Two minutes defined a season so far for the Columbia Lions. And for the Princeton Tigers.
After losing its first Ivy League game of the year last weekend at home to Harvard, the Columbia women’s basketball team found itself on the road Saturday night in the hardest venue to win a game in the Ancient Eight — Jadwin Gymnasium, home of the six-time defending Ivy League champion Princeton Tigers.
The Tigers entered the contest with the longest home winning streak in the nation at 30 games. Princeton hadn’t lost at home since January 2023, when it dropped an overtime thriller to Columbia, 58-55.
And entering the fourth quarter on Saturday, it looked like Princeton would once again triumph at home and seize sole possession of first place in the Ivy League. The Tigers had fought back from a sluggish first-half deficit of 27-24 to grab control of the game, out-scoring the Lions 20-11 in the third quarter, and taking a 44-38 lead into the final stanza.
That’s when Columbia seized the game from a young Princeton squad.
On their first possession of the fourth quarter, the Lions worked the ball to Cecelia Collins, who drew Fadima Tall as her defender. Collins couldn’t make a play, but she found a wide-open Maria Arrebola on the right wing for a huge three.
On Princeton’s first possession of the quarter, Skye Belker carelessly swung the ball into the hands of Riley Weiss, who grabbed it away and then hit another three. And just like that the score was tied, 44-44, with less than a minute gone in the quarter.
The Tigers appeared to beat Columbia’s press with their next possession, but reserve center Tabitha Amanze, who started the fourth quarter in place of starting senior center, Parker Hill, threw the ball backwards to Tall. Because Tall hadn’t fully established herself in the frontcourt when she received the pass, the officials whistled the play as an over-and-back.
The whistles continued to blow against the Tigers. Freshman Toby Nweke, in the game in place of starter Olivia Hutcherson, got called for reaching in on Collins. A moment later, Weiss drew a foul on Ashley Chea as she attempted a difficult fade away jumper from the free throw line. Weiss made both free throws to give Columbia the lead, 46-44.
Needing a basket badly, the Tigers again beat the press, but Nweke threw an entry pass aimed at Hill just a bit too far to the left and Hill wasn’t able to handle it. Weiss grabbed the ball and took it coast-to-coast for an and-one layup over Chea.
Princeton coach Carla Berube called timeout, but the damage had been done. Three consecutive turnovers to start the quarter along with undisciplined defense had allowed the Lions to storm to an 11-0 run in only two minutes.
After the time stoppage, Columbia added to its run when Weiss exploited an overplay on defense by Princeton and deposited another layup to put the Lions up by seven, 51-44. The sensational sophomore finished with a game and career high 34 points on 11-for-21 shooting, including 5-for-11 from deep.
The Tigers finally stopped the bleeding when Tall drove the lane for a layup. With 17 points on 7-for-10 shooting, Tall was Princeton’s leading scorer and most consistent all-around performer.
Having finally snapped Columbia’s 13-0 run, the Tigers tried to regain their composure and settle in on defense. But two consecutive foul calls resulted in free throws by Collins and the Lions regained their seven-point lead, 53-46.
In a must-score situation, Hutcherson made an aggressive move to the hoop and scored, but the basket was waved off as the officials whistled the sophomore guard from Atlanta for a charge. Having watched her team get called for six fouls in four minutes, including three consecutive calls on Hutcherson, Berube stormed onto the court to protest what she saw as lopsided officiating. She might have been fortunate to avoid a technical.
In the final minutes, the Tigers fought back but couldn’t fully recover. A trey by Chea got the Tigers to within 53-49 with a little over five minutes to play. The sophomore guard tallied 16 points, all but two in the second half.
After a Nweke offensive rebound, Skye Belker worked her way through traffic for a layup to make it 55-53. Suddenly, the Tigers had hope. After two more Columbia free throws, Belker hit another jumper to again bring the Tigers to within two, 57-55, at the 1:45 mark.
The Tigers needed a stop and got one when Susie Rafiu went over the back attempting an offensive rebound and fouled out of the game. Belker found the ball in her hands again with a chance to tie, but her layup in the lane didn’t go and Collins secured a huge defensive board with 43 seconds left.
Princeton had time to play defense rather than foul, and with 13 seconds left on the shot clock, Griffith called timeout to set up a play. Out of the timeout, Weiss found an open Kitty Henderson behind the arc. The 5-foot-10 guard from Australia has only converted 21% of her shots from deep this season, but the clutch senior drained the most important three of the season so far to seemingly put the game away.
Henderson skillfully played the entire fourth quarter with four fouls and tallied 15 points on 5-for-6 shooting. She also registered three rebounds, a game-high four steals and three assists to become Columbia’s all-time leader in helpers.
Down five and with only four ticks left on the clock, Tall launched what appeared to be a meaningless three-ball, but inexplicably Collins aggressively challenged the shot and was called for a foul as Tall’s moonshot found the bottom of the net to make it a two-point game, 62-60.
Tall intentionally missed the bonus free throw, but Perri Page secured the rebound for Columbia and the game effectively was over. Two Weiss free throws completed the scoring as Columbia celebrated a triumphant series sweep of the Tigers, 64-60.
After the game, Weiss told ESPN+ how the coaching staff had motivated her team to rise to the occasion in the fourth quarter.
“They just instilled in us that it was our quarter. I mean, they just told us it’s our quarter, and we just played our basketball. And I’m really proud we were able to come and finish that game.”
With the win, Columbia (19-5, 10-1 Ivy) recaptured sole possession of first place in the Ivy League and put itself in a commanding position to secure the No. 1 seed for the Ivy League Tournament.
The win also gave Columbia its first two-game sweep of the regular season series against Princeton since 2008.
For Princeton (18-6, 9-2), the loss snapped the Orange and Black’s 30-game home-court winning streak, but more importantly, it cost the Tigers control of their quest for a seventh consecutive Ivy League regular season crown. Moreover, the Tigers, already on the bubble, may now need to win the Ivy League Tournament in order to earn a bid to the NCAA Tournament.
Princeton will finish the regular season with three challenging road games, beginning with another massive tilt at Harvard next Friday.
Columbia will complete its regular season with three home games over the next two weekends against Brown, Cornell and Yale. If the Lions hold serve against this trio of lower-division Ivy teams, they will secure their first out-right Ivy League regular season title in program history.
Game was fun. As usual, you get some Columbia Fans too and they are rowdy (LOL). Not sure if the Lions will go too far relying on one player for most of their points, Riley Weiss but she’s only a 2nd year player.
More to come there!
Ellie Mitchell was there too talkng to all of the future Tiger players.