NEW YORK – The Columbia women's basketball team (21-5, 12-1 Ivy) will play for its first outright Ivy League Regular Season Championship in program history on Saturday, hosting Cornell (7-19, 3-10 Ivy) in the home finale. The opening tip from Schiller Court at Levien Gymnasium is scheduled for 2 p.m. ET.
TICKETS
• Fans can
click here to purchase tickets. 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 Saturday's game on ESPN+.
Live stats are available on the Columbia Athletics website. Fans can also track the game live via
ESPN's Gamecast, and by following @CULionsWBB on social media.
SENIOR SENDOFF
• Seniors
Kitty Henderson and
Cecelia Collins will be honored as part of Senior Day on Saturday at Levien Gymnasium. Fans are encouraged to be in their seats by 1:45 p.m. for the pregame Senior Day festivities.
• Over their last two years playing together, the two senior captains have gone a combined 44-12 (.786) overall with a 25-2 (.926) Ivy League record. In her four-year career, Henderson is 97-25 (.795) overall with a 49-6 (.891) league mark. With 97 wins, Henderson is the winningest player in program history.
• Across Henderson's four-year Columbia career and Collins' two-year Columbia career, the duo have combined for 2,033 points, 948 rebounds, 703 assists and 223 steals.
TRIPLE-DOUBLE TROUBLE
• Seniors
Kitty Henderson and
Cecelia Collins made NCAA history in Columbia's wins over Brown (Feb. 28) and Yale (Mar. 1) at Levien Gymnasium. Henderson posted a triple-double of 19 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists in Friday's win against Brown. The very next day, Collins posted a triple-double of 16 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists against Yale. It marked just the second time in NCAA Division I women's basketball history that two different teammates recorded a triple-double in consecutive games. The last such occasion came in 2003, when Jackson State's Latesha Lee (Dec. 3) and Arnie Williams (Dec. 6) accomplished the rare feat.
• The triple-doubles were just the second and third in Columbia women's basketball history. The first came on January 28, 2023, when Kaitlyn Davis had 19 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists in a 79-50 win over Dartmouth. Coincidentally, in both Davis's and Henderson's triple-doubles, each player had exactly 19 points, 12 rebounds, 10 assists, four steals and just one turnover. According to research from Stats Perform, Henderson and Davis are the only two players this century to post those exact stat lines in a Division I women's basketball game.
OPENING TIPS
• Columbia clinched at least a share of their third-straight Ivy League title with two home wins last weekend. The Lions have shared each of their last two titles with Princeton. They are seeking their first outright championship. Columbia has already clinched the No. 1 seed for next weekend's Ivy League Tournament in Providence, R.I.
•
Kitty Henderson earned a slew of weekly recognitions. She was named
Ivy League Player of the Week for a league-leading fourth time, earned her second weekly Honorable Mention by the Associated Press, and was recognized as a member of the
NCAA Startling Lineup of the Week. Henderson posted her first career triple-double against Brown (19 points, 12 rebounds, 10 assists). For the week, she averaged a double-double of 14 points, 10 rebounds, 6.5 assists and 2.0 steals with an incredible 13.00 assist/turnover ratio.
• A day after Henderson's triple-double,
Cecelia Collins registered one of her own with 16 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists against Yale. It marked just the second time in NCAA Division I Women's Basketball history that two different teammates posted a triple-double in consecutive games (Jackson State, 2003).
• Head coach
Megan Griffith was named a finalist for the 2025 Kathy Delaney-Smith
Mid-Major Coach of the Year Award, presented by Her Hoops Stats. The five finalists are Griffith, Carly Thibault-Dudonis (Fairfield), Vanessa Blair-Lewis (George Mason), Carrie Moore (Harvard) and Aaron Roussell (Richmond).
• Columbia was named the
Team of the Week by the United States Basketball Writers Association.
• Columbia is a league-best 37-4 (.902) in Ivy League games over the last three seasons. They are 49-6 (.891) in Ivy League play since the start of the 2021-22 season.
• Columbia has won seven straight in the series against Cornell, which matches its longest series winning streak in program history (1988-91). A victory would give the Lions their first eight-game series winning streak.
BROWN POSTGAME NOTES (Feb. 28)
•
Kitty Henderson posted the second triple-double in Columbia women's basketball history (19 points, 12 rebounds, 10 assists).
• Henderson's stat line (19 points, 12 rebounds, 10 assists, 4 steals, 1 turnover) was the exact same as Kaitlyn Davis' stat line from Jan. 28, 2023 against Dartmouth.
• Henderson recorded a career-high 12 rebounds and tied her career-high in 3-pointers made (3).
• Henderson climbed into the top-10 in single-season steals (61) and assists (128).
• Columbia attempted a program-record 43 field goals from 3-point range. It marks just the ninth time in the NCAA this season that a team attempted 43+ threes.
•
Susie Rafiu tied her career-high with 16 points.
YALE POSTGAME NOTES (March 1)
•
Cecelia Collins posted the third triple-double in Columbia women's basketball history (16 points, 10 rebounds, 10 assists).
• Collins tied her career-high in rebounds and set another career-high in assists. She also went 7-for-7 at the foul line, which was her most makes in a game without a miss of her career.
• Columbia outrebounded Yale by 35, marking the second time this season Columbia has outrebounded an opponent by 35+ (Dartmouth, Feb. 14).
• First-year
Nasi Simmons scored a career-high 11 points.
WEISS ON A ROLL
•
Riley Weiss is averaging 20.7 points and shooting 49.3 percent from the floor over her last nine games. She has eclipsed 20 points six times in that span, including a career-high 34 in a 64-60 victory at Princeton.
• Weiss has made 33 of her last 34 free throw attempts, including a streak of 28 straight makes in between. She went career-best 7-for-7 at Princeton (Feb. 22). She is a combined 35-for-37 (.946) at the free throw line across Columbia's 13 Ivy League games.
IN RARE COMPANY
•
Kitty Henderson enters the weekend currently averaging 13.5 points, 6.3 rebounds, 4.9 assists and 2.3 steals per game. She and Duquesne's Megan McConnell are the only two players in the country averaging those numbers, or better, in each category.
TRIO OF PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
•
Kitty Henderson (4),
Riley Weiss (3) and
Cecelia Collins (1) have combined to win eight of the 17 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).
RANKING THE LIONS
• Columbia leads the Ivy League in scoring offense (73.4), rebound margin (+9.2), rebounds per game (40.35), offensive rebounds (16.5), three-pointers made (7.7), assists (16.9) and assist/turnover ratio (1.23).
• Columbia ranks No. 6 in the NCAA in offensive rebounds per game (16.5). They are 11th in rebound margin (+9.2), top 25 in assist/turnover ratio (1.23), top 30 in assists (16.9), top 40 in turnover margin (+4.58), scoring margin (+15.2) and rebounds per game (40.35).
•
Kitty Henderson (4.9) is No. 42 in the NCAA in assists per game. She and Collins (4.6) rank No. 1 and No. 2 in the Ivies. Collins is No. 1 in the Ivies and top 50 in the NCAA in assist/turnover ratio (2.07).
• Columbia has three of the Ivy League's top 10 leading scorers.
Riley Weiss (18.1) has climbed to second;
Kitty Henderson is seventh (13.5);
Cecelia Collins (13.4) is eighth.
• Weiss ranks No. 7 nationally in 3-pointers made per game (3.04), No. 17 in total threes made (79) and No. 21 in total 3-point attempts (214). All of those marks lead the Ivy League. Her 36.9 three-point percentage is also No. 2 in the Ivy League and top 100 in the NCAA.
•
Kitty Henderson ranks No. 1 in the Ivy League among NCAA-qualified players (min. 5 FGM/game) in field goal percentage (.462).
Riley Weiss (.425) is fourth among NCAA-qualified players.
• Three Lions rank top 10 in the Ivy League in rebounding.
Kitty Henderson is sixth (6.3);
Perri Page is eighth (6.1) and
Cecelia Collins is 10th (5.6).
• Henderson ranks No. 2 in the Ivy League and top 60 in the NCAA in steals per game (2.35). Across Ivy play, she averages 2.8 steals per game, which leads the league.
BUBBLE WATCH
• For the third consecutive season, Columbia has placed itself in the NCAA Tournament conversation. Currently, Columbia holds a NET ranking of No. 42 with a NET Strength of Schedule of 82. The Lions have played 10 games against NET Top 100 teams with a record of 5-5 against those opponents. They are 1-2 against Quad 1, 2-3 against Quad 2 and a perfect 16-0 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.
SCOUTING CORNELL
• Cornell has been eliminated from Ivy League Tournament contention but continues to play opponents tough down the stretch. Last weekend, they dropped a pair of home games against Yale, 48-46, and Brown, 38-36, by a combined four points. Two weeks ago, they took Penn to the wire, falling by five in Philadelphia, 68-63.
• The Big Red allow just 58.7 points per game on defense, a mark that ranks among the top 75 in the NCAA. They also boast one of the NCAA's top 100 field goal defenses (.389). Individually, they are led by senior Summer Parker-Hall's 12.3 points per game. She shoots 55.8 percent from the field, averages 5.3 rebounds and has a team-leading 18 blocks. Junior Emily Pape (10.3) also averages double figures scoring.
• Columbia has won seven straight in the series and will go for their first eight-game winning streak in series history. Earlier this season, the Lions took out the Big Red, 69-44, in Ithaca, in what was just the second game of the Ivy League season for both teams. The Lions led by just nine at halftime, 29-20, but started the second half on a 12-0 run to put the game out of reach.
FOLLOW THE LIONS
For the latest on the Columbia women's basketball, follow @CULionsWBB on
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GoColumbiaLions.com.
