With the Ivy League calendar nearing the home stretch, league leader Columbia made the drive up to Hanover to defeat last-place Dartmouth and dispatched the Big Green with ease Saturday, 81-42.
Columbia (18-6, 9-2 Ivy) dominated the first quarter against Dartmouth (10-14, 1-10), 20–3, proving that its resolution to take each game equally seriously following a shocking loss in the Ivy opener to Cornell is more than just empty words.
Junior guard Riley Weiss led the scoring for the Lions with 20 points, and sophomore guard Zeynep Ozel led with 11 for Dartmouth, the home team’s only scorer in double figures.
While Columbia did not set any more program records in this win — Weiss set a school-record 40 while the defense limited Dartmouth to a record-low 32 points in the first matchup this season between the two schools — it was nevertheless another dominating win for Columbia. The Lions have won every game in February by double figures, picking up steam at the right time in the calendar.
“We’re starting to play well, building momentum,” Weiss told ESPN+ after the game. “That’s our word for the year, momentum.”
Lions’ defense dominates once again
All over the court, Columbia’s defense frustrated Dartmouth. Often pressing after a missed shot, the Lions didn’t give the Big Green an opportunity to get comfortable. Down the court, they held Dartmouth to just 22 points in the paint, compared with Columbia’s 50. Their frequent press essentially eliminated any chance of transition offense for Dartmouth, as the Big Green only scored three fast-break points on the day.
After losing to Cornell, Megan Griffith stressed playing through all 30 seconds of the shot clock to her team. While they held the Big Green to fewer shot clock violations than in their first matchup, Columbia continued to play through the possession and the shot, demonstrated by its aggression on the defensive glass. The Lions limited Dartmouth to just two offensive rebounds on the day — none in the first half.
Dartmouth’s overall shooting numbers in the first half were dreadful, as the Big Green went 4-for-19 from the field, with 11 turnovers and only 14 points scored. The Lions may have taken their foot off the gas in the second half, as everyone on the bench contributed minutes. However, the final score of 81–42 demonstrates the overall success of the afternoon, Columbia’s second-best defensive performance of its Ivy campaign, per Bart Torvik.
Ensemble performance on offense for Columbia
In her 100th game as a Lion, senior forward Susie Rafiu opened the scoring. Surprisingly, she did so from long range, draining just her seventh-ever collegiate three. Rafiu set the tone for a complete Columbia offensive performance in Hanover with above-average contributions from many players. While Weiss led with 20, five other Lions scored at least eight points.
Off the bench, guards Nasi Simmons and Mia Broom continued their ascendant sophomore seasons with 10 and 16 points, respectively. While she lost her initial starting role to junior guard Fliss Henderson, Broom has been a revelation off the bench in Ivy play. Critical in the Lions’ road upset at Princeton when Weiss played limited minutes with foul trouble, she set a career high with 16 Saturday, to go along with four steals.
“They’re super-important off the bench,” Weiss said of Simmons and Broom. “They’re really great sparks for us, both offensively and defensively.”
Overall, 10 Lions scored Saturday to go along with 20 assists, demonstrating a selfless approach to offense that led to unimpeded, consistent success.
“Every game is just about us playing together,” Weiss said. “We’re really focused on us.”
Columbia continue to play far bigger than their size
Columbia’s rebound margin in their last three games has been +18, +10, and +22. While Rafiu at just 6-foot-1 is Columbia’s tallest starter, she and senior Perri Page — a guard who often takes the role of a forward — consistently outmuscle their opponents.
A factor in Columbia’s second-half demolition of Princeton last week, in which every Lions possession seemed to end in a second- or third-chance bucket, Columbia’s offensive rebounding has driven much of their success.
The Lions have not been outrebounded in a game since Jan. 10, and their strength in the paint and on the glass is proving to be just as important — if not more important — than flashier statistics like Weiss’s three-point attempts. Both a barrage of long-range baskets and gritty individual wins inside will be necessary for Columbia to win the Ivy and punch a ticket once again to the Big Dance.
For the final back-to-back weekend of Ivy play, Columbia will make the trip up I-95 next weekend to New Haven to take on Yale (6–18, 2–9) Friday evening before a potential Ivy tourney semifinal preview at Brown (15–8, 7–4) on Saturday. Dartmouth will host the southern members of the Ivy next weekend, welcoming Princeton (21–3, 9–2) and Penn (15–9, 5–6), respectively.