NEW YORK – The Columbia women's basketball team swept its first Ivy League back-to-back of the season, rolling to a, 71-52, victory over Dartmouth on Saturday from Schiller Court at Levien Gymnasium.
Columbia (15-5, 6-1 Ivy) put up the most points Dartmouth (6-13, 0-7 Ivy) has allowed all season. Entering the night, the Big Green ranked No. 4 in the NCAA in scoring defense, allowing just 52.6 points per game. It also extended Columbia's winning streak against the Big Green to seven, marking the longest for the Lions in series history.
After taking the lead at the 4:52 mark of the first quarter, Columbia took firm control of the game and never trailed again. They turned a nine-point game into a blowout courtesy of a 19-0 third-quarter run. The Lions outscored Dartmouth 21-5 in the period and held the visitors scoreless for an eight-minute stretch. The lead grew to as many as 30 early in the fourth quarter.
"It just shows how locked in we are and just turning the page," said Barnard College senior
Nicole Stephens during her
postgame interview with Lance Medow. "This team wanted to play slow, so we had to come out, be disruptive, get the ball out quick and push pace. At times, you could tell we were a little fatigued, but that's unacceptable. We're going to learn from it and keep being disciplined."
Stephens scored six points and went 2-for-2 from long range in the win. The senior guard also added three assists, two rebounds and a steal on Barnard College Night, an annual celebration of the
Columbia-Barnard Athletic Consortium.
"It was great seeing the whole [Barnard] community come out and continue to support us. It's unbelievable," Stephens added.
Cecelia Collins posted an efficient 15 points on 5-of-9 shooting.
Abbey Hsu, who made her
program-record-breaking 113th career start, contributed 13 points, nine rebounds, two assists and a steal.
Kitty Henderson was all over the stat sheet with 11 points, six assists, four rebounds, and three steals. Meanwhile, the Lions' bench contributed 28 of their 71 points. The team also had eight steals to Dartmouth's zero.
All 11 Lions who stepped on the floor for Columbia scored in the victory.
"If you have every single player on the court as a threat, there's not much you can do defensively," Henderson said. "I think that's something that Coach [Griffith] has been harping on this year. Everyone has to be a threat and that's when we're at our best."
Just as they started
Friday night's win against Harvard, the Lions scored the first points of the game in a matter of seconds off the opening tip.
Susie Rafiu batted the tip straight toward the basket for Collins, who sank the layup before the Big Green knew what hit them.
Kitty Henderson scored 11 of the Lions' 18 points in the first quarter to help her side hold a three-point lead. Columbia was efficient from the field at 53 percent but was 0-for-5 from deep. Dartmouth stayed close by going 3-for-7 from beyond the arc.
The energy shifted further in Columbia's favor during the second quarter when the Lions cashed in on four out of eight threes. Hsu, who was responsible for two of those threes, scored all eight of her first-half points during the quarter. A nearly five-minute scoring drought for the Big Green saw Columbia expand its lead to as many as 12 points, which included an 8-0 run. The Lions headed into the halftime break on top, 37-28.
Columbia opened the floodgates in the third quarter, expanding their lead up to 28 points. The Lions dominated inside with a 10-0 advantage in the paint.
Kitty Henderson set her teammates up for success with four assists in this quarter alone, two coming on back-to-back plays in which she found Hsu for a layup and a triple. Dartmouth made just two baskets and found itself in an insurmountable hole the entire fourth quarter.
The Lions close out a three-game homestand next Friday night when they host Brown (13-7, 4-3 Ivy) at 7 p.m. ET.
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.
