At the Cancun Challenge, Columbia women’s basketball played much improved basketball against quality opponents, as junior guard and reigning Ivy League Player of the Year Riley Weiss rounded into midseason shape.
Prior to the tournament, Weiss averaged 16.2 points per game. In these three games, she averaged over 27, notably shooting 48.3% overall and 42.3% from three, both numbers higher than any previous single game.
In three days of play, the Lions (4-4) lost a close shootout to Kansas State (5–3), 95–92; powered past perennial mid-major power South Dakota State (6–2), 80–67; and lost 80–63 against Courtney Banghart-led No. 12 North Carolina (8–1).
Columbia clipped by Kansas State, 95–92
In their first day of action on Mexican soil, the Lions started off strong, with four of five starters scoring for the Lions in the first quarter, who led 27–20 after 10 minutes of play.
Columbia maintained a small lead in the second as some bench players saw meaningful minutes. Midway through the frame, fans got a glimpse of the future, as first-year forward Eirny Erinugha connected on her first field goal of her collegiate career, assisted by sophomore Marta Jaama, who played in just one game last year. The Lions led 48–41 at the half, a lead that continued until the early minutes of the fourth quarter.
Kansas State’s three-point shooting defined the second half, as the Wildcats shot 10-for-13 from long range. Junior guard Taryn Sides paced the Wildcats with 30 points on 8-for-12 shooting from three. Guards Jordan Speiser and Izela Arenas each contributed three more treys for Kansas State, whose 54 second half points proved just too much for Columbia.
The Lions had a chance to tie it late when Weiss was fouled from three with 0:13 left with a three-point gap on the scoreboard, but she missed the first shot. With Kansas State up three after ensuing free throws on the other side, victory slipped just out of the Lions’ hands, who lost a high-scoring battle 95–92.
Columbia powers past South Dakota State in the fourth quarter
While the Lions disappointed against Richmond in a battle of elite mid-majors earlier this month, they stepped up to the task against a South Dakota State program that received votes in every Associated Press poll this year and gave Megan Griffith her 150th win as head coach.
Weiss built on her 30 point game from the previous day, leading the way with 31 points. She was far more efficient against the Jackrabbits, going 11-for-19 from the field and 3-for-6 from long range.
Starting in place of Mia Broom, junior guard Fliss Henderson made an immediate impact, with a steal and a fastbreak basket to give Columbia its first points of the day. The two have alternated starts this year, and Henderson got the nod after Broom went 1-for-8 from the field against Kansas State. Henderson would go on to score a season-high 12 points in 27 minutes of action.
Through the first three quarters, no team had a lead greater than four. Columbia led by one at the half and the end of the third, by margins of 33-32 and 54-53, respectively. Henderson connected on a layup at the end of the third to give the Lions that one-point lead, which they did not relinquish the rest of the game.
Weiss was the difference-maker she has been many times, scoring 19 points in the fourth, including nine in the last three minutes, to propel the Lions to an 80–67 win. She was a successful antidote to the Jackrabbits’ senior duo of Madison Mathiowetz and Brooklyn Meyer, who combined for 47 of South Dakota State’s 67 points, as the Lions notched their strongest win of the young season.
No. 12 North Carolina pulls away in second half to finish the tournament
Columbia proved to be the most difficult of the three opponents in Cancun for North Carolina, who thrashed South Dakota State, 83–48, and beat Kansas State, 85–73 in a game that was not close after the first quarter.
Henderson and Rafiu paced the Lions early, scoring or assisting on all first quarter points. Weiss added a barrage in the middle of the second quarter, including eight points in 80 seconds, at the end of which the game was tied at 24. The Lions took a lead on a Marija Avlijas three-pointer shortly thereafter, but when UNC took the lead with just under a minute to go before the half, they didn’t give it up.
Columbia remained within a handful for most of the third quarter, but after a UNC 6–0 run turned a 55-49 Tar Heel lead into a 61-49 lead, the game was out of hand early in the fourth quarter as the Tar Heels pushed to an 80–63 win.
Weiss led all scorers with 21 points on 7-for-16 shooting, but five UNC players scored in double figures.
After three straight days of play against strong opponents, the Lions head into the rest of their nonconference schedule with much to unpack on how they performed against strong opponents. All three games were close in the first three quarters, and with four starters— Rafiu, Page, Weiss and Avlijas — netting personal season-high scoring totals in a game, the Lions proved their offense is waking up despite a slow start.
“I think we got better,” Griffith said after the tournament. “We have to take the next step when we get back home now.”
Next week, the Lions will play Manhattan and Wagner, two teams who are a combined 1-11, before an away matchup at Big East foe Seton Hall (4–0) on Dec. 9.