francisco, 81-79, Wednesday from Schiller Court at Levien Gymnasium.
The Lions (7-3) hosted their annual Education Day game with students from over 20 New York City elementary schools filling the bleachers well before the 11 a.m. opening tip. The 2,733 in attendance were treated to a nail-biter. Tied at 77,
Cecelia Collins faked a hand-off and drove to the basket to give the Lions the lead with 40 seconds left. On the ensuing San Francisco (2-5) possession, Collins got her hand on a pass and deflected it straight to
Riley Weiss, who scored on a breakaway to all but cement the victory.
"Anytime you score 80 points in a game, that's a good thing," Columbia head coach
Megan Griffith said. "We're seeing contributions from a lot of different people. I was really happy with our bench contributions today. Getting Mia back has been huge and I just think our young players need to keep getting these experiences."
First-year
Mia Broom, playing in her second collegiate game, scored 13 points with seven rebounds and five blocks in 20 minutes off the bench. The 5-9 guard was disruptive underneath and stripped several shots away down low. Her five blocks were the most in a game by a Lion in nearly a decade.
"We have an exciting, new, different group, and this is a brand of basketball we haven't played before," Griffith added. "We've been disruptive on defense but we're trying to continue to find that balance of when to be disruptive and when to just dictate and be more of a protective team. I think changing those gears has been a little difficult for us, but we've also seen great success in turning teams over."
The Lions finished the game with a 20-12 advantage in points off turnovers. They also outrebounded a USF by 12, controlling the glass against a team that ranked 15th in the nation in rebounding margin (+11.8) entering play.
Kitty Henderson led all Lions with 10 rebounds, adding 14 points and six assists in her first double-double of the season.
Riley Weiss scored a game-high 24 and went 4-of-8 from beyond the arc.
Both teams were pushing the pace early on. The Dons led the majority of the first quarter but the Lions always had an answer to stay right on their heels.
Marija Avlijas then hit a timely trey with less than a minute to go to give the Lions a 21-20 edge at the end of the period.
Columbia started the second quarter with seven of the first nine points to flip the script. Broom drilled her first career trey to give the Lions their largest lead of the half, 32-26. The rookie later found
Kitty Henderson in transition to extend the margin to 10.
Perri Page nailed a three to cap an 11-0 run heading to halftime.
San Francisco all but evaporated Columbia's lead with an 11-0 run in the opening 2:30 of the third quarter. They then took the lead on a three-point play from Freja Werth, 47-45, less than five minutes into the half. Werth had 11 of USF's opening 17 points and finished the quarter with 14. The Dons led by two entering the fourth.
The seesaw affair ensued with seven lead changes in the final period but the Lions prevailed. Weiss had 10 in the fourth quarter, including the nail in the coffin with 30 seconds to go.
Columbia will now prepare to take on Richmond (8-0) this coming Sunday at the Henrico Sports & Events Center in Glen Allen, Virginia. The Spiders will first put their undefeated record on the line against Georgetown on Wednesday night.
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