CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – The Columbia women's basketball team went on the road and scored 80 points on Harvard's No. 1-ranked defense, defeating the Crimson, 80-71, Friday night at Lavietes Pavilion. The game was televised nationally on ESPNU.
Sophomore
Riley Weiss netted a new career-high of 26 points in the win. The reigning Ivy League Player of the Week went 5-for-9 from three, adding six rebounds, two assists and two steals.
"I thought she was pretty great," head coach
Megan Griffith told ESPN's Helen Williams during her
postgame interview. "Riley is a star in the making. She is just figuring out how good she is and I think today was a really good example of how she can be a leader for this program, which is something we've been asking of her a lot. As I said, I'm really proud of her for leading us today, especially in that first half."
Columbia (15-4, 6-0 Ivy) cut through Harvard's (15-3, 4-2 Ivy) press all night. The Crimson, who came into the game allowing an NCAA-best 50.9 points per game, were lit up for a season-worst 80. The Lions turned it over a season-low nine times while flipping the script on the Crimson, who turned it over 18 times. At halftime, Columbia had a 16-4 advantage in points off turnovers.
"That's how we play," Griffith said. "We've been really battle-tested this year … November prepared us for this moment and I'm just proud of our team for putting 40 minutes together today, even withstanding that run at the end."
Weiss had 17 to help Columbia build a 10-point lead at halftime. Friday night's performance followed up a then-career-high 25 points from last Saturday against Penn. She is averaging nearly 19 points through the first six Ivy League games.
"I put in a lot of work," Weiss told Williams after the game. "I wanted to have an impact this season and my teammates instill confidence in me."
Senior co-captain
Kitty Henderson was also impressive Friday night, posting a double-double of 22 points and 10 rebounds. She was 10-of-17 from the floor and tacked on four assists with a game-high three steals. Fellow senior and co-captain
Cecelia Collins recorded 17 points, a game-high seven assists and five rebounds.
The Lions jumped ahead 11-5 with a 7-0 run early and never trailed again. Harvard head coach Carrie Moore called for time following five straight points by Weiss in a span of 15 seconds. Weiss later scored at the buzzer to cap a 10-point opening quarter that saw Columbia leading 23-14.
Harvard sliced the margin to four in the second quarter but the Lions went on another 7-0 run just before halftime to rebuild a double-digit lead. Weiss nailed her third trey of the half to fuel it.
The Lions built as large as a 16-point lead in the third. Weiss and Henderson combined for 17 of the team's 20 points in the period, stopping any attempt of a Harvard run in its tracks.
It looked like the game was headed for a runaway in the fourth when Harvard called for time trailing 73-54 with 6:49 remaining. However, what ensued was a 10-0 Crimson run that got the Lavietes Pavilion crowd into it. Ultimately, the Lions proved to be too tough and too seasoned to let there be any doubt.
Harmoni Turner scored a team-high 21 for Harvard, most of which came during her team's desperation run in the fourth. Saniyah Glenn-Bello had 16 and a team-high eight rebounds.
The win keeps Columbia alone in first in the Ivy League standings. Following Friday's action, the Lions remain one game ahead of Princeton (5-1 Ivy) and are now two games in front of Harvard (4-2 Ivy).
Columbia turns around to play Dartmouth (8-11, 2-4 Ivy) in less than 24 hours, tipping off against the Big Green on Saturday at 5 p.m.
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