NEW YORK — Riley Weiss 40, Dartmouth 32.
Saturday’s contest between Columbia and Dartmouth was a historic victory on both ends of the court for the Lions.
Star junior guard Riley Weiss scored 40 points, a program record, and the Lions held Dartmouth to just 32 points, the fewest Columbia has ever allowed against a Division I opponent, in an 89-32 shellacking of the Big Green.
“It was a great team effort tonight,” Columbia coach Megan Griffith said. “Riley shined really bright.”
For the Big Green, sophomore guard Zeynep Ozel led the way with 14 points on 5-for-13 shooting. But Ozel also committed eight turnovers, part of Dartmouth’s 14 on the day.
Within the first two minutes of the game, Weiss connected on her first two three-pointers of the day, both assisted buckets. From her first basket to make it a 5–0 lead for the Lions, Weiss never trailed Dartmouth, with the two only coming as close as a tie at 10–10 in the first quarter.
The scoreboard margin between Dartmouth (9-9, 0-5 Ivy) and Columbia (13-5, 4-1) and was comical all day. From when junior guard Nina Minicozzi connected on one of the Big Green’s few three-pointers of the day to make it 23–10 late in the first quarter to a second-chance layup late in the second quarter also from Minicozzi, Dartmouth went scoreless for over nine minutes as Columbia scored 23 unanswered points. The Lions were ferocious on defense, forcing turnovers and shot clock violations nearly every possession. When Dartmouth did manage a shot in the second quarter, it was often a desperation heave. Overall, the Big Green shot 1-for-18 in the frame.
Heading into the half, Weiss had 26 points, Columbia was up 48–14, and still Griffith was finding issues with nearly every play, demanding perfection from her players. Weiss spoke postgame about the team’s mindset in practice, echoed by Griffith’s intensity on the day.
“In the past weeks, we’ve been talking about zero-zero, which is zero-zero for everything: zero-zero on the score, zero-zero on the shots I’ve made or missed,” Weiss said.
This zero-zero mentality led Weiss to take every shot as if it were her first and the Lions to fight on both sides of the court like it was a tie game. That being said, the stat sheet was about as lopsided as it could be. Columbia had 15 assists to Dartmouth’s two, and just four turnovers to Dartmouth’s 13.
Once again, the third quarter was all Columbia. Notably, sophomore guard Nasi Simmons started the second half in place of senior guard Marija Avlijas. Simmons had come off the bench to score six points in the first half, en route to eight on the day alongside four steals. Simmons now has 20 steals in the past three games, showing that she may be the surprise weapon Columbia needs to succeed in the Ivy League after their initial shocking loss to Cornell.
While Weiss connected on two more shots from beyond the arc in the first two minutes of the frame, her only lull of the day came in the rest of the third quarter. Junior guard Sierra Carson was on the floor for Dartmouth with seemingly one objective: Keep a hand on Weiss at all costs. Carson tracked Weiss like a predator, never letting her escape. Carson’s eyes were so locked on Weiss that if an errant pass had come her way, it would have simply caromed off Carson.
“They were a little tighter on me,” Weiss said of Dartmouth’s third-quarter defense. “[I had the] same approach all game.”
As the clock switched to the fourth quarter, Columbia led 68-23, and it didn’t take long for Weiss to reemerge. Weiss quickly scored five points before the crowd in Levien Gymnasium welcomed history.
Taking a pass from Simmons, Weiss drained a three to hit 40 points on the day, a Columbia single-game record.
“I knew it was happening because the team was on me,” Weiss said. “[Griffith] said, ‘You’ll get 40,’ so of course I was a little pumped up.”
At the next stoppage of play, Weiss left the court to a well-deserved raucous applause. Weiss has struggled mightily for her standards at many points during the year, but today she was incredibly efficient and accurate. Her 40 points came in just 29 minutes, as she went 9-for-13 from three-point range to go alongside eight rebounds and three assists. Weiss credited the coaching staff and her teammates for motivating her to keep shooting.
“[My] coaches [and] teammates instill[ed] in me to keep shooting the ball,” Weiss said. “I know that I’m a really great shooter, so just having that mindset and not worrying about the past [helped me].”
While the outcome of the game was never in doubt after the first quarter, when the final buzzer sounded Columbia emerged with the 57-point victory.
On the day, Dartmouth shot 22% from the field and 20% from long distance, with just seven assists and a whopping 24 turnovers. Columbia, on the other hand, shot 51% from the field, 50% from long distance, and had 27 assists and 11 turnovers. It’s hard to imagine how this game could have gone better for the Lions, reflected by the two school records they set.
“We were clicking more today,” Griffith said. “That was really fun to see.”
If Griffith and Weiss are to be taken for their word, the team will head into practice this Monday with a blank slate. That approach will be crucial heading into their toughest Ivy test yet: a back-to-back road trip at No. 20 Princeton (17-1, 5-0) Friday and Penn (12-6, 2-3) Saturday.
“We[‘ve] got to stay hungry,” Griffith said. “We[‘ve] got a battle on the road next weekend.”