NEW YORK – Riding a season-best 10-game winning streak, the Columbia women's basketball team (17-4, 8-0 Ivy) looks to keep it rolling at home this weekend against Dartmouth (8-13, 2-6 Ivy) and Harvard (17-3, 6-2 Ivy). The Lions welcome Dartmouth to Schiller Court at Levien Gymnasium on Friday at 7 p.m. Sunday's game against Harvard tips at noon and will be televised nationally on ESPNU.
TICKETS
• Fans can
click here to purchase tickets to either of this weekend's games. Fans are encouraged to purchase tickets ahead of time online. If available, tickets can also be purchased on-site at the ticket window, located at 3030 Broadway.
GAME COVERAGE
• Lance Medow and Maren Walseth will have the call of Friday night's game against Dartmouth on ESPN+. Jon Meterperal and Helen Williams will have the call of Sunday's game against Harvard on ESPNU.
Live stats for both games are available on the Columbia Athletics website. Fans can also track the game live via ESPN's Gamecast.
ALUMNAE WEEKEND
• Columbia women's basketball is happy to welcome back all alums of the program for Alumnae Weekend! As part of Alumnae Weekend, the Lions are holding Barnard Night and their annual Play4Kay game on Friday. Barnard Night celebrates the Columbia-Barnard Athletic Consortium. Established in 1983, the Columbia-Barnard Athletic Consortium allows students at neighboring Barnard College to compete together with Columbia undergraduates at the NCAA Division I level as part of the Ivy League. Since the 2007-08 season, the Lions have also participated in the Play4Kay game, helping raise awareness in the fight against women's cancer. The Lions will be wearing special Play4Kay warm-ups. The first 200 fans will receive a free pink canvas tote bag. Additionally, the two students will win a speaker cooler.
• Sunday is International Students Day. There will be a pizza delivery to the student section and one student will win an Apple Watch.
OPENING TIPS
• Columbia is on a 10-game winning streak, which is its longest since winning a program-record 11 straight games last Ivy League season. They are 8-0 in the Ivy League for the first time. The Lions are outscoring opponents by 20.7 points per game and outrebounding them by 11.5 per game on their current winning streak.
• The Lions have won 19 straight home games, including a perfect 6-0 mark this season. Their last loss at home came November 14, 2023 against then-No. 22 Duke, 66-62.
• Columbia has won 18 consecutive Ivy League games. The Lions are now 45-5 (.900) in Ivy League play since the start of the 2021-22 season. They are 93-24 (.795) overall over that time.
• Senior
Kitty Henderson is four assists from breaking Columbia's all-time program record, currently held by Charlene Schuessler (1986-90). Henderson enters the week with 453 career assists. She ranks No. 7 in Columbia WBB history in points (1,221), No. 10 in rebounds (643), No. 2 in assists (453) and No. 4 in steals (164).
• Henderson is the only player in the country averaging 13.5+ points, 6.3+ rebounds, 5.2+ assists and 2.3+ steals. In fact, she is the only player in the last four seasons of Div. I women's basketball averaging those numbers.
• Columbia has won 11 of its last 12 against Harvard, including each of the last six series meetings in New York. Prior to
Megan Griffith's tenure as head coach, the Crimson were 58-3 all-time against Columbia.
• Columbia (3) and Harvard (2) are both receiving votes in this week's AP Top 25.
• With its next win, Columbia clinches its spot at the 2025 Ivy League Tournament in Providence, R.I.
BROWN POSTGAME NOTES (Jan. 20)
• Brown committed a season-high 28 turnovers. Columbia went for 10+ steals for the 10th time this season.
• Columbia held Brown to 29.4% shooting, the lowest by an opponent this season.
• Brown's 40 points were the fewest by an opponent since Columbia allowed a program-best 37 at Dartmouth (Feb. 18, 2023).
• Columbia's 38-point margin of victory was its largest in an Ivy League game since defeating Dartmouth by 43 points (80-37) on Feb. 18, 2023.
•
Marija Avlijas scored a career-high 12 points on a career-best 6-of-9 shooting.
•
Kitty Henderson had a career-high six steals and passed Shawnee Pickney (1997-01) for fourth all-time (164).
RANKING THE LIONS
• Columbia leads the Ivy League in scoring offense (74.0), rebound margin (+6.6), rebounds per game (39.33), offensive rebounds (15.3), three-pointers made per game (7.8), assists per game (17.2), assist/turnover ratio (1.21) and free throw attempts per game (16.00).
• Columbia ranks 17th in the NCAA in offensive rebounds per game (15.3). They are top 50 in rebound margin (+6.6), scoring margin (+13.9), assists per game (17.2), assist/turnover ratio (1.21) and turnover margin (+4.52)
•
Kitty Henderson (5.2) is No. 30 in the NCAA in assists per game. She and Collins (4.2) rank No. 1 and No. 2 in the Ivies. Henderson is also No. 1 in the Ivy League and top 80 in the NCAA in assist/turnover ratio (1.88).
• Columbia has three of the Ivy League's top 10 leading scorers.
Riley Weiss (18.1) has climbed to second;
Cecelia Collins (13.7) is seventh;
Kitty Henderson (13.5) is eighth.
• Weiss ranks No. 4 nationally in 3-pointers made per game (3.19), No. 15 in total threes made (67) and No. 17 in total 3-point attempts (176). All of those marks lead the Ivy League. Her 38.1 three-point percentage is No. 1 in the Ivy League and top 75 in the NCAA.
•
Cecelia Collins ranks top 50 nationally and No. 1 among NCAA-qualified Ivy League players in field goal percentage (.531).
•
Kitty Henderson (6.3) and
Perri Page (6.3) are tied for sixth in the Ivy League in rebounding.
TRIO OF PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
•
Kitty Henderson (3),
Riley Weiss (2) and
Cecelia Collins (1) have combined to win six of the 15 Ivy League Player of the Week awards this season. No other school has had more than one player earn the Ivy League's weekly distinction. Nationally, the Lions are one of just five programs to have three or more players win their conference's player-of-the-wee award this season. (Longwood, Northern Arizona, Green Bay and Gonzaga).
WEISS PILES IN THE AWARDS
•
Riley Weiss earned several regional and national weekly awards for the week of Jan. 27 - Feb. 2. She was named both the Ivy League Player of the Week and Met Basketball Writers Associaton Player of the Week, earning the pair of recognitions for the second week running. The United States Basketball Writers Association (USBWA) named the sophomore shooter one of five National Players of the Week. Meanwhile, the Associated Press named Weiss one of three Honorable Mention Players of the Week.
• Weiss averaged 25.5 points 6.0 rebounds, 1.5 assists and 1.0 steal across two wins against Harvard (80-71) and Dartmouth (71-48). She shot 51.5 percent from the floor and 56.3 percent (9-16) from deep. Against Harvard, she scored a career-high 26 points on 5-of-9 from long range. She scored 25 points in 25 minutes at Dartmouth.
BUBBLE WATCH
• For the third consecutive season, Columbia has placed itself in the NCAA Tournament conversation. In the latest ESPNW Bracketology (Feb. 11) 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 4-4 against those opponents. The Lions are a perfect 14-0 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.
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.
