Columbia University
1-0,0-0Ivy League
Butler
1-1,0-0Big East
Women’s Basketball Holds Off Butler to Win Season Opener in OT, 74-69
11/7/2025 11:31:00 PM | Women's Basketball
Weiss scores game-high 27; Page secures third career double-double
INDIANAPOLIS – Mia Broom hit a go-ahead 3-pointer late in overtime and the Columbia women's basketball team held off a stingy Butler team, 74-69, in the Lions' season opener Friday night at Hinkle Fieldhouse.
Columbia (1-0) was led by a game-high 27 points from junior Riley Weiss. The USBWA National Player of the Year candidate had nine of Columbia's final 14 points in regulation. The burst helped bring the Lions back from seven points down with 7:00 to play to get to overtime tied at 60. She ended the night 10-for-22 from the field.
Perri Page had a double-double of 19 points and 10 rebounds, scoring 15 of those points through the second half and overtime. The senior co-captain from Pittsburgh came away with one of her career-high six steals with 30 seconds left in regulation to help force the extra session. Fellow senior co-captain Susie Rafiu rounded out Columbia's trio of double-figure scorers with 13 points on 6-of-10 from the floor.
After trading the first four buckets of OT, Broom knocked down a trey with 1:44 remaining that gave the Lions the lead for good. Butler (1-1) cut it to one on the next possession, but Columbia scored the next six to go up seven with 20 seconds remaining, putting the game out of reach.
I think the beauty of a game like that is that you get to see how the team is going to show up when the chips are on the table, 10th-year Columbia head coach Megan Griffith said. I was just really proud that we showed up and we didn't back down from a challenge. This team is wearing a big target on its back … You have to approach every game knowing that, but with more confidence in what we are trying to execute.
The victory improved Columbia to 10-2 against the BIG EAST Conference since Griffith came back to Morningside Heights in 2016. Prior to that, the program had never defeated a BIG EAST opponent.
Columbia turned Butler over 29 times on the night. The Lions turned those into 28 points on the other end. Page's six steals were part of 15 for Columbia in the contest.
The Bulldogs were led by 14 bench points from Navaeh Jackson. Starters Kennedy Langham and Lily Zeinstra had 13 points apiece.
The game was close the entire way. Neither side led by more than two at the end of any quarter. Columbia grabbed its largest lead of eight points midway through the second, and Butler went on a 6-0 run early in the fourth to lead by as many as seven. The Lions wiped that lead away in a matter of 90 seconds, tying things back up at 53 with seven straight from Weiss and Page.
Columbia remains in the Midwest to battle Ohio University (1-0) on Sunday. Tip-off from the Convocation Center in Athens, Ohio, is scheduled for 12 noon.
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