NEW YORK – Winners of seven straight and 17 of their last 18 overall, the Columbia women's basketball team (19-5, 10-1 Ivy) hit the road this weekend for a traditional Ivy League back-to-back against Brown (14-10, 5-6) and Yale (7-17, 4-7). Friday's tip time against the Bears is scheduled for 4 p.m. ET, followed by a Saturday matinee against the Bulldogs at 3 p.m.
TICKETS
• Fans can purchase tickets for this weekend's game ahead of time by visiting
Brown's and
Yale's online ticket platforms. Tickets can also be purchased on-site at the game.
GAME COVERAGE
• Both games this weekend will be available on
ESPN+ and the ESPN app. Mike Mancuso and Colleen Kelly will be on the call on Friday in Providence. Justin Gallanty and Alexandra Maund will call Saturday's game in New Haven.
• Live stats are available courtesy of
BrownBears.com and
YaleBulldogs.com.
WHAT TO KNOW:
OPENING TIPS
• Columbia is coming off its first AP Top 25 win in program history, taking down then-No. 25 Princeton, 67-65, last Saturday at Levien Gymnasium.
Abbey Hsu led the way with a game-high 26 points on her Senior Day. Columbia took a 64-53 lead on a Hsu triple with 5:17 to go and held on after a 12-2 Princeton run for the win.
• Hsu eclipsed 2,000 career points on Saturday, making her just the fourth player in Ivy League women's basketball history to reach the milestone. She is the first to reach it since Harvard's Hana Peljto in 2004. Hsu became Columbia's all-time leading scorer with her 1,974th career point on Feb. 16 at Dartmouth.
• Columbia was named the NCAA.com Team of the Week on Tuesday. The win over Princeton came in front of a sold out crowd of 2,698 at Levien Gym, a new women's basketball attendance record. Hsu was named the
NCAA.com Player of the Week for her performance.
• The Lions are receiving votes in this week's Associated Press Top 25. This is the first time this season Columbia has received votes. Last year, the Lions earned their first votes in the AP Top 25 in program history, appearing in the poll six separate weeks.
• Columbia enters the weekend leading the Ivy League in 12 NCAA-ranked statistics, which includes scoring offense (77.0), rebound margin (+7.3), rebounds per game (39.29), offensive rebounds per game (14.4), 3-pointers made per game (8.3), field goal percentage (.458), free throws made (11.67) and attempted (16.50) per game, assists per game (17.5), bench points per game (21.9), assist/turnover ratio (1.14).
•
Abbey Hsu was named a candidate this week for the 2024 Women's College All-Star Game, which takes place April 6 at the NCAA Final Four in Cleveland. She is on several National Player of the Year watch lists, including the Naismith Trophy Award and USBWA Ann Meyers Drysdale Player of the Year Award.
PRINCETON POSTGAME NOTES (FEB. 24)
• The sold out crowd of 2,698 eclipsed the previous women's basketball attendance record of 2,653 from Feb. 4, 2023, which was the last time Princeton visited Levien Gymnasium.
•
Abbey Hsu grabbed her 600th career rebound and is now 12th all-time at Columbia in rebounding.
• Columbia earned its first win of the season when scoring fewer than 70 points. Their last such win came in the first round of the 2023 WNIT, 69-53, over Fairleigh Dickinson.
• Columbia was previously 0-12 against AP Top 25 opponents.
MARCHING INTO MARCH
• Columbia has won 17 of its last 18 games entering the month of March, which includes a program-record 10-game winning streak (Nov. 25 - Jan. 15) and a current seven-game winning streak. Over their last seven games, the Lions are averaging 78.0 points per game, outscoring opponents by 16.0 points, outrebounding opponents by 11.7 per game and shooting nearly 48 percent from the field
BRACKETOLOGY
• Columbia is currently a projected No. 12 seed in Charlie Creme's latest Bracketology on ESPN.com. Creme has the Lions as the automatic qualifier out of the Ivy League. The Lions are also right on the bubble according to most NCAA Tournament projections from an at-large conversation. They are 5-5 against NET Top 100 teams, an undefeated 14-0 against NET 101+, and hold a winning 4-3 record against teams ranked 51-100.
MIDSEASON CUTS
•
Abbey Hsu is on several national player of the year midseason/late-season watch lists, including:
• Women's College All-Star Game Late-Season Watch List (Feb. 29)
• USBWA Coaches All-America & Ann Meyers Drysdale National Player of the Year Watch List (Feb. 27)
• Naismith Trophy Women's College Player of the Year Midseason Watch List (Feb. 13)
• Becky Hammon Mid-Major Player of the Year Award Semifinalist (Feb. 14)
• Ann Meyers Drysdale Award Top 10 Candidate (Jan. 23)
HOME COURT ADVANTAGE
• Columbia is 14-1 (.933) at home this season and has won 13 straight in NYC, which ties for the 11th-longest active home winning streak in the country. Its home record ranks 19th-best in the NCAA. Columbia is a combined 27-3 (.900) at home over the last two seasons.
A 200TH GAME TO REMEMBER
• Head coach
Megan Griffith coached her 200th career game on February 24, which resulted in a 67-65 victory over then-No. 25 Princeton. All of her games of come in her eight years at Columbia. Griffith holds an overall record of 118-82 (.590), including a 51-44 (.537) mark in Ivy play. 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 72-18 (.800), including 34-5 (.872) against Ivy League competition.
STAT LEADERS
•
Abbey Hsu (20.8), is the Ivy League's leading scorer.
•
Cecelia Collins (13.9) ranks top 10 in scoring.
Kitty Henderson (11.5) is top 15.
• Collins (.492) and Henderson (.486) are No. 4 and No. 5, respectively, in field goal percentage.
• Hsu is No. 1 in 3-point percentage (.398) and No. 9 in field goal percentage (.450).
• Collins (.862) is No. 1 in the Ivy League in free throw percentage and ranks No. 36 in the NCAA.
• Hsu's 3.00 made threes per game lead the league and rank No. 8 in the NCAA.
• Hsu ranks No. 4 in the league in rebounding (7.0) and No. 10 in total blocks (14).
•
Kitty Henderson is also top 10 in the Ivy League in rebounding (6.1).
• Five Lions ranks top 25 in the Ivies in assists per game.
Kitty Henderson (4.3) is fourth; Collins (3.8) is fifth;
Fliss Henderson (2.8) is 11th; Hsu (2.3) is 14th and
Nicole Stephens (1.6) is 24th.
•
Kitty Henderson (45) has the moss total steals in the Ivy League and is second in steals/game (1.9).
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.
