After a night of intense playing and rainbow logos, the home team gained another win.

Walking into the Levien Gym for Columbia Women’s Basketball’s (14-5, 5-1 Ivy) game against Harvard (11-8, 4-2 Ivy), the energy was unlike I’d ever seen it before. The seats were packed with everyone from older Columbia staff to entire middle schools; the cheerleaders and dance team shook rainbow pom-poms and sported pride temporary tattoos on their cheeks and arms; a live band was prepping to play. The commotion was likely due to a mix of rivalry towards Harvard and the celebration of ‘Pride Night,’ although the last basketball game I attended had more or less the same queer audience as a Boygenius concert would, so I don’t see what made February 2nd so different.

Regardless, the excitement was kept very much alive throughout the game. Despite Columbia scoring in the first few seconds of the game, and maintaining a lead for the vast majority of the game, Harvard put up a great fight. In fact, at half-time the score was 42-42, keeping us all at the edge of our seats as the dance team slayed to “Born This Way” by Lady Gaga. The lead was quickly reclaimed and maintained by Columbia, though, but not without multiple scuffles over the ball and many seemingly intense huddles. 

Finally, Columbia took home the win with a final score of 82-70. No doubt much of this was due to the playing of Internet favorite Abbey Hsu (CC ‘24) (“Is that the one from TikTok?” asked my friend upon seeing her), but Kitty Henderson (CC ‘25) also stunned with multiple points in the beginning seconds of the game, and Cecelia Collins (CC ‘25) scored a whopping 20 points for the team. Ultimately, though, it took the entire team to win and to entertain its (probably mostly queer) audience, and it will take the entire team to win against Dartmouth (6-12, 0-6 Ivy) on February 3rd for Barnard Night.

Women’s Basketball v. Harvard via Author