(11) Columbia Prepares for (6) West Virginia in NCAA First Round

Saturday, March 22

Chapel Hill, N.C.

2:00 P.M.

Columbia University

(6) West Virginia

Buy tickets

Images from Columbia women's basketball practice and press conference ahead of its NCAA First Round matchup against West Virginia (March 21, 2025).

Photo by: Columbia University Athletics

Photo by: Joshua Wang,New York

Photo by: Columbia University Athletics

(11) Columbia Prepares for (6) West Virginia in NCAA First Round

3/21/2025 6:41:00 PM | Women's Basketball

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Lions and Mountaineers meet for the first time since 2007

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – No. 11 seed Columbia (24-6, 13-1 Ivy) continues its run in the NCAA Tournament with a First Round game against No. 6 seed West Virginia (24-7, 13-5 Big 12) on Saturday. Opening tip from Carmichael Arena in Chapel Hill, North Carolina is scheduled for 2 p.m. ET.

TICKETS
• Tickets to all NCAA Tournament games in Chapel Hill, North Carolina can be purchased online by clicking here.

GAME COVERAGE
• Angel Gray and Aja Ellison will be calling every game in Chapel Hill on the ESPN family of networks. Thursday's First Four game will be televised nationally on ESPNEWS. Click here to view the complete broadcast schedule for the 2024 NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament.

• An online audio broadcast of the game will be available through the Columbia Lions Radio Network. Fans can click here for a direct link to listen. Lance Medow will be on the call with Mike Kowalsky.

WATCH PARTY
• Columbia Athletics will be hosting a watch party at Amity Hall Uptown in New York City. Cheer on the Lions with fellow fans and students! Beginning at 1:30 p.m., fans can enjoy limited complimentary appetizers and buy one, get one free drinks during the game.

Located at 982 Amsterdam Avenue, Amity Hall Uptown is the premier sports destination on the Upper West Side. It is best known for its lively atmosphere, handcrafted cocktails, and delicious food. Open seven days a week, AHU offers lunch, dinner, weekend brunch, daily promotions, and so much more located just 951 steps from campus.

OPENING TIPS
• The Lions earned their first NCAA Tournament win in program history on Thursday, rallying back from a 13-point halftime deficit to defeat 11th-seeeded Washington, 63-60, in the First Four. Riley Weiss scored a game-high 24 points, 19 of which came in the second half with 14 coming in the fourth quarter.

• Kitty Henderson is the winningest player in program history, earning her 100th career win on Thursday. She holds a career record of 100-26 (.794) in her four-year career. Henderson is a three-time Ivy League Regular Season Champion, 2023 WNIT Finalist and has led Columbia to the NCAA Tournament twice.

• Columbia is the outright Ivy League Regular Season Champion. The Lions went 13-1 in league play to claim their first outright title. They have won three straight regular season titles, sharing it in both 2023 and 2024.

• Head coach Megan Griffith is the winningest coach in Columbia women's basketball history, improving her record to 146-90 (.619) with Thursday's win. She is 12-7 (.632) in her career in postseason play. Griffith has been named the Ivy League Coach of the Year each of the last three seasons.

• The Lions earned their way into the field of 68 as an at-large selection for the second year in a row. Last season, they made their NCAA Tournament debut in the First Four, falling to Vanderbilt, 72-68, in Blacksburg, Va.

• Columbia is led by senior captains Kitty Henderson and Cecelia Collins. Both are 1,000-point scorers in their collegiate careers. Henderson was named the 2024-25 Ivy League Defensive Player of the Year and was a unanimous First Team selection. The point guard ranks No. 1 in program history in career assists (491), No. 2 in steals (191), No. 4 in points (1,337) and No. 6 in rebounds (694).

• The Lions and Mountaineers have met one other time, Dec. 2, 2007, in Morgantown, W. Va. West Virginia was ranked No. 16 in the country at the time and defeated Columbia, 74-41.

RECORD WATCH
• Kitty Henderson is two assists from breaking Columbia's single-season record, which is held by head coach Megan Griffith '07. She now has 147 assists this season, one shy of Griffith, who had 148 as a junior in 2005-06.
• Henderson is now tied for seventh in career assists in Ivy League history (491), sharing that spot with Penn's Anna Ross (2014-18). Only six players in Ivy League women's basketball history have ever had 500 career assists. Nobody has reached 500 since Harvard's Brogan Berry in 2012.
• Henderson (1,337) is tied for fourth in program history in career points with Tori Oliver (2013-17). She is 110 points from the No. 3 spot, occupied by Ula Lysniak (1983-87).
• Henderson is tied for seventh in Ivy League history in career assists (491). Only six players in league history have reached 500 career assists. Harvard's Brogan Berry was the last to reach the milestone in 2012.
• Riley Weiss is 26 points away from a top-five spot on Columbia's single-season scoring list. She currently has 539 points this season. Camille Zimmerman holds the No. 5 spot with 565 in 2017-18.

WASHINGTON POSTGAME NOTES (March 20)
• Columbia earned its first NCAA Tournament victory. It was Columbia's second-ever NCAA Tournament game, falling to Vanderbilt, 72-68, exactly one year ago on March 20, 2024, in the First Four.

• Columbia earned its first win against a Big Ten opponent in program history. The Lions were previously 0-3, falling to Iowa (2009), Illinois (2018) and Indiana earlier this season.

• Senior Kitty Henderson earned her 100th career victory as a member of the Columbia women's basketball program. She is the winningest player in program history with a career record of 100-26 (.794).

• Henderson had four steals in the game and now has 75 steals this season, which is a new program record. She surpassed the previous record of 72, held by Judie Lomax (2009-10).

• Columbia's 13-point comeback win tied for its largest such win of the season. The Lions came back from 30-17 down in the first half to defeat Princeton, 58-50, on January 20. It was four points shy of the largest comeback win program history, which also occurred in the postseason. The Lions came back from 17 points down to defeat Boston College, 54-51, in the 2022 WNIT.

ALL-AROUND ATHLETE
• Kitty Henderson is one of two players in the country averaging as many points (13.3), rebounds (6.1), assists (4.9), and steals (2.5) as she does. The only other player is Duquesne's Megan McConnell, who was named the Atlantic 10 Defensive Player of the Year. Duquesne is currently competing in the Second Round of the WNIT..

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.