Columbia women complete revenge week sweep with UMass win – and they’re sharing the wealth

Abbey Hsu shone during what she called “revenge week” for Columbia, leading the Lions to triumphs over teams that beat them last season. (Photo by Erica Denhoff)

On the strength of 14 three-pointers and a 30-point third quarter, the Columbia women soundly defeated UMass at the Mullins Center on Saturday afternoon, their second straight takedown of an opponent that defeated them in New York City last year.

“This is huge. We called it revenge week,” Abbey Hsu told Columbia Athletics following the win. “This was to prove that we are a better team than we were last year. We want to be a team that competes with teams in the post-season and we proved that tonight.”

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Columbia women win “revenge game” at Stony Brook, get ready for showdown at UMass

Columbia senior guard/forward Kaitlyn Davis’ 19 points, nine rebounds and three steals helped propel the Lions past Stony Brook on the road Wednesday night. Davis called the matchup a “revenge game” after the Seawolves beat Columbia last season. (Photo by Erica Denhoff)

STONY BROOK, N.Y. – Like the first stop in the Columbia women’s 2022-23 redemption tour, last night’s appearance in eastern Long Island was a resounding success for the Lions.

Senior forward Kaitlyn Davis’ 19 points (including this nifty behind-the-back drive in the third quarter), nine rebounds and three steals led a balanced offensive and defensive attack from the starting five as the Lions came away with an 84-68 victory over the Stony Brook at Island Federal Arena on Wednesday night.

The win avenges a 91-82 defeat at the hands of Seawolves last November at Levien Gymnasium.

“This was a big game for us, a revenge game from last year,” Davis told Ivy Hoops Online.  “(We’re) Just trying to do our job, show that this year we’re a different team, a better team.”

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Columbia women gathering momentum after taking Miami Thanksgiving Tournament title

A double-double from Jaida Patrick helped propel Columbia past Miami to win the Miami Thanksgiving Tournament. (Photo by Erica Denhoff)

“I love any buzz about our team,” coach Megan Griffith said at her weekly media availability.  “Anytime somebody’s talking about our program, it’s a good thing.”

After crushing Arkansas-Pine Bluff by 38 and outlasting Miami in front of its home fans en route to winning the Miami Thanksgiving Tournament title Sunday, there’s definitely positive buzz about Columbia women’s basketball.

Just since this weekend’s games, the team has moved up to No. 9 in the College Insider Mid-Major Top 25. ESPN has listed the Lions as the automatic Ivy League qualifier and a No. 12 seed for the NCAA Tournament.

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2022-23 IHO Women’s Preseason Poll

It’s still Princeton’s conference until another Ivy proves that it isn’t. Our contributors are united in believing that the Tigers will stay on top in 2022-23, with Megan Griffith’s ascendant Columbia program again placing second.

But there wasn’t consensus on how the rest of the top half of the league will fill out.

Penn could break back into the Ivy League Tournament after missing it for the first time last season, but we expect the Red & Blue to draw stiff competition from Harvard and Yale in their first years under new coaches.

Will #2bidivy happen in the league for only the second time in conference history? It very well could, and the bottom half of the conference is likely to be substantially stronger this season as Brown and Dartmouth return more experienced rosters under coaches that now have a year of Ivy play under their belts.

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Columbia women bow out in WNIT Elite Eight loss to Seton Hall, 78-75, ending best season in program history

Columbia sophomore guard Abbey Hsu got off to a hot start in the WNIT Elite Eight after a cold shooting performance in the Sweet 16, but it wasn’t enough to prevent a 78-75 loss to Seton Hall Monday night. (photo by Erica Denhoff)

The best season in Columbia women’s basketball history is over.

Columbia came up on the low end of a see-saw showdown at Levien Gym Monday night, bowing out to Seton Hall, 78-75, in the Elite Eight round of the WNIT.

The Lions’ appearance in the WNIT national quarterfinals came after wins in each of the tournament’s first three rounds – the program’s first postseason wins since it joined Division I in 1986.

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Columbia women advance to WNIT Sweet 16 after outlasting Old Dominion, 62-59

 

Columbia’s historic season continues.

The Lions led the entire second half and hung on late to secure a 62-59 win at Old Dominion in the second round of the WNIT Sunday afternoon in Norfolk, Va.

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Abbey Hsu makes history as Columbia women shoot past Holy Cross, 80-69, in first round of WNIT

Abbey Hsu etched her name all over the record books in Columbia’s first-round WNIT win Wednesday night, setting the Ivy League record for three-pointers in a season and a program career record for threes. (photo by Erica Denhoff)

It was a historic night for Columbia women’s basketball.

The Lions won their first non-Ivy League Tournament postseason game since joining Division I in 1986 Wednesday night by topping Holy Cross at Levien Gym, 80-69, in the first round of the WNIT as All-Ivy first-teamer Abbey Hsu made a lot of history of her own.

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Ivy Madness reporter’s notebook: Day 3

Princeton women’s basketball’s post-Ivy League Tournament final press conference was one of several revealing pressers during Ivy Madness. (photo by Rob Browne)

 

“This is the business we’ve chosen.” – Brian Earl and Hyman Roth

“We played for, I would say, a good 15 minutes tonight, but that’s not good enough against a good program.” – Columbia head coach Megan Griffith, following the Lions defeat to top-seeded Princeton

No matter what the coaches who did not earn victories on Saturday thought, I felt there were three really good games of college basketball on display at Lavietes Pavilion, including a fantastic opener that saw Princeton escape an upset big from Cornell, 77-73.  Hopefully, West Coast fans woke up at 8 a.m. on a Saturday morning to catch it.

Here are some random thoughts and observations from the Ancient Eight’s Super Saturday:

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No. 1 Princeton women declaw No. 2 Columbia, 77-59, to win Ivy League Tournament and earn NCAA Tournament berth

Princeton celebrates its Ivy League Tournament title and automatic NCAA Tournament berth secured via a 77-59 win over Columbia at Lavietes Pavilion Saturday evening. (photo by Rob Browne)

The Princeton women showed off all the things that make them the cream of the Ivies Saturday as they declawed the No. 2 Columbia Lions, 77-59, in the Ivy Madness final.

The Tigers (24-4) head to the NCAA tournament undefeated in Ivy play, having won all but one league game — the dramatic semifinal against Harvard, this year’s tournament host — by double digits.

“The Tigers were just locked in to the game plan, to the scouting report, what we needed to do, what we thought would make us successful out there,” Princeton coach Carla Berube said. ”

Guard Kaitlyn Chen — in her first year of college play, like other Ivy sophomores — scored a career-high 30 points for the Tigers on 9-for-13 shooting plus 11 of 14 free throws and was named the tournament MVP.

Chen was just listening to her teammates.

“It definitely helps knowing my teammates have my back and they’re always there for me, and they keep telling me to shoot,” Chen said.

“I’m just glad, coach, thank you, that we got Kaitlyn Chen, because she’s an absolute baller at both ends of the court,” Ivy Player of the Year Abby Meyers said.

Meyers and Julia Cunningham had 16 points apiece, and Grace Stone had 12. The Tigers shot 48% from the field and collected 23 points on free throws as the Lions struggled to catch up.

Coach Megan Griffith’s Columbia team (22-6, 12-2 in the regular Ivy season) managed to come back twice. After facing an early deficit, they finished the first quarter tied at 16 and pushed to a three-point lead early in the second. And after Princeton built a 17-point lead in the third quarter, Columbia’s Abbey Hsu and Jaida Patrick combined for key baskets to make things interesting. Hsu finished with 16 points and Patrick with 13, and Columbia had a more than respectable 42% shooting night. That included 36% on threes — but the Tigers were more efficient there, too, at 46%.

What Columbia couldn’t do for any stretch of time was evade Princeton’s relentless defense, and frustration also seemed to contribute to the Lions’ 20 turnovers (to just eight for the Tigers). Princeton blocked six shots and committed nine steals.

“I’m not happy with that effort. They shouldn’t be either,” Griffith said of her players. “We played for, I would say, a good 15 minutes tonight. That’s not good enough against a good program. You’ve just got to want it more and you’ve got to show up, and we didn’t do that today.”

Meyers was the game’s only starter not expected to return next season, positioning Princeton and Columbia well for future matchups with more Ivy hardware on the line.

“I think you’re going to see a lot of great competitions between Columbia and Princeton in the future,
Griffith said. “I’m personally looking forward to that. I love a good rivalry … Penn and Princeton kind of had that in the last decade or so, but I do think that we are right there and you will see us in this rivalry for a long time to come.”

“They really have a great nucleus that [was] out there,” Berube said. ” … Yeah, I think it could be a really good rivalry for a lot of years.”

For now, though, the Tigers are top cats in the Ivy League, and they now turn their attention to the Big Dance.

“I’m just thinking about all these pieces that have been so monumental to get us at this place and it’s been such a great journey,” Berube said. “And I just don’t want it to end.”