Offensive inconsistency a factor in losses

The Columbia women’s basketball team entered this past weekend with a three-game winning streak. By the end of the weekend, that streak had changed—but not because the Lions had added more wins to it. Columbia (5-17, 4-4 Ivy) now has a two-game losing streak, largely the result of offensive inconsistency.

At Princeton and Penn, Columbia did not receive solid scoring contributions from multiple players like it did when it beat Dartmouth, Brown, and Yale. Four Columbia players scored in double figures in each of those victories.

Against Dartmouth, senior center Lauren Dwyer scored a team-high 19 points, senior guard Kathleen Barry and sophomore forward Tyler Simpson each scored 14, and junior guard Melissa Shafer scored 11. Against Brown, Shafer scored a game-high 17 points, Dwyer scored 14 points, Courtney Bradford scored 13 points, and Brianna Orlich scored 10. Barry scored nine points.

Against Yale, Shafer scored a team-high 14 points, Orlich scored 13, Barry scored 12, and sophomore point guard Taylor Ball scored 10. The Lions appeared to have a balanced offense. At Princeton, however, Columbia faltered in a 57-35 defeat. Barry and Dwyer each scored a team-high 12 points, but even they struggled. Eight of Dwyer’s points came in the first half, and 11 of Barry’s came in the second.

The next night, Orlich scored a game-high 15 points at Penn, but 11 of those points came in the first half. No one sparked Columbia in the second, and the game ended as a 60-40 loss for the Lions.

“I’d like to think if we can hold Princeton under 60 [points] and Penn to 60 that we should put ourselves in a position to win the game—if we could actually perform even close to our capabilities on offense,” head coach Paul Nixon said. “That’s where, when you look at these two ballgames, where the games were really lost. The 11 points in the first half at Princeton was obviously abysmal, and then tonight [at Penn], we had many dry stretches in the game. And I blame it on that.”

The teams that have been most successful in the Ivy League this season rely on more than one player offensively. Harvard (5-2 Ivy) has four players averaging double figures in scoring, while Yale (6-2 Ivy) has three—and one who is close—and Princeton (6-1 Ivy) has three.

When Harvard beat Columbia by one point in Levien, its four players averaging double figures scored in double figures. In fact, freshman guard Christine Clark’s ninth and tenth points came in the form of her game-winning jumper.

Columbia has not had the luxury of four players averaging double figures, but the Lions were successful during their recent winning streak because various players—starters and substitutes—scored above their season averages. Columbia showed its depth as several players, some of whom had been inconsistent, proved to be capable scorers. But that depth vanished in the Lions’ most recent road trip.

Columbia will not win games if only one player shoulders the scoring load. If the Lions want to be competitive in their final six contests, they will need multiple players to hit shots.