CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – The Columbia women's basketball team used an 11-0 fourth-quarter run to win its sixth straight game, defeating Harvard, 71-63, Sunday afternoon at Lavietes Pavilion. The game was televised nationally on ESPNU.
A battle that saw 19 lead changes was in favor of Columbia, 53-52, with less than 7:00 to play. At that point, neither side had led by more than four points.
Columbia (18-5, 9-1 Ivy) was better when it mattered most. The Lions held Harvard scoreless for a span of more than five minutes and took advantage.
Cecelia Collins was the hero, scoring 12 in the fourth quarter alone on her way to a team-high 20 points. Her jumper from a mere seven feet with 3:49 to go was part of the 11-0 run and gave the junior transfer her 1,000th career point.
Susie Rafiu's bucket off a bullet feed from
Abbey Hsu gave Columbia a 12-point lead with 2:07 to play. Harvard (14-9, 7-3 Ivy) could only get within as little as five in the final seconds.
"I think it was just a balanced effort," said Collins
when interviewed after the game. "Abbey is such a great player and is going to draw so much attention, so I think it's important that the rest of us can step up and fill in for her."
Hsu, who became Columbia's all-time leading scorer on Friday night at Dartmouth, scored 10 points. Her teammates filled in the gaps, led by Collins and sophomore forward
Susie Rafiu, who posted career-highs of 12 points and three blocks to go with seven rebounds. Collins had a team-high eight on the glass, helping the Lions outrebound the Crimson by 15.
Nicole Stephens scored 11 off the bench.
"Huge credit to Harvard. I thought they played really well and had a nice game plan coming in," head coach
Megan Griffith said. "They tried to make everything difficult, especially for our guard play. I was really proud to see the adjustments that we were able to make, especially coming out of halftime. Some players stepped up [in a major way] – Susie was huge, Cece being clutch at the free throw line,
Nicole Stephens knocking down some big shots and getting to the rim. I just thought that we played mature when we needed to be."
Harvard got a game-high 25 points from Katie Krupa. After scoring her team's first nine points, Harmoni Turner only finished with 11. Lola Mullaney rounded out a trio in double figures with 14.
Hsu knocked down a triple in transition for Columbia's first bucket but neither team would hold much of an advantage in the first quarter. Turner's nine points made it a 9-9 game midway through. The Lions nearly doubled up Harvard on the glass, 13-7, but turned it over five times and found themselves down a point after 10 minutes.
First-year
Riley Weiss scored all five of her points in the second quarter. Meanwhile, Rafiu established herself as a defensive threat in the post with a couple of blocks. Weiss's triple at the 1:33 mark gave Columbia a 28-27 lead and that would remain the score at the halftime break.
Krupa had nine points in the third quarter to give the home side a lift but the Lions were up to the task. Stephens had five in the final 50 seconds of the period, nailing a triple to retake the lead and driving to the basket at the buzzer to send the Columbia bench and supporters into a frenzy.
Columbia's four-point lead heading to the fourth quarter evaporated in a matter of 61 seconds. Again, it was Krupa, who scored 10 in the period, including the first five to pull her team back in front.
The see-saw battle carried on for a few more minutes until Columbia grabbed ahold of the game. The Lions held Harvard to 0-for-4 from the field with four turnovers over the next five minutes, defeating the Crimson for the ninth time in their last 10 meetings.
The Lions now prepare for Senior Night at Levien Gymnasium, which will take place against No. 25 Princeton (20-3, 10-0 Ivy) on Saturday at 2 p.m. ET.
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