NEW YORK – Columbia women's basketball clinched its spot at 2025 Ivy Madness with a convincing, 89-37, victory over Dartmouth on Friday night at Levien Gymnasium. In doing so, the Lions extended their winning streak to 11 games, which matches the longest in program history.
Columbia (18-4, 9-0 Ivy) was unstoppable on the glass all game. The Lions grabbed 60 rebounds, a whopping 34 on the offensive end, and outrebounded Dartmouth (8-14, 2-7 Ivy) by 38. Their 34 offensive rebounds tied for the most by any team in the NCAA this season. Sixteen of their total rebounds came from junior
Susie Rafiu, who recorded her first collegiate double-double with 12 points.
Senior
Cecelia Collins led all scorers with 20 points, 14 of which came in the first quarter. Five Lions reached double figures in the scoring column for the first time this season.
"We wanted to come out swinging and get a few easy ones," Collins told Lance Medow in her
postgame interview. "I thought we threw a good first punch and continued it for 40 minutes."
Rafiu's 16 rebounds were a career-high and the most by a Lion in over two years. Ten of them came on the offensive glass, leading Columbia to a remarkable 36-6 advantage in second-chance points.
"Last time we played them, their forwards definitely came at us," Rafiu said. "That was a focal point in this game to not let that happen and flip the script. Our forwards did a good job of that tonight."
As for clinching an Ivy Tournament spot, Rafiu and the Lions know they have bigger goals in mind.
"It's day-by-day, game-by-game," the junior from England went on to say. "We know our bigger goals and this is the first step of it. Each day we've got to go for the next game, finish out the regular season and the Ivy Tournament … step-by-step to get to our bigger goals."
Columbia tied the program record for the fewest points allowed against a Division I opponent (the other also coming against Dartmouth). The defensive stat of the night was a 24-1 third quarter, the fewest points the Lions have ever allowed in a single period. They held the Big Green to zero field goals for the first 13:21 of the second half.
Friday was Columbia's first win by over 50 points since Dec. 21, 2019, when they defeated NJIT 99-43. Columbia has now won 20 straight home games, including a perfect 7-0 this season. Friday also marked their 19th consecutive Ivy League win.
Collins jump-started the first quarter by scoring 14 of the Lions' first 19 on a perfect 3-of-3 shooting behind the arc en route to a 23-8 opening salvo. Dartmouth struggled to set up their offense as the Lions made use of the press and scrambled all over the court on defense.
Kitty Henderson inspired a 10-0 Columbia run midway through the second quarter, hitting a three and finishing an and-1 on back-to-back plays.
Riley Weiss capped it off with a three of her own before the Lions went to the locker room up 44-26.
Columbia's lead ballooned to 41 points courtesy of the 24-1 third period.
Blau Tor capped off the Lions' dominant quarter by scoring a buzzer-beating putback layup that just barely left her fingers in time. Dartmouth finally scored its first second-half field goal with 6:39 left in the fourth, but their night was over.
The 2025 Ivy League Women's Basketball Tournament will be held March 14-15 at Brown University's Pizzitola Sports Center in Providence, Rhode Island. Fans can
purchase tickets now at IvyMadness.com.
Columbia concludes the weekend by hosting Harvard (18-3, 7-2 Ivy) Sunday at noon. The game will be televised nationally on ESPNU.
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