NEW YORK – The Columbia women's basketball team (14-4, 5-0 Ivy) hits the road for its first true Ivy League back-to-back of the season, facing Harvard (15-2, 4-1 Ivy) on Friday night at 7 p.m., followed by Dartmouth (8-10, 2-3 Ivy) on Saturday at 5 p.m. Friday's game will be a national telecast on ESPNU.
TICKETS
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Cick here to purchase tickets for Friday night's game at Harvard.
Click here to purchase tickets to Saturday's game at Dartmouth.
GAME COVERAGE
• Friday night's game at Harvard will be televised nationally on ESPNU. Pam Ward and Helen Williams will have the call. The game is also available to view online with a subscription to ESPN+.
Click here to access the game on ESPN+.
• Saturday's game at Dartmouth will be streamed on ESPN+ with Chris Jaren and Lori McBride on the call.
Click here to access the game on ESPN+.
• Fans can also track the game live through
ESPN's Gamecast or by accessing the live stats link provided by Harvard and Dartmouth. Live updates will also be posted to the Columbia women's basketball team's Twitter account (
@CULionsWBB).
OPENING TIPS
• The Lions are an Ivy League-best 30-3 (.909) against league competition since the start of the 2022-23 season. Columbia is alone in first place atop the league standings for the second straight week. It is just the third week in the Lions' 38-year history in the Ivy League that they have been alone in first. The only other occasion came the week of January 29, 2023, when they were 6-1.
• Columbia is on a seven-game winning streak, its longest since winning a program-record 11 straight games from Feb. 2 - Mar. 15 of last season. Columbia has won 15 straight league games dating back to last season.
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Riley Weiss was named the
Ivy League Player of the Week on Monday. The sophomore from Long Island matched a career-high with 25 points in Saturday's 79-54 victory over Penn. She was 8-of-11 from the floor, shot a career-best 6-of-9 from 3-point range and also matched another career-high with four assists. The Metropolitan Basketball Writers Association (MBWA) also named Weiss their
Div. I Player of the Week.
• Senior
Kitty Henderson averages 13.9 points, 6.4 rebounds, 5.3 assists and 2.2 steals per game. She and Duquesne's Megan McConnell are the only players in the country to average those minimums in each category.
• Henderson leads the Ivy League and ranks top 30 in the NCAA in assists per game (5.3). She also ranks eighth in the Ivies in scoring, sixth in rebounding and second in steals. The senior co-captain from Australia has been named Ivy League Player of the Week a league-best three times this season (Nov. 11, Dec. 2, Dec. 30).
• Columbia has won 10 of its last 11 against Harvard, including each of the last four series meetings in Cambridge. Prior to
Megan Griffith's tenure as head coach, the Crimson were 58-3 all-time against Columbia.
PENN POSTGAME NOTES (Jan. 25)
• Columbia's two points allowed in the second quarter (24-2) tied for the fewest it has ever allowed in a quarter in program history. The Lions also allowed just two points in a 12-2 second quarter against FGCU on November 11, defeating the Eagles, 62-51, at Levien Gymnasium.
• Columbia eclipsed 20 assists for the fifth time this season.
• Columbia's 12 threes made and 33 attempts tied for the second-most in a game this season.
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Riley Weiss hit career-highs in points (25), made threes (6) and assists (4).
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Blau Tor had a career-high six rebounds.
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Kitty Henderson passed Aaron Beck (1979-83) for 10th all-time in rebounding.
• Henderson moved into a tie for second all-time in games played (113).
• Collins's double-double was her first of the season and the second of her career.
RANKING THE LIONS
• Columbia leads the Ivy League in scoring offense (73.6), rebound margin (+6.6) offensive rebounds per game (15.6), rebounds per game (39.44), assists per game (17.4), assist/turnover ratio (1.19), three-pointers made per game (8.1) and free throw attempts per game (15.89).
• Columbia ranks 15th in the NCAA in offensive rebounds per game (15.6) and top 50 in rebound margin (+6.6). The Lions have outrebounded their last seven opponents by a combined 95 rebounds.
• The Lions are top 30 in the NCAA assists per game (17.4) and No. 32 in assist/turnover ratio (1.19). Henderson (5.3) and Collins (4.1) rank No. 1 and No. 3 in the Ivies in assists per game.
• Columbia has three of the Ivy League's top 10 leading scorers.
Riley Weiss (17.2) is third;
Cecelia Collins (14.0) is seventh;
Kitty Henderson (13.9) is eighth.
• Weiss ranks No. 6 nationally in 3-pointers made per game (3.11), No. 17 in total threes made (56) and No. 19 in total 3-point attempts (151).. All of those marks lead the Ivy League. Her 37.1 three-point percentage is No. 1 in the Ivy League and top 100 in the NCAA.
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Cecelia Collins ranks No. 1 among NCAA-qualified Ivy League players in field goal percentage (.539). She is No. 3 in the Ivy League in total assists (70) and assists per game (4.1).
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Perri Page (6.7) is No. 4 in the Ivy League in rebounding.
Kitty Henderson (6.4) is sixth.
KITTY LITTERS THE RECORD BOOKS
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Kitty Henderson recorded a season-high nine assists in a 77-53 win at Wagner (Dec. 21). In doing so, she became the fourth player in program history to record 400 career assists. Henderson now has 440 assists and is 16 shy of the program record (456), held by Hall of Famer Charlene Schuessler (1986-90).
• Henderson ranks among the career leaders in Columbia women's basketball history in five categories. The senior point guard is seventh in career points (1,188), 10th in rebounds (626), second in assists (440), fifth in steals (155), second in games played (113) and fifth in game started (104). She is also top 10 in both total field goals made (445) and attempted (1,010).
BUBBLE WATCH
• For the third consecutive season, Columbia has placed itself in the NCAA Tournament conversation. In the latest
ESPNW Bracketology (Jan. 28), Charlie Creme has the Lions as an 11 seed as the automatic qualifier out of the Ivy League. Currently, Columbia has played seven teams inside the NET Top 100 with a record of 3-4 against those opponents. The Lions are a perfect 12-0 against teams in Quads 3 and 4.
MORNINGSIDE HOOPS PODCAST
• The seventh season of the Morningside Hoops Podcast is underway! Weekly episodes feature interviews with players from the Columbia men's and women's basketball teams. Fans can listen to the podcast on all major platforms, including Spotify, SoundCloud, Apple Podcasts and the Audacy app.
SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS
• Harvard (15-2, 4-1 Ivy) is tied for second in the Ivy League standings with Princeton. The Crimson fell to the Tigers at Jadwin Gym a few weeks ago, 52-50, on a buzzer-beater by Princeton's Ashley Chea. Harvard owns the No. 1 scoring defense in the NCAA, allowing just 50.9 points per game. They are also 11th in the country in three-point defense (.249), No. 5 in turnover margin (+10.0), No. 3 in free throw percentage (.809) and No. 19 in steals per game (11.9). However, the Crimson's strength of schedule ranks No. 191 in the NCAA according to the NET. Senior Harmoni Turnver leads the Ivy League and ranks No. 10 in the NCAA in scoring (21.2). She is also fifth in the country in steals per game (3.35).
• Dartmouth (8-10, 2-3 Ivy) started the Ivy League season 2-0 with road wins over Brown and Penn, but has since lost three straight to Princeton, Yale and at home against Brown. The Big Green are currently fifth in the Ivy League standings, one game back of Brown (3-2). Victoria Page leads the team in scoring at 16.0 points per game, a mark that ranks No. 4 in the Ivy League. She is also fourth in the league in field goal percentage (.442). As a team, Dartmouth ranks at the bottom of the Ivy League in both rebound margin (-2.6) and made free throws per game (7.50).
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.
