NEW YORK – The top two teams in Ivy League women's basketball square off for the second time this season on Saturday as Columbia (18-5, 9-1 Ivy) hosts No. 25/23 Princeton (20-3, 10-0 Ivy). The opening tip from Schiller Court at Levien Gymnasium is scheduled for 2 p.m. ET.
SENIOR DAY SELLOUT
• Columbia Athletics announced on Tuesday evening that the game between Columbia and No. 25 Princeton on Saturday is officially sold out. Only student tickets remain and students must present a valid Columbia University or Barnard College ID to obtain their ticket.
• Saturday is Senior Day for Columbia's senior class, which includes all-time leading scorer
Abbey Hsu. Since Hsu's arrival in 2019-20, Columbia has put together a combined record of 88-28 (.759). Prior to Hsu's arrival, Columbia posted a record of 29-54 (.349) in Coach Griffith's first three seasons at Columbia.
• Fans should arrive early for the Senior Day festivities, which are scheduled to begin at 1:40 p.m.
GAME COVERAGE
• Saturday's game will be broadcast
live on ESPN+. Lance Medow and Maren Walseth will have the call. Fans can also keep up with the
live stats courtesy of GoColumbiaLions.com. In-game updates will also be provided on social media by following
@CULionsWBB on X and
Instagram.
WHAT TO KNOW:
OPENING TIPS
•
Abbey Hsu became the all-time leading scorer in Columbia basketball history last Friday night at Dartmouth. Now with 1,989 career points, she surpassed Camille Zimmerman (1,973; 2014-18) for the most points by any man or woman in school history. She is 11 points from becoming the fourth player in Ivy League women's history to score 2,000 career points, and would be the first to do so since Harvard's Hana Peljto (2,109; 2000-04).
• Hsu was named to the Naismith Trophy Women's College Player of the Year Midseason Watch List last week. She was one of 30 players from around the country and one of just two mid-major players to make the cut.
• Columbia is 13-1 (.929) at home this season and has won a program-record 12 straight home games, including wins over Seton Hall, Providence, Villanova and Memphis. The Lions are outscoring opponents by 18.9 ppg at home and holding opposing teams to less than 60 (59.9). They also outrebound teams by 10.0 per game.
• Columbia has won 16 of its last 17 games. The Lions tied a program record with 10 consecutive wins (Nov. 25 - Jan. 15) before falling at Princeton on Jan. 20. They have since won six straight, averaging 79.8 ppg in that span.
• Columbia enters the weekend leading the Ivy League in 11 NCAA-ranked statistics, which includes scoring offense (77.4), rebound margin (+8.0), rebounds per game (39.57), offensive rebounds (14.7), 3-pointers made per game (8.3), assists per game (17.4), bench points per game (22.4) and assist/turnover ratio (1.13).
•
Cecelia Collins scored her 1,000th career point in Sunday's victory at Harvard. She scored a team-high 20 points, including 12 in the fourth quarter, along with game-highs of eight rebounds and four assists. The junior is in her first season at Columbia after scoring a combined 688 points during her first two seasons at Bucknell.
• Columbia is in search of its first win in program history against an AP Top 25 team (0-12).
HOME COURT ADVANTAGE
• Columbia is 13-1 (.929) at home this season and has won 12 straight in NYC, which ties for the 12th-longest active home winning streak in the country. Its home record ranks 20th-best in the NCAA. Columbia is 26-3 at home over the last two seasons (.897).
COLLINS COMBINES FOR 1,000
• Junior
Cecelia Collins scored her 1,000th career point in Columbia's 71-63 victory against Harvard (Feb. 18). She reached the milestone on a jumper with 3:50 to go in the fourth quarter, which was part of an 11-0 Columbia run to pull away. Collins scored a team-high 20 points in the win, tallying game-highs of eight rebounds and four assists. She is in her first season competing at Columbia after playing her freshman and sophomore seasons at Bucknell, where she scored 688 of those points.
200 GAMES FOR COACH G
• Head coach
Megan Griffith will coach her 200th career game on Saturday against Princeton, all of which have come in her eight years at Columbia. Griffith holds an overall record of 117-82 (.588), including a 50-44 (.532) mark against Ivy League competition. She is the all-time winningest coach in program history, eclipsing Nancy Kalafus with her 95th win in last year's WNIT.
• Since the start of the 2021-22 season, Griffith and the Lions are 71-18 (.798), including 33-5 (.868) against Ivy League competition.
HARVARD POSTGAME NOTES (FEB. 18)
• Columbia went 19-for-31 at the foul line against Harvard, tying for the most free throws made in a game this season (19). It was the most free throws attempted since last year's game at Harvard (20-33; Feb. 17, 2023).
• Columbia's +15 rebounding margin marked the eighth time this season they have outrebounded a team by at least 15. Five of those occasions have come in Ivy League play.
•
Nicole Stephens took a career-high 11 field goal attempts. She has now hit her career-high in shot attempts in two of her last three games (Brown, Harvard).
•
Cecelia Collins hit a career-highs in free throws made and attempted (9-10).
•
Susie Rafiu hit career-highs in points (11), blocks (3), free throws made (4), free throw attempts (6), and minutes played (25).
•
Megan Griffith won her 50th career Ivy League game (50-44). She is 33-5 (.868) in league play over the last three seasons.
DARTMOUTH POSTGAME NOTES (FEB. 16)
•
Riley Weiss's 17 points were one off her career-high 18 against Georgia at the Baha Mar Hoops Pink Flamingo Championship in the Bahamas (Nov. 20).
•
Nicole Stephens tied her career-high in steals (3), a mark she has reached three times this season.
•
Cecelia Collins went 6-for-6 at the free throw line, marking her best game from the charity stripe of her career.
•
Susie Rafiu had a career-high eight rebounds, leading the team in rebounds for the first time in her career (8).
•
Habti Calvo recorded her first career assist.
• Columbia won its eighth straight meeting against Dartmouth, its longest winning streak in series history.
• Columbia tied its season-low in turnovers (9), which they last had against Villanova (Dec. 3).
• Columbia shot 50% for the game (29-58), marking the fourth time they have reached 50% this season, three of which have come in Ivy League play (vs. Harvard, vs. Cornell, at Dartmouth).
• Dartmouth went 7-for-14 from three, marking the first time an opposing team shot 50% or better from deep since Stony Brook on Nov. 24, 2021.
ALL-TIME SCORING GREAT
•
Abbey Hsu is the all-time leading scorer in Columbia basketball history (men's or women's) with 1,989 career points. She is 11 points from becoming the fourth player in Ivy women's history to reach 2,000.
• Hsu passed Camille Zimmerman '18CC for the all-time record when she got fouled on a 3-point attempt with 6:46 remaining in the third quarter at Dartmouth (Feb. 16). She made 2-of-3 to pass Zimmerman and is now No. 4 on the Ivy League's all-time scoring list. She also ranks No. 23 among active NCAA Div. I players in career points.
Columbia Basketball All-Time Scoring Leaders
1.
(W) Abbey Hsu (2019-pres.) 1,989
2. (W) Camille Zimmerman (2014-18) 1,973
3. (M) Buck Jenkins (1989-93) 1,767
4. (M) Jim McMillian (1967-70) 1,758
5. (M) Maodo Lo (2012-16) 1,756
Ivy League Women's Basketball All-Time Scoring Leaders
1. Diana Caramanico - Penn (1997-01) 2,415
2. Allison Feaster - Harvard (1994-98) 2,312
3. Hana Peljto - Harvard (2000-04) 2,109
4. Abbey Hsu - Columbia (2019-20, 21-24) 1,989
5. Camille Zimmerman - Columbia (2014-18) 1,973
6. Vita Redding - Brown (1995-99) 1,962
7. Gail Koziara - Dartmouth (1978-82) 1,933
8. Katharine Hanks - Dartmouth (1999-03) 1,870
9. Reka Cserny - Harvard (2001-05) 1,863
10. Jayne Daigle - Dartmouth (2001-05) 1,846
ABOUT THE TIGERS
• Princeton (20-3, 10-0 Ivy) has been ranked
No. 25 by the Associated Press each of the last two weeks. The Tigers are on a 15-game winning streak, the fifth-longest active streak in the country, which dates back to a 79-70 victory against Quinnipiac on December 6. Their last loss came three days prior, Dec. 3, against Rhode Island, 60-58.
• As is their staple, the Tigers excel statistically on defense. Princeton ranks No. 28 in the NCAA in points allowed per game (56.4) and 30th nationally in scoring margin (14.1). They also take care of the basketball, averaging just 12.8 turnovers per game, the 20th-lowest mark in the country, while ranking No. 16 in turnover margin (+5.17). Their leading scorer is reigning Ivy League Player of the Year Kaitlyn Chen (16.0). Senior Ellie Mitchell is one of the top rebounders in the country (9.9), going for 14 points and 15 rebounds when Columbia last met the Tigers in Princeton on January 20.
• Columbia snapped Princeton's 27-game series winning streak last season when it took down the Tigers, 58-55, in overtime at Jadwin Gym. Princeton avenged that loss last season at Levien Gymnasium, 74-56, and won the first meeting of this season between the two sides last month in New Jersey, 80-65. The Lions hope to defeat the Tigers in New York for the first time since 2008.
FOLLOW THE LIONS
For the latest on the Columbia women's basketball, follow @CULionsWBB on
Twitter,
Instagram and
Facebook, or on the web at
GoColumbiaLions.com.
