Ivy League Tournament: Women’s press conference highlights

If it’s not on the MTA map, it should be (Photo: Rob Browne)

NEW YORK – The opening day of the Ivy League Tournament brought the four women’s teams to Levien Gymnasium on the campus of Columbia University.

Below are highlights of the press conferences and links to the videos. (Check out the game previews from Steve Silverman)

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Columbia women’s basketball comes up short against No. 22 Duke

Senior guard Abbey Hsu’s 25 points on 10-for-17 shooting weren’t quite enough for Columbia to top No. 22 Duke at Levien Gym Tuesday. (Photo by Erica Denhoff)

While the Columbia campus is divided over global events, most are united over the performance of the school’s athletic programs.

On Sunday, the women’s soccer team faced Rutgers in front of a raucous crowd during its NCAA Tournament first-round victory. Two days later, the Lions’ faithful (and Ivy League Executive Director Robin Harris) packed Levien Gymnasium as the women’s basketball team welcomed Kara Lawson and Duke, the first time a top-25 team ever visited Morningside Heights.

Megan Griffith’s Light Blue squad went toe-to-toe with the No. 22 Blue Devils the entire evening but came up short in a 66-62 defeat. 

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Columbia women fall to Stony Brook in season opener

Despite overcoming a 17-point deficit in the third quarter, the Columbia women went down in defeat in Monday night’s seasoner opener against Stony Brook, 85-73, at the Island Federal Credit Union.

Thanks to the graduation of eight players, including starters Kaitlyn Davis, Jaida Patrick and Hannah Pratt, the 2022-23 Ivy League co-champions and WNIT finalists entered the evening with more uncertainty than they had the last several years.

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2023-24 Ivy women’s media day recap and season preview

With the season a few weeks away, the Ivy League hosted Women’s Basketball Media Day on Monday, the first of two media availabilities this week. The event was hosted over Zoom for media members and is available on the conference’s YouTube channel.

The preseason media poll was released last Thursday with Princeton earning all 16 first-place votes. Last year’s Ivy Tournament winner and regular season co-champions are the sixth unanimous pick in league history and the first since Penn in 2016-2017.

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Ivy hoops roundup – July 1, 2023

As we enter the July 4th holiday weekend, we at Ivy Hoops Online wanted to round up some postseason updates:

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Columbia women fall short at Kansas in WNIT title game

 

The deepest run for an Ivy League team in WNIT history ended in defeat in the tournament final Saturday as Columbia fell at Kansas, 66-59, before an Allen Fieldhouse crowd of 11,701.

Horrid shooting and a disadvantage in the paint doomed the Lions in a defensive struggle they slowly but steadily lost control over in the second and third quarters, requiring a comeback effort that came up short.

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Columbia women advance to WNIT title game after holding off Bowling Green

 

Columbia women’s basketball’s second straight historic WNIT run will continue after a wire-to-wire win at Bowling Green in the tournament semifinal setting up the Lions for a shot at the title Saturday.

Columbia held off host Bowling Green in a 77-70 victory Wednesday night before a sold-out crowd of 4,155 at the Stroh Center. The Lions will play for a WNIT championship as the visiting team at Kansas  (24-11, 9-9 Big 12) Saturday at 5:30 p.m.

Columbia becomes the first team in Ivy League history to reach the WNIT championship game.

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Harvard at Columbia in WNIT Great 8: What to watch for

Columbia and Harvard women’s basketball will square off for a fourth time this season Sunday at 4 p.m. at Levien Gym on ESPN3.

This time, a WNIT Fab 4 berth is on the line.

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Harvard women stun Columbia to advance to Ivy League Tournament final

Sophomore guard Harmoni Turner contributed 18 points, 12 rebounds and four assists in 44 minutes in Harvard’s Ivy League Tournament semifinal upset of Columbia at Jadwin Gym Friday. (Photo by Erica Denhoff)

PRINCETON, N.J. – The Harvard Crimson put an abrupt end to anticipation of a rubber match between regular-season co-champions Princeton and Columbia by defeating the latter in the second of two Ivy League Tournament semifinal games played at Jadwin Gym in an overtime thriller, 72-65.

The No. 3 Crimson advance to face No. 1 Princeton, which defeated Penn earlier Friday, 60-47.  The tournament final will be played Saturday  at 5 p.m. at Jadwin Gym.  

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Reporter’s Notebook – Ivy League Tournament day one

Pictured is a photo of an Ivy Madness banner hanging on the outside of Jadwin Gym. (Photo by Rob Browne)

Ivy League Tournament V officially started on Thursday afternoon, with the four women’s teams taking part in press conferences and shootarounds for “Live from Ivy Madness.”

This year’s edition, the first-ever tournament to take place in a suburban setting, takes place at Jadwin Gymnasium on the campus of Princeton University.  While the campus is incredibly picturesque, and the athletic complex has a lot of beautiful modern buildings that fit in well with each other, the basketball arena continues to be its own unique entity.

The previous locations at Penn, Yale and Harvard had much more intimate environments, whether in the press conference room or the actual arena.  This year, everything feels much larger and more spacious.  I’m sure most people would see that as a positive, but I liked it more when the reporters and fans were closer to the coaches and players.

As usual, the Ivy League staff and their partners at ESPN are doing a great job getting everything organized.  The campus staff are also incredibly helpful.

I can’t explain why, but there seems to be a greater security presence inside the arena than past years.  There were several guards going through the media room and arena, even though there was an incredibly small crowd this afternoon.  Officials have also limited access to the stairwells and have rotating staff members operating the elevator for everyone.  Feels a bit odd that we aren’t allowed to press our own buttons, but I’m sure they have good reasons for doing this.

Some other observations from the day:

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