The Columbia women started slow but found fifth gear after halftime to race past Penn, 61-56, on Wednesday night in New York — breaking an 18-game losing streak against the Quakers that stretched back to 2011.
The Lions (14-3, 5-0) remain in a virtual tie atop the Ivy standings with Princeton. The Quakers (7-10, 2-3) know they have to improve or will miss out on the Ivy tournament for the first time.
The game was something of a coming-out party for junior guard Jaida Patrick, a transfer from Duke, who came off the bench with sparkling play at both ends of the court. In 17 minutes, she pulled down four rebounds and scored 13 points on 4-for-5 shooting. In a crucial sequence in the fourth quarter, she swatted away a three-point shot by Penn’s Mia Lakstigala, recovered the ball and raced downcourt for the layup.
These are supposed to be two of the Ivies’ top teams this year. Under coach Mike McLaughlin, Penn has lived in the top tier, alongside Princeton, since the 2012-13 season, while Columbia is a relative newcomer to Ivy success under Megan Griffith.
On Monday, though, it was the Lions who looked deeper and more potent.
The two coaches have given their teams different styles — Penn a defense-first approach that relies on the half-court game, Columbia going for full-court sprints and breakaways. So a slow-moving first half produced a mere 16 points for the Lions, who were shooting just 21% from the field — and a miserable zilch-for-5 from the free-throw line. Penn wasn’t exactly shooting the lights out, either, at 25%, but Lakstigala scored the Quakers’ first 12 points, and they took an eight-point lead into the half and stretched it to 11 in the third quarter.
But Columbia was picking up the pace, and on this day, at least, Penn couldn’t keep up. The Lions hit 56% in the third and fourth quarters as they penetrated to the hoop or found guard Abbey Hsu open on the outside; the Quakers, meanwhile, were hitting 34% of their shots after halftime. They fell behind by double digits and made a late run — Lakstigala hit a three with 19 seconds left to push her total to 18 points and cut the margin to three — but Griffith called time, Columbia completed the inbounds pass, Penn had no choice but to foul, and Patrick hit both free throws.
Junior forward Kaitlyn Davis had another great night for Columbia, with 16 points on 8-for-12 shooting and 12 rebounds. Her defense was equally important. She rendered Penn far less effective in the paint, picking up four blocks in the process. Columbia won as much on rebounding as on hot shooting, grabbing 51 boards to Penn’s 38.
Penn’s starting forwards, Jordan Obi and Kennedy Suttle, couldn’t match Davis’s efficiency, though Obi picked up 10 points and Suttle 13 rebounds.
The Penn-Columbia rivalry includes maybe the best one-on-one matchup in the league, between two high-scoring guards from the 2019 recruiting class. Kayla Padilla went from California to West Philly and was the Ivies’ rookie of the year in the 2019-20 season, making first team All-Ivy; Hsu went from Florida to Morningside Heights and played just about as well, making second team All-Ivy. In any game, either one of these women can blow up for 30-plus points.
This time, neither Padilla nor Hsu did that, but the honors went to Hsu: a game-high 22 points on 9-for-23 shooting plus six assists. Padilla never caught fire, shooting 4-for-17 and just 1-for-8 from deep for 14 points.
The two will have a rematch next week, when Columbia makes the pilgrimage to the Palestra for a Friday night game. First, though, Penn hosts Harvard on Saturday afternoon, while Columbia travels to Dartmouth.
Great write-up, PP!!
Hsu was 1-9 (1-4 from 2, 0-5 from 3) in the 1st quarter and it looked she would have a repeat of the Cornell game. As opposed to that game, where she continued putting up more unsuccessful threes, Hsu balanced her shot selection with mid-range jumpers and inside shots. She ended up going 8-14 (4-7 from 2, 4-7 from 3) over the next 3 quarters.
Columbia has two great stars in Davis and Hsu, but its depth is a huge factor in the team’s success. Patrick was a big part of last night’s turnaround, but Hannah Pratt, Kitty Henderson and Nicole Stephens have also stepped up when needed. Pratt went down with a left knee injury in the fourth quarter but walked off the court on her own. Hopefully, it wasn’t anything serious that will keep her off the court.
Coach Griffith feels that Davis is the best player in the league and it’s hard to argue against her. In league play, Davis is 1st in rebounding (total, offensive & defensive), 1st in blocked shots, 6th in assists, 7th in scoring, 8th in A/TO, 9th in FG% & 9th in minutes played.
It will be great to finally see Columbia and Princeton meet up on February 5th!
Penn gave it a good effort and controlled the tempo for a significant part of the game. Unfortunately, the Quakers, like Cornell, couldn’t slow Columbia down for 4 quarters. Penn has a huge game vs Harvard on Saturday. With the fast pace Harvard likes to play, the Red & Blue will have to make sure they keep the pressure up for 40 minutes. Otherwise, they may have a tough time getting back to Ivy Madness.