It took 234 days, but Columbia women’s basketball got its revenge on Seton Hall, the team that came out victorious in last year’s WNIT Quarterfinal, in a 83-76 victory on Thursday night.
“I’m so proud of our team. We’ve had this game circled on our calendar for a while, since March 28,” head coach Megan Griffith said in a postgame interview. “It was just an opportunity for us to come back and battle with a really great Seton Hall program.”
In last year’s game in Morningside Heights, the Lions held a one point lead with 16 seconds left, but the Pirates went 4-4 from the free throw line to take the 78-75 victory.
Things again got close in South Orange, but this time Columbia (3-1) made sure to put the game away.
Coming off a disappointing loss to Vanderbilt in Sunday’s home opener, the Lions came out strong and finished the first half up 11, 38-27, on the strength of an 8-for-16 performance from the three-point line.
Columbia was ahead by 10, 66-56, with 7:40 left in regulation, when Seton Hall (2-2) made its move. A Sidney Cooks layup at the 2:54 mark capped a 15-4 run to put the Pirates up for the first time all night.
The Hall was up two with 90 seconds on the clock when Kitty Henderson calmly sank a three from the top of the arc to give the Lions the 77-76 lead.
Following a missed jumper from Cooks, Kaitlyn Davis grabbed a big offensive rebound off of Lillian Kennedy’s reverse layup and put Columbia up by three with 18 seconds remaining. Lauren Park-Lane’s game tying triple was off the mark and Davis made four straight free throws to end the scoring and send the Lions to a well-earned postgame celebration.
Columbia shot 47% on the night with a 48% (12-for-25) effort from beyond the arc, while holding Seton Hall to only 28% (5-for-12) from deep.
All five starters were in double figures, with Abby Hsu netting a game-high four three-pointers and a team-high 19 points. Davis and Henderson put up 17 and 15 points, respectively, while Jaida Patrick and Hannah Pratt each added 12.
On the defensive side, the Lions were +7 and +10% on the boards, while limiting Park-Lane, who torched Columbia for 29 in March and Princeton for 25 on Monday night, to only nine points on 3-for-12 shooting.
The Lions will have to quickly move on from this big win as they head off to Ames, Iowa to take on 2021-22 second-team All-American Ashley Joens and the No. 7 Iowa State Cyclones on Sunday afternoon. The game will start at noon ET and be televised by ESPN+ through the Big 12 Now network.
Great report on a great Lions win. You can bet Coach Griffith has circles around the Tiger games on the schedule. We expected really tough battles last year. This year we are going to get them for sure.