Completing an undefeated February, Columbia women’s basketball endured a tough defensive battle at Brown to defeat the Bears, 59–56, Saturday night in Providence. The two were never separated by more than six points in a likely Ivy Madness semifinal preview.
Junior guard Riley Weiss led Columbia (20-6, 11-2 Ivy) with 19 points on the day at Brown (16-9, 9-4), and senior guard Perri Page’s double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds set the tone for the Lions. Brown senior guard led Grace Arnolie led all scorers with 20 points.
The game was won in the paint, with only nine combined threes made. Every shot was well-earned, and both defenses made sustained possessions difficult. Brown forced 26 turnovers, and Columbia forced 22, both numbers well above season averages.
Page established the dynamic early in the game, scoring the first four points of the game and forcing an early Brown turnover. The Lions rocketed to an early 6–0 lead, which would be their largest of the game, before Brown coach Monique LeBlanc called timeout to reset her offense.
“We just needed to be sharper on defense and take care of the ball a lot better,” LeBlanc told ESPN+ at halftime on what she said at the timeout.
Her messaging worked, as senior forward Beth Nelson converted a three shortly thereafter in transition after a steal from Arnolie.
The two sides battled throughout the rest of the first as Brown settled into a rhythm, riposting the Lions’ repeated parries. Columbia sophomore guard Nasi Simmons ended the quarter with an and-one play deep in the paint, working against Brown senior forward Alyssa Moreland, to give the Lions a one-point lead heading into the second.
Led by Nelson on defense, Brown held Riley Weiss to zero points in the first quarter, but the Hewlett, N.Y. native couldn’t be stopped forever. She led the quarter off with a layup from Page, and a few minutes later, with the game knotted at 25, converted her first three-pointer of the game over Nelson. Nelson committed a foul on the play, though, and Weiss made the free throw for a rare four-point play.
Like it had in the first quarter, Brown stayed close, and Arnolie converted a floater over Riley Weiss in a one-on-one battle of each team’s best scorer to cut Columbia’s lead to 1 at the end of the second quarter. Heading into the half, Columbia led Brown 30–29. Already, the physical tone of the game was set, as most of the points came in the paint and the officials were often reluctant to call fouls on either side.
“We absolutely expected this physicality,” LeBlanc said at the half. “That’s a part of playing at the highest level.”
Less than a minute into the third quarter, Arnolie gave the Bears their first lead of the day, with a step-back shot over senior guard Marija Avlijas. Entering Saturday, the Lions had won 14 in a row against the Bears, and Arnolie set the tone for the second half Brown would need if they were to achieve the upset.
In many ways, the third quarter was a repeat of the first, as Brown held Weiss scoreless yet again.
“They put a lot of length on her and made it really challenging,” Columbia coach Megan Griffith told ESPN+ after the game.
Both teams endured multiple-minute stretches without scoring, including a two-minute, nine-second drought during which Brown led 33–32. Page converted two foul shots to end that span, after which Brown junior guard Olivia Young responded with a midrange jumper.
To end the quarter, Brown was up 44–41, a lead they stretched to their largest of the day at 46–41 in the initial minutes of the fourth quarter after a strong layup from freshman guard Charlotte Adams-Lopez.
Just as she emerged in the second quarter, Riley Weiss returned for the Lions, as she was the player to tie the game and give them the lead with an and-one play in the paint just a minute later, putting Columbia up 47–46. Throughout the next eight minutes, the two sides were never separated by more than four points. Each defense made an assertive stand, only for their respective offense to be stopped on the other side.
The star of the day for the Lions with her physical play in the paint and game-high 10 rebounds, Perri Page unsurprisingly was the one to give Columbia the ultimate go-ahead points. Converting a layup from seemingly right under the basket, she was fouled on the play by Moreland and drained the free throw to put Columbia up 57-54. She had the opportunity to ice the game up by one with seven seconds left but traveled, setting up a potential game-winning possession for Brown.
Inbounding opposite the Brown bench, Nelson evaluated her options. Five short seconds later, a whistle was blown, as Nelson did not inbound the ball in time. A furious LeBlanc complained she had called timeout before the five-second violation, but it was to no avail. Columbia inbounded to Weiss, who converted two free throws, and the last-gasp Brown effort was futile as the horn sounded and Columbia escaped Providence with a 59–56 win.
“Perri and Susie were excellent down the stretch for us,” Griffith said of Page and senior forward Susie Rafiu, Columbia’s two most physical players in the paint. The two led the effort to hold down Brown’s scoring and set up the defensive intensity that led to the critical five-second violation.
The Lions will continue to rely on their senior leaders in the final regular-season game of Ivy play next weekend, as they host the dangerous Harvard Crimson (16–10, 9–4). Brown will close out the season at Penn (16–10, 6–7) before its first Ivy Madness appearance since 2017.