NEW YORK – The Columbia women's basketball team (10-4, 1-0 Ivy) returns to the site where it cinched the 2024 Ivy League Regular Season Championship, visiting Newman Arena to take on Cornell (4-10, 0-1 Ivy). Saturday's opening tip is scheduled for 1 p.m.
TICKETS
• Fans making the trip to Ithaca can
click here to purchase tickets ahead of time. Tickets can also be purchased on-site at the venue.
GAME COVERAGE
• Saturday's game will be streamed
live on ESPN+ with Nick DeLuca on the call. Fans
can click here to access live stats through the Cornell Athletics website, or on the
ESPN app. Live updates will also be posted to the Columbia women's basketball team's Twitter account (
@CULionsWBB).
OPENING TIPS
• Columbia defeated the Big Red, 82-46, in the 2024 regular-season finale, Columbia's largest win in series history. It capped a program-best 13-1 Ivy League record and clinched its second straight regular-season title. The Lions went on to hear their name called on Selection Sunday, earning an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament, their first bid in program history.
•
Megan Griffith will coach her 100th career Ivy League game. Now in her ninth year as head coach, Griffith enters with a league record of 55-44 (.556). Including this year's Ivy opener, she has coached the Lions to a combined 38-5 (.884) Ivy League record since the 2021-22 season. She is the all-time winningest coach in Columbia women's basketball history, entering with an overall mark of 132-88 (.600).
• Winners of three straight, the Lions are a combined +65 on the glass over their last three games - Wagner (+28), Towson (+26) and Penn (+11). Columbia now ranks No. 19 in the NCAA in offensive rebounds per game (15.6), and also leads the Ivy League in total rebounds per game (40.21) and rebound margin (+6.4).
• Columbia leads the Ivy League in points per game (73.9) and assists per game (17.2). The Lions have led the league in scoring each of the last two seasons. Their current assists per game average ranks No. 31 in the NCAA.
• Senior point guard
Kitty Henderson has been named Ivy League Player of the Week a league-best three times this season (Nov. 11, Dec. 2, Dec. 30). She ranks top 50 in the NCAA in assists (72) and assists per game (5.1). Her field goal percentage (.473) is also No. 1 in the Ivies among those that meet the NCAA minimum (5 FGM/game). The native Australian is also sixth in the league in both scoring (15.3) and steals (1.9) per game.
• Columbia is looking for its seventh straight win against Cornell, which would tie for its longest winning streak in series history (1988-91).
PENN POSTGAME NOTES (Jan. 4)
•
Perri Page hit new career-highs in field goals made and attempted (8-12). She also led the team in scoring for the first time in her career.
•
Kitty Henderson made her 100th career start, becoming the fifth player in program history to start 100 games.
•
Riley Weiss matched her career-high in free throws made (5), and set new career-highs in free throw attempts (6) and assists (4)
•
Marija Avlijas matched her career-highs in points (11), field goal attempts (10), three-pointers made (2) and attempted (3).
•
Mia Broom attempted her first two career free throws
• Columbia won its fourth game in a row against Penn, its longest winning streak in series history.
• Columbia started league play with a win for the fifth consecutive season.
BUBBLE WATCH
• For the third consecutive season, Columbia has placed itself in the NCAA Tournament conversation. In the latest ESPNW Bracketology, Charlie Creme has the Lions on the "Next Four Out" line. However,
Megan Griffith's program has proven in can go on a late-season winning streak and play its way into the NCAA field, doing just that to earn an at-large bid in 2024.
• Currently, Columbia has played six teams inside the NET Top 100 with a record of 2-4 against those opponents. The Lions are a perfect 9-0 against teams in Quads 3 and 4.
ON THE ROAD AGAIN…
• The Lions are in the midst of a 47-day stretch without a home game, which is the longest span between home games in the country. They play six straight games on the road before returning home to play Princeton on Monday, January 20. UC Irvine (46), Texas A&M Commerce (45), Indiana State (45) and Stephen F. Austin (40) are the only other teams that go 40+ days between home games.
RANKING THE LIONS
• Columbia leads the Ivy League in scoring offense (73.9), rebound margin (+6.0) offensive rebounds (15.6) and assists (17.2). The Lions have led the Ivy League in scoring each of the last two seasons.
•
Kitty Henderson ranks No. 1 in the Ivy League in total assists (72) and assists per game (5.1). She is top 50 in the NCAA in both categories. The senior from Australia ranks No. 1 among qualified Ivy League players in field goal percentage (.473), and is 26th in the country in minutes per game (35.46).
•
Cecelia Collins is second in the Ivy League in assists (59) and assists per game (4.5). She is top 70 in the NCAA in assists per game.
•
Perri Page (7.0) is No. 5 in the Ivy League in rebounding.
Kitty Henderson (6.2) is eighth and
Cecelia Collins (5.5) is just outside the top 10 in 11th.
•
Riley Weiss leads Columbia and ranks No. 3 in the Ivies in scoring (17.0).
Kitty Henderson (15.6) is sixth.
• Weiss ranks No. 9 nationally in 3-point attempts (120) and No. 32 nationally in 3-point makes (41). She is also 19th in the country in 3-pointers made per game (2.93). All of those marks lead the Ivy League. Her 34.2 percent 3-point percentage is second in the Ivy League.
SCOUTING THE OPPONENT
• After 21 seasons led by head coach Dayna Smith, Cornell (4-10, 0-1) has a new head coach this season in Emily Garner. Garner was previously the head coach for seven seasons at Trinity College in Connecticut, going a combined 124-55 with the Bantams.
• Emily Pape (12.9) and Summer Parker-Hall (12.5) lead the Big Red in scoring. Parker-Hall is an excellent free-throw shooter, hitting at 91 percent (41-45) so far this season. Pape (6.9) and Parker-Hall (6.1) also lead the team in rebounding, as well as blocks with 10 apiece. Sophomores Azareya Kilgoe (34) and Clarke Jackson (29) have handed out the most assists.
• The Lions have sliced Cornell's all-time series lead to 42-33 dating back to the creation of the Columbia-Barnard Athletic Consortium (1983-84). Columbia has won six in a row and will look to match their longest winning streak in series history of seven straight, last accomplished between the years of 1988-91.
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.
