NEW YORK – The Columbia women's basketball team defeated Harvard in the Ivy League Tournament semifinals, 63-61, Friday night from Schiller Court at Levien Gymnasium. With the win, the second-seeded Lions advance to the tournament championship game to face top-seeded Princeton.
Columbia improved to 23-5 on the season and won a program-record 11th consecutive game. The Lions and Tigers (24-4) shared the Ivy League Regular Season Championship, each posting a league record of 13-1. They split the head-to-head season series.
Abbey Hsu poured in a game-high 22 points and grabbed a career-high 14 rebounds to notch her sixth double-double of the season. All six double-doubles have come with at least 20 points.
"I would say major thank you to our fans. I thought they were fantastic today," eighth-year head coach
Megan Griffith said. "It was a great game environment. This game was a battle. Harvard is a really good team and they've got a lot of talented players. I think Carrie (Moore) is a good coach. It was something we knew we were going to walk into. They weren't gonna roll over. This isn't a team that has a quit mentality.
"With that though, I thought our first half we didn't really execute our game plan. We really challenged our team to come out and set a tone for that third quarter and I thought that's exactly what we did. We created separation and then pretty much held on to that lead the rest of the game. I am really proud of our team executing the second half, but the job is not done. We have to move on to the next one now."
The Lions went on an 8-0 run early in the second half to regain the lead and did not trail the rest of the way. Hsu, who had 15 points in the first half, drained her fourth trey of the game to ignite the run. She then assisted
Cecelia Collins for the go-ahead bucket before Collins followed with an emphatic and-1 to electrify the Levien Gymnasium crowd.
Back-to-back buckets by
Susie Rafiu helped maintain Columbia's cushion through the quarter. Columbia went up by double figures for the first time on another 3-point play by
Fliss Henderson with 6:32 to go in the fourth.
Despite the final margin being just two points, the lead was never in doubt. Two free throws by
Kitty Henderson made it a seven-point lead with less than 30 seconds to play. Harvard drained two threes in the final 11 seconds.
"I think we've been battle-tested all season. We talk about it all the time," said Collins in the
postgame press conference. "The team that goes through the most adversity is going to come out on top. Harvard is just such a good team, but being able to put them away was a big win for us."
Collins was one of four Lions in double figures. The junior transfer from Scranton, Pennsylvania netted 10 points to go with five rebounds and four assists.
Kitty Henderson also had 10 points to go with six boards on an 8-of-11 night at the foul line.
Susie Rafiu scored 11 points.
Harmoni Turner led Harvard (16-12) with 21 points to go with six rebounds, a team-high four assists and a game-high four steals. Katie Krupa had 16 points.
Harvard came out of the gates hot, scoring the first five points over the opening 2:18. The Crimson started out shooting 4-for-6 from the field, led by Turner who had 11 of Harvard's first 14 points.
After Columbia opened the game shooting just 1-for-7, Hsu got the Lions back into it quickly with nine first-quarter points. However, a Karlee White jumper with just five seconds left in the quarter gave the Crimson a 16-14 advantage after one period of play.
The Lions bounced back early in the second quarter with a quick 6-0 run. They took their first lead of the game on a 3-pointer from Collins. The two sides traded leads four times before halftime with a buzzer-beater by Gabby Anderson giving the Crimson a 30-29 advantage at the break.
Columbia did not disappoint in the second half, advancing to the Ivy League Championship game for the second time in the last three seasons.
Saturday's Ivy League Tournament final will tip at 5 p.m. ET on ESPNEWS.
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.
