NEW YORK – Even though the Columbia women were the No. 2 seed for the 2024 Ivy League Tournament, the Lions felt everything was going their way as team continued its quest for its first-ever bid to the NCAA Tournament.
Unfortunately for the team and Light Blue fans, No. 1 Princeton used a strong inside game to cruise to a 75-58 victory and secure its five straight conference postseason title.
Columbia coach Megan Griffith’s crew graduated seven players, including three starters, from last year’s Ivy League regular season champion, and still captured its second straight league title.
While last year’s squad buckled just enough from the end-of-season pressure, including an overtime win to close out the season against lower division Cornell and an overtime loss to Harvard in the Ivy tournament semifinal, to lose out on a chance to get to March Madness, this team seemed to embrace the challenges.
First, Columbia beat Princeton at Levien by two on Feb. 24. Second, the Lions ran Cornell out of Newman Arena by 36 on the last day of the season. Third, they took down Harvard in a two-point win, which was not as close as the score would indicate, in the Ivy semifinal.
After the Tigers were taken to the wire by No. 4 Penn in Friday’s first semifinal, Columbia, buoyed by its passionate fanbase and home surroundings, appeared to be the slight favorite in the battle for Ancient Eight supremacy.
Princeton came out hot, opening up an 11-4 lead with just under five minutes gone.
After a four-point mini-run from Columbia junior guards Kitty Henderson and Cecelia Collins, the Tigers ripped off their own 6-0 run to make it 17-8 with a minute and a half to go in the first quarter.
The Lions traded a triple for a layup to make it an eight-point game, before senior guard Abbey Hsu sank her first three-pointer of the afternoon to make it 19-14 in favor of the Tigers at the end of ten minutes.
That shut ignited Hsu, the 2024 Ivy Player of the Year, who hit two more triples and two free throws to help the Lions get within four, 29-25, at the second-quarter media timeout.
The margin was still four, 31-27, with two minutes to go when Kaitlyn Chen, the 2023 Ivy League Player of the Year, hit a driving layup and Ellie Mitchell went 1-for-2 from the free throw line to help Princeton go into the locker room up seven, 34-27.
Both of these typically make significant adjustments at halftime and use the third quarter to create separation. Unfortunately for Columbia, that battle, and ultimately the championship, went to the Tigers.
In the decisive frame, the lead was cut to six, 38-32 at the 5:51 mark, when sophomore guard Madison St. Rose and first-year guard Ashley Chea sandwiched three-pointers around a pull-up jumper from Chen to make 46-32 three minutes later.
Princeton would eventually extend the lead to 17 with under a minute to go and finished the quarter up 16, 55-39.
During that vital 10-minute stretch, the Tigers limited the Lions to one three-pointer, three two-pointers and kept Hsu off the scoresheet.
While everyone in the gymnasium knew that Columbia had the talent to get back into the game, they also sensed the incredibly difficulty in trying to do that against one of the best defenses in the nation.
The Lions tried chipping away, getting the deficit down to 12 three minutes into the fourth quarter, but a 9-2 run over the next four minutes put the game, the Ivy League Tournament championship and NCAA Tournament dream away for good.
Princeton did its damage on the inside, shooting 53% (24-for-45) from two, while limiting Columbia to only 33% (10-for-30) on the inside. They also secured had a 20-point advantage with points in the paint.
Hsu, playing in her final Ancient Eight contest, was able to net six triples and score 20 points on the night, but the Tigers hounded her into an 0-for-2 performance inside the arc.
Collins and Henderson each finished with 13 points, but Collins was limited to 21 minutes due to foul trouble and most of Henderson’s points came after the Tigers took control.
Katilyn Chen, the now three-time Ivy Tournament Most Outstanding Player, led the way for Princeton in her own final Ivy League contest with 17 points (7-for-12 shooting). Unlike Hsu, who took a gap year to play all four seasons at Columbia, Chen still has one more year remaining and has officially entered the transfer portal for the 2024-2025 season.
St. Rose, who was named to the All-Tournament team, added 18 points on 6-for-12 shooting. Mitchell, who has three straight Ivy League Defensive Player of the Year awards and the Princeton all-time rebounding record, had a double-double of 12 points and 10 boards.
Chea, who looks to fill the huge hole left by Chen’s graduation, finished with 10 points, including eight in the team’s dominant third quarter.
For now, Carla Berube’s team will cherish its fifth straight tournament title and await its NCAA Tournament destination as it looks to win a third straight first-round game.
After last year’s shocking semifinal defeat, a defiant Griffith came out by herself and stated her case why her Lions deserved to be in the field of 68 in an unemotional manner.
Tonight, an emotional coach was joined by Hsu and Henderson, to talk to the media.
Fighting back tears, Griffith explained her team’s resume, gave a call to protect mid-majors against elite conferences that avoid strong underdogs and professed her love for her players.
“The NCAA talks about wanting to grow the game and we consistently put SEC teams in that are 15-14, who have gotten beat by everyone in the SEC,” the head coach told the reporters and national audience. “What are we doing to grow the game? We’ve won 21 of our last 23 games. We won 11 straight heading into this. We beat Princeton when they were ranked top 25 in the country. We did everything we could to build a resume.
“She’s (Hsu) one of the best players in the country and she needs to be seen,” Griffith added. “I really hope the [NCAA Selection] Committee gives her and this team a chance, because if we just keep being in this spot, we’re not growing the game.”
Hsu then took questions from the media, explaining that the coaches had the right plan in place for the victory, but the team failed.
When asked why she didn’t seek out a high-major program, like Penn’s Jordan Dingle, Hsu fought back her own tears to share why she cares so much for her coach and this program.
“As soon as I decided to come here, I fell in love with this program and with this coaching staff,” Hsu said. “Coach G didn’t only make a commitment to me, but she made a commitment to my parents and my family. I thought the least I could do to stay loyal to this program because there’s no other coaching staff around the country that I would want to play for besides this one. She’s made me a better player and a better person, and I’m so happy I made the decision I did with my gap year and coming here to play in a Columbia uniform. I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
While Columbia will, most likely, be handed a non-NCAA Tournament postseason bid, the team will regroup, as they always do, and become stronger.
As Griffith continues to grow the Lions into a conference and national powerhouse, next year’s squad will learn from Saturday night’s difficult lessons, and the program’s eventual Ivy League Tournament championship and automatic NCAA Tournament bid figures to be that much more rewarding.