In a battle between two of the nation’s premier mid-major teams, Richmond women’s basketball used hot three-point shooting to come away from Levien Gymnasium with a 77-67 win Saturday night.
Both teams, which made it to the NCAA Tournament and won a game last year, have aspirations of returning to the Big Dance in 2026. A victory for the Spiders (3-1) helps their overall resume, in case they cannot secure the Atlantic 10’s automatic bid in March. Despite the unfavorable result, the Lions (2-1), as often is the case, will find valuable lessons as they move forward with their difficult nonconference schedule.
Richmond, a lethal three-point shooting team, struggled from the arc, missing its first eight three-point shots. But the team locked into its defensive effort, keeping Columbia from running away with the game and finished the opening 10 minutes only down 13-10.
The second quarter was key for the Spiders, as the visitors found their outside touch and scored 22 points. By time the teams went into halftime to the locker room, the Spiders outscored the Lions by 10 points and were up 32-25.
Coming out of the locker room, Columbia aimed to take turn things around, but Richmond withstood the pressure and stretched its advantage to 11, 55-44, heading into the final frame.
Consecutive triples from senior forward Maggie Doogan, the 2025 A-10 Player of the Year, stretched the Spiders’ lead to 63-47 with just over five minutes left in regulation. A personal 6-0 run from Columbia run from sophomore guard Mia Broom cut the deficit to 10 and brought the Levien crowd to life.
With the visitors still up 11 at the one-minute mark, junior guard Riley Weiss notched an old-fashioned three for the Lions to make it 69-61. Unfortunately for the three-time Ivy League regular season champions, who quickly sent Richmond to the free throw lines on each of its next four possessions, the defending A-10 regular season title holders sank all eight attempts to seal the 77-67 win.
A few takeaways from the Columbia home opener:
Richmond is really good
The simple fact is that Richmond deserves an old-fashioned Jerome Allen “tip of the hat.”
Heading into Saturday’s contest, Columbia coach Megan Griffith and her Lions knew that Richmond, which defeated Columbia by nine in Virginia last year, was a very talented offensive team and hoped to disrupt the Spiders on the offensive side.
Things looked good early on, with the Spiders missing its first nine shots from the floor and 15 of its first 16.
While many teams, especially one playing in a hostile atmosphere, would pack it in, Richmond regrouped to shoot 60% (12-for-20) from two, 67% (12-for-18) from three and 100% (13-for-13) from the free throw line over the last 31:23.
In the end, Doogan, who also went over the 1,500-career point mark during the game, finished the evening with 16 points and nine rebounds. Senior guard Rachel Ullstrom and sophomore guard Alicia Newell also had 16 points and five rebounds apiece. Newell’s performance was even more impressive, since she was recently elbowed in the face during a game against Texas, was questionable to play and had to wear a facemask.
Ally Sweeney, a junior guard from nearby Sparta, N.J., added 15 points, nine assists and two steals.
Columbia impressed on the glass, but struggled to convert
The Lions arrived with the No. 34 mark in total rebounding rate, which was an edge over Richmond’s No. 151 position.
All night long, the Columbia players hurled themselves after every loose ball and came away with a 9% advantage on the glass. Five different Lions had five or more rebounds with senior forward Susie Rafiu leading the way with 10.
Despite grabbing 19 offensive rebounds, including Rafiu’s six, Columbia could only net 11 points, which was three more than the Spiders.
The threes and frees giveth, the threes and frees taketh
The Spiders certainly got hot from downtown by the end of the first quarter, but the Lions had difficulties all night long.
Columbia shot 21% (5-for-24) from the three-point line for the night with a 13% (1-for-8) effort in the second half.
The team was led in scoring, as usual, by Weiss with 16 points, but she made only 10% (1-for-10) of her threes. While the Hewlett, N.Y. native, who was named one of the country’s top three-point shooters by SB Nation, has connected on 22% (6-for-27) of her triples over the first three games of the season, it’s only a matter of time before she starts becoming more consistent from deep.
On the night, the Spiders went a perfect 15-for-15 (100%) from the charity stripe, but the Lions went 8-for-15 (53%).
For the season, Columbia is at 70%, with individual game results of 59%, 87% and 53%. As the Blue and White move along their challenging nonconference schedule, where every point is so valuable, they’ll need more results like last Sunday at Ohio.
Columbia had a balanced offensive attack
On a positive note, the Lions had four players with double-digit scoring. In addition to Weiss, senior guard Perri Page totaled 15 points on 70% (7-for-10) shooting and Broom totaled 14 points on a 63% (5-for-8) effort from the field. Meanwhile, Rafiu added 14 points with 50% (5-for-10) shooting to complete her double-double evening.
Things don’t get any easier
Columbia, which sits at No. 50 according to Her Hoops Stats, has four of its next five games against teams in the top 80 with three in the top 40 and two in the top 20. Next up is an 11 a.m. Thursday matinee vs. St. Joseph’s (No. 80). After closing out the three-game homestand against Binghamton (No. 210), the Lions will head to the Cancun Challenge to take on Kansas State (No. 15), South Dakota State (No. 36) and a matchup against Griffith’s former boss, Courtney Banghart, and her North Carolina Tar Heels (No. 17) during the Thanksgiving weekend.