The Harvard women’s basketball team celebrates after winning the women’s Ivy League Tournament championship game over top seed Columbia at the Pizzitola Sports Center in Providence, R.I. Saturday. (Steve Silverman | Ivy Hoops Online)
The question entering Saturday’s Ivy League Tournament championship game between No. 3 Harvard and No. 1 Columbia was, “What can Harmoni Turner do for an encore?”
The answer: Win a championship.
The senior guard who exploded for a record-setting 44 points against Princeton in Friday night’s semifinal delivered a game-high 24 points, two rebounds, four assists and three steals to lead Harvard past Columbia, 74-71, for the Crimson’s first Ivy League Tournament championship and an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. It’s Harvard’s first NCAA Tournament berth since 2007.
Columbia junior forward Susie Rafiu paced the victorious Lions with a 16-point, 10-rebound performance on Friday evening. (Rob Browne | Ivy Hoops Online)
PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Despite having multiple double-digit leads, the No. 1-seeded Columbia women couldn’t find a way to dominate No. 4 Penn and had to fight for a full 40 minutes to secure a 60-54 victory in Friday’s opening semifinal of the 2025 Ivy Tournament.
“Credit to them (Penn) for getting to this point and giving us their best,” coach Megan Griffith told the media in the postgame press conference. “Conversely, in our locker room, I don’t think we played our best, but that’s honestly what you’re going to get again in these games.”
With the win, the Lions (23-6) head to the program’s third-ever conference final. A victory in Saturday night’s contest against No. 3 Harvard. which won an instant classic against No. 2 Princeton in the nightcap, would give Columbia its first-ever Ivy Madness title, as well as the Ancient Eight’s automatic bid.
For Penn (15-13), the season is over and the drought for an Ivy League Tournament title now extends to eight years.
“I thought we really played well enough to put them (Columbia) in jeopardy,” Penn coach Mike McLaughlin said. “I’m just so proud that they hung in there … and gave ourselves an opportunity to beat a really good team tonight.”
The Ivy League announced its major women’s awards Tuesday, but we know this is the moment you’ve all been waiting for: Ivy Hoops Online’s 2024-25 All-Ivy Awards, as determined by IHO’s contributors prior to the release of the Ivy League’s awards:
Editor’s note: Here are Steve Silverman’s reactions to Ivy League All-Ivy awards for players and coaches for the 2024-25 women’s basketball season announced Tuesday. Ivy Hoops Online’s 2024-25 Men’s and Women’s All-Ivy Awards are soon to come.:
Jim Engles is out at Columbia after the Lions went 71-150 overall and 24-88 in Ivy play in nine years with him in charge. (Columbia Athletics)
Hours after Steve Donahue was released from his role as the head coach of the Penn men’s basketball program, Columbia capped a busy Monday by announcing that Jim Engles has decided to step down from the head coaching role of the men’s program.
“Columbia has meant so much to me, and I’ve given everything I have to make this program the best it can be,” Engles said in a Columbia Athletics news release. “We may not have accomplished our ultimate goals, but I’m proud of the culture we built and the student-athletes we developed on and off the court. I also want to thank Peter Pilling for his support throughout the years and know the future of this program is bright.”
In his nine years in charge at Morningside Heights and eight years of competition, Engles finished with overall and Ivy records of 71-150 and 24-88, respectively.
Penn finished with a higher NCAA NET ranking (No. 162) than Brown (No. 184), the Ivy League confirmed Sunday morning, making the Quakers the fourth and final team to clinch an Ivy League Tournament berth with the Bears on the outside looking into the tourney to be held on their home floor at the Pizzitola Sports Center.
The full women’s and men’s slate for the Ivy League Tournaments are below, with automatic bids going to the tourney winners:
NEW YORK CITY — In an otherwise lost season, Sam Brown delivered an evening of pure joy for Penn on Saturday night.
The sophomore guard accomplished something no Penn player had since Hassan Duncombe in December 1989: score at least 40 points in a game. Brown’s virtuoso 42-point showing carried the Quakers to a 92-87 win over Columbia.
It didn’t mean much in the standings, save for assuring that Penn (8-18, 4-9 Ivy) would avoid finishing last place in the Ivy League. That spot is now reserved for the Lions (12-14, 1-12), whose season has nosedived after a promising nonconference campaign. It seems likely that both teams will have new coaches next season.
Penn never trailed on Saturday, but there were more than a few perilous moments. Things got especially dicey when Columbia star Geronimo Rubio De La Rosa intercepted an inbounds pass from Nick Spinoso and drained a three to cut Penn’s lead to 86-85 with 30 seconds to play.
But Brown calmly converted all six of his free throw attempts to assure the Lions would get no closer.
Brown was the biggest story of Saturday night. What made his evening so special?
Another eventful weekend of women’s hoops games has set the table for a dramatic conclusion to the Ivy League season.
The Columbia Lions (19-5, 10-1 Ivy) seized control of the race for the regular season title with another come-from-behind win over the Princeton Tigers, 64-60, at Jadwin Gymnasium on Saturday. The Lions completed a rare series sweep of the Tigers and put themselves in position to earn a third consecutive Ivy League title and the program’s first outright championship.
