Columbia wasn’t going to let lightning strike twice.
Two weeks after the women’s basketball team lost to Penn in West Philly, it put on a showcase of smothering defense, consistently found the open shooter in the lane or on the perimeter, withstood a Penn comeback and won comfortably at home Saturday, 69-56, at Levien Gym.
The stat of the day: 24 points off turnovers for the Lions. Penn committed a startling 23 turnovers, losing the ball in one-third of its possessions.
As a result, Penn started the game with its most futile half of the season, with just seven points in the first quarter and eight in the second. The two teams had nearly identical shooting percentages for the half and for the night, but so many of Penn’s possessions didn’t last long enough for a shot.
Penn was down 10-7 at one point in the first quarter, and the gap ballooned to 27-7 in the second. Columbia led 30-15 at the break.
Riley Weiss, as usual, provided much of the firepower for Columbia: 21 points on 8-for-18 shooting plus a pair of steals, just another day at the office for the league’s leading scorer. Perri Page had 15 on 5-for-8 shooting.
Susie Rafiu was effective inside on both ends of the court, with eight points and 10 rebounds. Fliss Henderson had nine rebounds and seven assists, and Mia Broom added 12 points. All five starters had strong games.
For Penn, the starter who absolutely needs to play well, and almost always does, had the most frustrating night. Junior guard Mataya Gayle, who passed 1,000 career points the night before, tried to carry the Quakers to victory as she often has. She hit a layup to put Penn ahead, 5-4. But then she hit just one of the 14 other shots she took over the course of the evening, and Penn never led again.
Gayle did find success in the second half, though, in setting up her teammates. Many of her eight assists were for forward Katie Collins, who spotted up for a series of threes to get Penn back in the game. Collins ended up with a career-high 22 points on 7-for-12 shooting, including 5-for-7 on threes, and Penn cut the lead under 10 in the last quarter to make things interesting.
Simone Sawyer rung up 12 points on 3-for-6 shooting, and Abby Sharpe had 10 points on 4-for-5 shooting in her 20 minutes off the bench for Penn.
The loss, combined with Brown’s defeat of Harvard, puts Penn in a difficult spot: At 4-6 in Ivy League play, and with Brown and Harvard at 7-3, the Red and Blue could win their remaining four games, including matchups against Brown and Harvard, and still fail to reach the Ivy tournament.
They’ll be back home at the Palestra on Saturday against struggling Yale (6-17, 2-8 Ivies). Columbia (17-6, 8-2) visits Dartmouth (10-13, 1-9).