Simmons Spearheads Third-Quarter Explosion in Win Against Yale

Saturday, January 17

New York, N.Y.

2:00 p.m.

Columbia University

11-5,2-1Ivy League

Yale

4-12,0-3Ivy League

Yale

Columbia

Photo by: Columbia University Athletics / Josh Wang

Simmons Spearheads Third-Quarter Explosion in Win Against Yale

1/17/2026 7:26:00 PM | Women's Basketball

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Sophomore sets new program record with 10 steals

NEW YORK – Columbia women's basketball walloped Yale, 85-58, Saturday afternoon from Schiller Court at Levien Gymnasium. In the win, sophomore guard Nasi Simmons set a new program record with 10 steals.

Columbia (11-5, 2-1 Ivy) grabbed 17 steals, forcing 23 Yale turnovers and converting them into 33 points. Yale (4-12, 0-3 Ivy) forced six lead changes before the Lions jumped in front in the second quarter and ran away with the game in the third.

Nasi Simmons' school-record 10 steals came with 10 points, three rebounds, an assist and a block. It is her first career double-double and marks the first time that an Ivy League player recorded a double-double with points and steals against a Division I opponent since 2019.

"We've been preparing all week. We knew the scout and we knew the plays," Simmons told Steve Gelbs in her postgame interview on SNY. "I was just there, on time, and anticipating the next steal – reading eyes and in the right spacing at the right time."

Riley Weiss led the offense with a game-high 22 points. Perri Page scored 18 points on 8-of-15 shooting and grabbed a game-high eight rebounds. Junior transfer Hilke Feldrappe, who made her first collegiate start in place of the injured Susie Rafiu, was 6-of-8 from the field with a career-high 13 points, filling up the stat sheet with two rebounds, two steals, two blocks and an assist. Simmons' 10 points rounded out a quartet of Lions in double figures.

Feldrappe scored two of the Lions' first five baskets to help them race out to a 10-4 lead. After a rare four-point play on the other end, the Bulldogs went on to outscore the Lions 14-7 to finish the first quarter and take a slim 18-17 lead.

Columbia took the lead back with 5:33 left in the second quarter after Weiss sank two free throws. The Lions found their groove again on offense, scoring on five of their first eight shots to spur an 8-0 run. They maintained a five-point lead at the half.

Simmons then led a third-quarter explosion. The sophomore from Brockton, Massachusetts, had six steals in the third period alone, with Yale turning it over 11 times. A five-point game quickly ballooned into a 14-point lead at the six-minute mark. A corner three by Page pushed it to 20 with 2:28 left in the period, before three free throws and a fast-break bucket by Mia Broom extended the cushion to 25.

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All told, it was a 26-6 quarter in which the Lions outscored the Bulldogs 19-0 off turnovers.

"We just knew we needed to be more disciplined offensively and defensively," commented Simmons when asked about halftime adjustments. "Executing offensively and translating all of our second-chance points into buckets, being dogs on glasses, wrapping up possessions with two hands … and clean transitions."

Despite shooting 9-of-13 in the fourth quarter, Yale made no headway. The Lions still outscored them and finished the afternoon on a 9-0 run for the exclamation point.

Columbia debuts its exclusive Nike alternate uniforms at home on Monday against Brown. Tip-off for the Martin Luther King Jr Day matinee is scheduled for 2 pm.

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