(4) Columbia Dismantles St. John’s in WBIT First Round, 74-26

Thursday, March 19

New York, N.Y.

7:00 p.m.

Columbia

21-8,11-3Ivy League

St. John's

22-12,11-9Big East

St. John's (NY)

Columbia

Photo by: Columbia University Athletics / Josh Wang

(4) Columbia Dismantles St. John’s in WBIT First Round, 74-26

3/19/2026 11:08:00 PM | Women's Basketball

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Lions set program record for fewest points allowed

NEW YORK – Fourth-seeded Columbia dominated from start to finish in a First Round WBIT victory over St. John's, 74-26, on Thursday evening from Schiller Court at Levien Gymnasium.

Columbia (21-8) allowed just 26 points, the fewest against a Division I opponent in program history. The Red Storm (22-12) recorded a staggering 27 turnovers. The Lions came away with 17 steals and outscored St. John's 28-0 in points off turnovers.

"I thought our team did a great job turning the page from the last two weeks," Lavine Family Head Coach of Women's Basketball Megan Griffith '07CC said in her postgame press conference. "It's a new season and a new opportunity for us to go out and do something that, maybe we hadn't planned to do, but that we're really intentionally attacking right now. I was happy to see a dominant performance from us on both sides of the ball."

With the win, the Lions advance to play No. 1 seed North Dakota State (29-4) in the Second Round of the WBIT. The game will take place at the Scheels Center in Fargo, North Dakota. The game is scheduled to tip at 2 p.m. ET, 1 p.m. local time.

Leading the way in Thursday night's win was Ivy League Player of the Year and AP All-America Honorable Mention Riley Weiss, who scored 22 points on 9-of-17 shooting. Weiss moved to No. 5 on Columbia's all-time scoring list with 1,345 career points, passing Tori Oliver (1,337, 2013-17). Weiss also became the eighth player in program history to hit 200 made field goals in a single season.

Senior co-captain and Ivy League Defensive Player of the Year Perri Page stuffed the stat sheet with 14 points, six rebounds, four assists, two steals and a block. She passed Griffith (151) for sixth all-time at Columbia in steals.

"I think our defense was pretty good today, just in terms of understanding and working off of each other, and really playing together and out-toughing them," Page said. "The last two games we've played, we lost the toughness battle … I think we did a really good job today responding from the last two weeks."

Mia Broom scored nine points, dished out six assists and grabbed five steals. Nasi Simmons added eight points and a career-high 10 rebounds off the bench.

The Lions knocked down 6-of-12 shots as they cruised to a 13-2 start. They had zero turnovers and forced seven out of the Red Storm over the first ten minutes to enter the second quarter up 20-4.

St. John's shot an improved 6-of-13 in the second quarter, but the Lions kept up every step of the way. Broom sent the Lions to halftime with a 42-18 lead, knocking down a buzzer-beating three from the corner.

Weiss opened the half on fire, knocking down two consecutive threes en route to a 10-point third quarter. Broom pulled off a flashy no-look, behind-the-back dime to Hilke Feldrappe on the fast break. A 10-0 Lions run near the end of the third wrapped up a 20-4 quarter and heralded a 62-22 lead.

The final 10 minutes were academic.

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