Women's basketball falls to Tigers

After scoring a season-high 80 points in a victory over Penn on Friday night, the Columbia women's basketball team (16-10, 7-5 Ivy) took on league-leading Princeton on Saturday evening. While they eventually suffered a 69-57 loss to the Tigers (23-2, 11-0 Ivy), the Lions went to Princeton ready to play.

The game began as a back and forth battle. Columbia put the first points on the scoreboard in the form of a trey from junior guard Kathleen Barry, who was sidelined with a knee injury in the Lions' first matchup with Princeton this year. With 11:49 left in the first half, a Barry three-point play gave Columbia a 19-16 lead.

The Lions held a 21-16 advantage with 9:27 to go, but a 7-0 Princeton run gave the Tigers a two-point lead with 7:45 left. Columbia had a 29-27 lead with less than two minutes until the intermission and maintained that advantage after senior guard Danielle Browne blocked what appeared to be an easy transition layup for Princeton freshman Niveen Rasheed. But Princeton knotted the score with a layup by sophomore guard Lauren Edwards with four seconds to play, and Columbia could not get another shot off before halftime.

Edwards continued to shine in the second half, giving the Tigers a 40-34 lead after sinking an open 3-pointer with 13:56 remaining. A jumper by Columbia forward Judie Lomax made the score 41-38 in favor of Princeton, but the Tigers then went on a 6-0 run to take a nine-point lead. From there, Princeton kept the game just out of Columbia's reach en route to its 11th Ivy League win.

Edwards led all scorers with 23 points on 11-of-18 shooting, while Lomax and Browne scored 15 points each for Columbia. The Lions held Rasheed, who torched the Lions for 27 points in their first meeting, to just eight points on 3-of-11 shooting.

Columbia plays its final two Ivy games next weekend, when it hosts Yale and Brown.