Columbia University women’s basketball dominated the first half of play against Harvard University in their final home game of the season at Levien Gymnasium in Manhattan this past Saturday.
The score was 35–22 at the half. But Harvard came back out of their locker room a different team, pulling out a 68–64 comeback win thanks in large part to junior guard Karlee White, who had just four points in the first half, but 20 points in the second.
There was much on the line for Columbia, 20-7 overall and 11-3 in their Ivy League schedule, playing in front of a sellout crowd. A win would have secured the Lions’ fourth consecutive Ivy League regular season title and the top seed in the upcoming conference tournament. Instead, Princeton (24-3, 12-2), the No. 23 ranked women’s team in Division I, secured the regular season championship and the top seed when action begins tomorrow. In the semifinals, Columbia, the No. 2 seed, will face No. 3 Harvard (17-10, 10-4) while Princeton takes on No. 4 Brown (16-10, 8-6). Only the first four teams in the standings qualify for the eight-team league tournament. Cornell is hosting the tournament in Ithaca.
“Understanding that defense wins championships, we have to be able to expect more and be more intentional about what we’re doing,” said senior guard/forward Perri Page, the game’s top scorer with 25 points and eight rebounds. “We weren’t really connected on the floor today.”
Senior forward Susie Rafiu fouled out after only 17:31 minutes of play. Junior guard Riley Weiss, a six-time Ivy League Player of the Week in discussion for possible All America honors, was 3–14 in shooting with six of her 14 points coming on free throws.
“There were a lot of individual errors that happened,” said head coach Megan Griffith. “We kept getting trapped from behind and nobody wanted the ball. We did not have a point guard on the floor today (metaphorically), and that was really challenging. Perri had to damn near play a heroic game. She had to do everything for us today … She was in every important position and nobody else rallied around her. It was Perri playing against Harvard today. I really like our chances when I have five players on the court playing.”
Thankfully, Griffith noted that this team doesn’t typically dwell on bad games and the players rarely repeat mistakes two games in a row. Since the Lions got into their flow this season, they have always responded strongly after a bad game.
“I’m not worried about next weekend, I’m just frustrated with today,” said Griffith. “[After the game] I said to them, ‘Nobody deserves to have tears in this locker room because we did it to ourselves.’”
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