(4) Columbia Takes On (1) North Dakota State on Sunday in the WBIT

Sunday, March 22

Fargo, N.D.

2:00 P.M.

Columbia

North Dakota State

Buy Tickets

Photo by: Columbia University Athletics / Josh Wang

(4) Columbia Takes On (1) North Dakota State on Sunday in the WBIT

3/21/2026 2:39:00 PM | Women's Basketball

WBIT Bracket Watch on ESPN+Live Stats Tickets WBIT Information WBIT Game Program Columbia Notes NDSU Notes

First all-time meeting between Lions and Bison

FARGO, N.D. – Fourth-seeded Columbia (21-8, 11-3 Ivy) and No. 1 seed North Dakota State (29-4, 15-1 Summit) meet on the hardwood for the first time, as the Lions travel to Fargo for a WBIT Second Round matchup against the Bison. Sunday's opening tip from the Scheels Center is slated for 2 p.m. ET, 1 p.m. local.

GAME COVERAGE
• Sunday's Second Round matchup will be available on ESPN+ and the ESPN App. Dom Izzo and Amy Ruley will have the call, with Isak Dinesen reporting from the sideline. Live Stats are available on Stat Broadcast. Fans can also keep up with the action by following @CULionsWBB on X and Instagram.

OPENING TIPS
• The Lions played a Summit League opponent earlier this season, defeating eventual tournament champion South Dakota State, 80-67, at the Cancun Challenge. Riley Weiss scored 31 points (11-19 FG, 3-6 3FG, 6-7 FT), which included a program-record 19-point fourth quarter. Brooklyn Meyer had 28 for the Jackrabbits.

• Columbia is coming off a dominant, 74-26, victory over St. John's in the First Round on Thursday. The Red Storm's 26 points are the fewest Columbia has allowed vs. a Division I opponent in program history. St. John's committed 27 turnovers, Columbia had 17 steals, and outscored the Red Storm 28-0 in points off turnovers.

• AP All-America Honorable Mention and Ivy League Player of the Year Riley Weiss leads Columbia in scoring at 19.9 points per game. She ranks top 20 in the NCAA in scoring average and 3-pointers made per game (2.86). She is also the Ivy League leader in total threes (83), 3-point percentage (37.1%) and total field goals made (207).

• Weiss is 22 points from becoming the third player in program history to score 600 in a season. Abbey Hsu '24CC did it twice (2022-23, 2023-24) and Camille Zimmerman '18CC did it as a junior in 2017-18. Hsu own the program record of 611 points in a season. Weiss is 33 points from that mark.

• Ivy League Defensive Player of the Year Perri Page leads the league in steals (71) and steals per game (2.45). She is seven steals from Columbia's single-season record of 78, set last season by Kitty Henderson. Page and UConn's Sarah Strong are the only two players in the country to average at least 14 points, 6.0 rebounds, 2.0 assists, 2.0 steals and shoot at least 53 percent from the field.

• This is Columbia's fifth straight national postseason tournament appearance. The Lions made their debut in the 2022 WNIT and advanced to the Great Eight. The next season, they made a run all the way to the WNIT Championship Game against Kansas at Allen Fieldhouse. Columbia then earned its first NCAA Tournament bid in 2024, falling to Vanderbilt, 66-62. Last year, they defeated Washington in the First Four, 63-60.

ROAD WARRIORS
• Columbia is 11-1 (.917) in true road games this season, which ties with South Carolina for the sixth-best road record in the country. Only UConn (12-0), UCLA (9-0), North Dakota State (12-0) and Louisville (9-0) are undefeated in such games.
• When including neutral-site games, the Lions are 12-4 (.750). They went 1-2 at the Cancun Challenge, defeating eventual Summit League Tournament Champion South Dakota State, 80-67. They also suffered a narrow, 95-92, loss to Kansas State and played UNC close, trailing by just two with 2:00 left in the third.
• Columbia won 16 straight true road games from Dec. 21, 2024 - Jan. 30, 2026, which was the longest active "away" winning streak in the country. The streak did not include "neutral" site games.
• The Lions went 12-0 in true road games during the 2025 calendar year and were the only team in the nation to post an undefeated record.
• Columbia defeated then-No. 19 Princeton, 73-67, on Jan. 30, 2026, to extend the streak to 16.
• Penn ended the streak with a 64-55 win over Columbia the next night, Jan. 31, at the Palestra.

RECORD BOOK TRACKER
• Perri Page enters the game with 516 career rebounds. She became the 17th player in program history to reach 500 rebounds in the regular season finale against Harvard (Mar. 7). She is 20 away from the top 15.
• Page is third in single-season steals (71). She is seven away from the record of 78 by Kitty Henderson '25CC.
• Weiss's 578 points this season are the fifth-most in program history. The No. 7 spot is owned by her as well, scoring 553 last season. Only Camille Zimmerman '18CC and Abbey Hsu '24CC have reached 600.
• Weiss (1,345) is No. 5 on Columbia's all-time scoring list. She passed Tori Oliver (1,337, 2013-17) in the WBIT First Round win over St. John's, and is five points behind Kitty Henderson (1,350, 2021-25) for fourth.
• Weiss (477) is No. 7 all-time in field goals made.
• Weiss (222) is tied for 10th in Ivy League history in three-pointers made with Brown's Sophie Bikofsky (2001-05). The No. 9 spot is owned by Addie Micir (Princeton, 2007-11).
• Perri Page (152) is sixth all-time at Columbia in steals. She passed head coach Megan Griffith '07CC (151) with two steals in Columbia's WBIT First Round win over St. John's.
• Susie Rafiu (51.7%) is No. 4 all-time in field goal percentage. Page ranks ninth (49.6%).

ST, JOHN'S POSTGAME NOTES (Mar. 19)
• St. John's 26 points are the fewest allowed against a Division I opponent in program history. The previous record was 32, on multiple occasions, most recently in an 89-32 win over Dartmouth on Jan. 24 of this season.
• St. John's 26 points are the fewest in the three-year history of the WBIT. Columbia's 48-point margin of victory is the largest in tournament history.
• Columbia won its ninth straight game against a New York City opponent.
• Nasi Simmons had a career-high 10 rebounds off the bench. It marks the second time this season a Lion had 10+ rebounds off the bench (Mia Broom at Ohio, Nov. 9).
• Mia Broom tied a career-high with five steals.

BIG EAST DOMINANCE
• With wins over Butler, Seton Hall and St. John's this season, Columbia is now 12-2 over its last 14 games against BIG EAST opponents. All of those games have come in the Megan Griffith head-coaching era. That includes a 4-0 record against Providence, 2-0 vs. Georgetown, 1-1 vs. Villanova, 3-1 vs. Seton Hall, 1-0 against St. John's and 1-0 against Butler. The Lions earned their first BIG EAST win in program history when they defeated Providence in overtime, 66-64, on Dec. 7, 2016 in New York. In fact, four of Columbia's BIG EAST wins have come in overtime, including this year's season-opening win at Butler.

ALL-AMERICAN BUCKET
• Riley Weiss was named an AP All-America Honorable Mention, as well as a Regional Finalist for the WBCA Coaches' All-America Teams. She is the third player in program history to earn All-America Honors, joining two-time All-American Abbey Hsu '24CC (2022-23, 2023-24) and Judie Lomax '10BC (2009-10).

WE OWN NEW YORK
• With its WBIT win over St. John's, Columbia has won nine straight games against teams from New York City's five boroughs. The winning streak began with a 70-51 victory over Fordham on Nov. 10, 2019, followed by two wins over LIU (2021, 2022), a win over Fordham in the WNIT (2023), back-to-back wins against Wagner (2023, 2024) and wins this season over Manhattan (Dec. 3), Wagner (Dec. 6) and St. John's (Mar. 19).
• In the Megan Griffith head coaching era, Columbia is 9-1 against teams from New York City.
• Columbia has also dominated teams from New York state. Over its last 24 games against Empire State foes, Columbia owns a record of 22-2 (.917). Cornell's 67-60 win over the Lions earlier this season put an end to a 10-game winning streak against New York state opponents.

WEISS IS NICE
• Ivy League Player of the Year Riley Weiss is one of two players in the NCAA to score 38+ points in multiple games this season. The other is Iowa State's Audi Crooks, who owns four 40-point games.
• Weiss is the first player in the NCAA since Caitlin Clark (Iowa) and Madison Conner (TCU) to have multiple games with 9+ made threes in a single season. Clark and Conner did it during the 2023-24 season.
• In her 38-point performance at Cornell (Feb. 7), Weiss tied the Columbia record with nine made threes. It is the second time she has made 9+ threes in a game this season. The other came in her record-breaking 40-point performance against Dartmouth.
• Weiss is a finalist for the L'Cheisman Award, presented to the top Jewish athlete in the country by the Manischewitz Athletic Honors Society.
• Weiss earned six Ivy League Player of the Week selections, becoming the seventh player in league history to earn as many in a season. She is a two-time Met Basketball Writers Association Women's Div. I Player of the Wee, a USBWA Women's National Player of the Week in January, twice named an AP Honorable Mention Player of the Week (Feb. 17, Mar. 3), and named to the NCAA Starting 5 of the Week (Jan. 27).

SENIOR CAPTAINS
• Susie Rafiu and Perri Page are Columbia's only two seniors and co-captains. In their time at Columbia, the Lions have gone a combined 96-28 (.774), including a run to the 2023 WNIT Championship Game, Columbia's first NCAA Tournament selection in 2024, and first NCAA Tournament win in 2025.
• Entering Ivy Madness, Rafiu has played in 103 career games and made 70 starts. She has totaled 618 points, 239 rebounds, 106 assists, 81 steals and 44 blocks. She ranks No. 4 in Columbia women's basketball history in field goal percentage at 51.4% for her career.
• Page has played in 106 games and made 56 starts in her career, including all 27 starts this season. She has totaled 840 career points, 503 rebounds, 147 steals, 127 assists and 25 blocks. Page ranks No. 9 at Columbia in career steals, No. 9 in field goal percentage (49.9%) and 17th in rebounds.

#EDGE
• Since Megan Griffith became the head coach of the Lions in 2016, the program's motto has been "EDGE" which stands for "Energy, Discipline, Grit and Excellence."

ABOUT COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY
• Columbia University was founded in 1754 as King's College by royal charter of King George II of England. It is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York and the fifth oldest in the United States. One of eight members of the Ivy League, Columbia University is one of the world's most important centers of research and at the same time a distinctive and distinguished learning environment for undergraduates and graduate students in many scholarly and professional fields.

COLUMBIA-BARNARD ATHLETIC CONSORTIUM
• Women's basketball at Columbia began in 1984-85, one year after the creation of the Columbia-Barnard Athletic Consortium. Two years later, Columbia became an NCAA Div. I program (1986-87). Prior to the formation of the consortium, the women's basketball program competed at neighboring Barnard College as the Barnard Bears.

• The creation of the Columbia-Barnard Athletic Consortium in 1983 was an unprecedented endeavor. Made in tandem with Columbia's decision to become coed, a request to the NCAA allowed the two schools to form an athletic consortium, making Barnard the only women's college in the country whose students could compete on Division I athletics teams.

• Columbia currently has three players on the team who attend Barnard College: Hilke Feldrappe, Blau Tor and Alicia Mitchell.

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.