Columbia defeats Cornell, 91-58, winning their third consecutive and first outright Ivy League Regular Season championship.

On Saturday at Schiller Court in Levien Gymnasium, Columbia resoundingly defeated Cornell in a 91-58 victory for their third consecutive Ivy League title and their first outright in the program’s 38-year history.

The game was marked by strong performances by both seniors, Cecelia Collins (CC ‘25) and Kitty Henderson (CC ‘25), who had also been recognized in a special ceremony earlier that day. Cecelia Collins led the scoring with 21 points and had 10 rebounds. Fellow senior Kitty Henderson scored 14 points and had nine assists. Three other players scored double digits, led by sophomore Riley Weiss (CC ‘27) with 16.

In an exclusive postgame interview with Bwog, Henderson described the important role the seniors played this season:

“I think just like keeping the group together off the court as well is really important, making sure that we love each other on and off the court. It’s a recipe for success, and that’s been a really big part of my role this year.”

First-year Marta Jaama (CC ‘28) described the influence the seniors had on her:

“I think that the heritage that older seniors are carrying and like how they’re teaching the younger ones, they’re holding all of us accountable, so there’s like standards you have to get… nobody’s allowed to be below the standards.”

Cornell was led in scoring by Emily Pape and Rachel Kaus (both 17).

Columbia (21-5, 12-1 Ivy) came in attempting to win their first sole Ivy League regular-season title after two previous tied championships with Princeton. Cornell (7-19, 3-10 Ivy) was looking to avenge a 69-44 loss earlier in the season, the seventh in a streak of losses to the Lions dating back to January 20, 2022. Columbia’s win today set a record for the longest winning streak against a single team.

The game started as a back-and-forth affair by both teams, with the game tied at 9-9 in the middle of the first quarter. Columbia was then on fire with a 15-2 scoring run, pulling ahead to 24-11 with a minute left. Then both teams exchanged points, with a score of 29-17 at the end of the first quarter. Although Cornell led in defensive rebounds, Columbia was able to cause 10 turnovers, capitalizing 13 points off them. They also went six for nine on three-pointers.

The second quarter was lower-scoring than the first, although the Lions continued imposing their dominance, holding Cornell to only seven points. Columbia slowly built on their lead with mostly lay-up shots. While the Lions’ turnover game was not as strong as it had been in the first, Columbia scored 10 of their 16 points off of them. The score at halftime was 45-24.

During halftime, senior members of the cheerleading squad, Dance Team, and Pep Band were recognized.

At the start of the third, Columbia went on another scoring run with ten unanswered points. Cornell then responded, but their scores were matched by those of the Lions. Thanks to Blau Tor (BC ‘28)’s three-pointer, the score was 64-38 at the end of the quarter.

The fourth quarter began with a three-point shootout from both teams. Emily Pape’s three three-pointers were immediately matched by Weiss (twice) and Collins. A few minutes later, with 6:19 left in the game, the score was 74-52. The Lions then went on a 17-2 scoring run before Cornell finally responded with 49 seconds left. The final score was 91-58, which was the Lions’ highest score this season.

Columbia shot excellently, notably going 14-28 in three-point shooting (a season-high). While the teams were almost equal on rebounds (Columbia 34 and Cornell 31), turnovers were a huge part of the Lions’ victory. The Big Red turned over the ball 25 times (compared to the Lions’ eight). Columbia also had 12 steals. 35 of Columbia’s points came off turnovers.

About Columbia’s scoring runs, Head Coach Megan Griffith (CC ‘07) said to Bwog, “Honestly, it was we didn’t give up, you know, there was, I thought we got sloppy in moments, you know, giving up weak out lay-ups, letting 32 [Pape] get loose, number five [Kaus] in the first quarter, you know, there’s a lot of moments I can look back on and say we got to clean that up, but you know, credit to them, you know, their kids came out here and competed today, but we always had an answer, and that was great to see.”

When asked about the strategy as the team enters the Ivy League Tournament, Collins said,

“Obviously, we want to celebrate this one, first one in, I guess in program history, but I think the strategy is just getting into the gym and getting better every single day. We got something to sharpen up after this game. Obviously, it wasn’t a perfect one, but we’re gonna enjoy it tonight and then make sure we get in the gym and get better this week.”

Columbia will advance as the first seed in the Ivy League Championship Tournament and will play Penn on Friday, March 14, at 4:30 in Providence, Rhode Island’s Pizzitola Sports Center. Columbia is looking to win their first Ivy Madness Title. The game will be broadcast on ESPN+.

Roar-ee via Bwarchives