(4) Columbia Dominates (1) North Dakota State to Advance to WBIT Quarterfinals

Sunday, March 22

Fargo, N.D.

2:00 P.M.

Columbia

22-8,11-3Ivy League

North Dakota State

29-5,15-1Summit League

Columbia

North Dakota St.

Photo by: Columbia University Athletics / Josh Wang

(4) Columbia Dominates (1) North Dakota State to Advance to WBIT Quarterfinals

3/22/2026 6:26:00 PM | Women's Basketball

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Three Lions score 20+ points for the first time in seven years

FARGO, N.D. – Mia Broom, Perri Page and Riley Weiss combined for 70 points, and Columbia steamrolled top-seeded North Dakota State, 86-57, on Sunday at the Scheels Center in the Second Round of the WBIT.

Columbia (22-8) awaits the result of the game between No. 2 seed Kansas State and No. 3 seed California later this evening. The Lions will meet the winner this coming Thursday, March 26, at a time to be determined.

Broom poured in a career-high 26 points to go along with eight rebounds and six assists to lead the Lions. She and Weiss each had 17 points at halftime, with Broom splashing home her fourth triple of the half to beat the buzzer and give the Lions a commanding 56-22 lead. The Lions were shooting north of 70 percent at the intermission.

"I was just playing basketball and letting the game come to me," Broom told reporters during Columbia's postgame press conference. "We knew the game plan really well. We just wanted to come in here confident, start to finish. Obviously, we had some lapses, but just being confident."

Page scored 23 on an impressive 11-of-14 shooting. The Ivy League Defensive Player of the Year also had six rebounds, five assists and a game-high four steals to go with two blocks. Weiss finished with 21 to round out Columbia's trio of 20-point scorers. The last time the Lions had three players score 20 or more in a game was March 1, 2019, in a win versus Brown.

"I thought that we had a great start, just defensively. We wanted to smother and pressure 94 feet," Lavine Family Head Coach of Women's Basketball Megan Griffith said. "[NDSU] is a team that runs a lot of great offense and obviously number 22 is a big piece of that. I thought she got going early, but then we were able to double and create a little bit of havoc … I was really happy to see our defense fuel our offense, and I thought we were playing pretty loose."

The Lions had nine steals to help force 13 NDSU (29-5) turnovers in the first half. They were outscoring the home team 23-0 off turnovers at the break.

The Bison were led by Avery Koenen's 21 points on 8-of-14 shooting. The rest of the team combined to shoot just 25 percent (9-36).

Columbia made four of its first five shots and jumped out to a 9-4 lead just 2:44 into the game. The Lions' hot start continued after Weiss hit a pull-up and then stole the inbounds pass and laid it in for another quick bucket with 4:08 left in the first quarter to make it 17-8. NDSU was forced to call a timeout.

Later in the first, Columbia ripped off an 8-0 run, which was capped by back-to-back three-pointers from Weiss and Broom. Weiss polished off a strong first 10 minutes with another triple right before the horn sounded. Columbia led 30-13 at the end of one, thanks to 13-20 shooting from the field.

Columbia did not slow down in the second quarter. Weiss, Broom, and Page were all scoring in double figures halfway through the period. The Lions led 44-18 with 4:04 to go before the half.

Columbia shot a whopping 70.6 percent (24-34 FG) in the first half. Weiss and Broom each had 17 points at the break. A suffocating Lions defense forced NDSU to go the final 5:08 of the half without a field goal. Columbia's 56 points at the half were the most all season.

Despite a 6-0 run from the Bison to start the third quarter, Columbia still held a 31-point lead halfway through. The Bison slightly chipped into the deficit, but the Lions commanded a 73-44 lead going into the final 10 minutes.

Columbia held serve in an even 13-13 fourth quarter to seal the road victory in the teams' first-ever meeting.

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