The Columbia women’s basketball team is preparing for two important home games this weekend. On Friday, they will face No. 24 Princeton at 6 p.m., and on Saturday, they will play against Penn at 5 p.m. Both games will take place at Schiller Court at Levien Gymnasium in New York.
Friday’s game against Princeton will be broadcast nationally on ESPNU, while the matchup with Penn will be available via streaming on ESPN+. The Lions currently hold a record of 15-6 overall and are 6-2 in Ivy League play. Princeton comes into Friday’s game with a 19-2 record and is 7-1 in the conference. Penn has a record of 13-8 and is 3-5 in Ivy League competition.
Saturday’s game marks Columbia’s annual Play4Kay Game, an initiative to raise awareness and funds for women’s cancer research. Since the 2007-08 season, Columbia has participated in Play4Kay events, wearing special warm-ups and distributing pink chip clips to the first 300 fans. Supporters can donate to the Kay Yow Fund on behalf of the team by clicking this link.
Columbia enters these matchups following an 80-55 victory over Cornell last Saturday. Riley Weiss scored 38 points in that game, tying the program record for three-pointers made in a single contest for the second time this season. Her performance was two points short of her own single-game scoring record set earlier against Dartmouth.
Two weeks ago, Columbia secured a win over then-No. 19 Princeton but lost to Penn on the road the next day, ending their NCAA-leading streak of consecutive road wins at sixteen games.
Historically, Columbia has struggled against AP Top 25 teams with only two victories out of seventeen attempts; both wins were against Princeton.
Weiss currently leads the Ivy League and ranks among the top scorers nationally with an average of 19.4 points per game. She also tops several statistical categories within her conference: total points (408), field goals made (145), three-pointers made (59), and threes per game (2.81). Perri Page stands out as one of just three NCAA players averaging at least fourteen points, six-and-a-half rebounds, two-and-a-half steals per game while shooting fifty percent or better from the field.
As a team, Columbia leads its conference in scoring margin (+11), assists per game (17), and steals per game (12.4). Nationally, they rank fifteenth in steals and within the top forty for assists.
Weiss is notable for being one of only two players nationwide with multiple games scoring thirty-eight or more points this season—a distinction she shares with Iowa State’s Audi Crooks—and is also recognized as a finalist for the L’Cheisman Award honoring top Jewish athletes by the Manischewitz Athletic Honors Society.
She has received four Ivy League Player of the Week honors this season—more than any other player—and additional accolades including twice being named Met Basketball Writers Association Women’s Division I Player of the Week and once as USBWA Women’s National Player of the Week.
Columbia has won forty-one straight games when leading at halftime; their last loss under such circumstances was against Princeton early last year.
Several individual milestones may be reached during these upcoming games: Weiss needs six points to move into eighth place on Columbia’s all-time scoring list; she is also close to breaking into other top ten career lists for field goals made and three-pointers made within both school and league history; Page needs one steal to enter Columbia’s top ten all-time leaders in that category.
Recent records include Weiss setting single-game highs for both points scored (40) and field goals made (15) against Dartmouth as well as tying her own mark for most threes made in a game with nine each versus Dartmouth and Cornell. Nasi Simmons set a new school record with ten steals versus Yale earlier this season; Page tied another previous single-game steals mark earlier as well.
Other key contributors include Susie Rafiu—who ranks second among Ivy players in field goal percentage—and Fliss Henderson—who is fourth in rebounding across the league—as well as Marija Avlijas who leads her peers in assist-to-turnover ratio.
At home since start of last season, Columbia boasts an .857 winning percentage across all contests (.871 vs Ivy opponents specifically) including winning twenty straight regular-season home games between parts of last year through this one.
Last week’s win over Cornell saw several noteworthy performances beyond Weiss: Simmons matched her career-high for field goals made; Mia Broom posted personal bests with six assists and five steals each; meanwhile Cornell’s fourteen total rebounds marked not only their lowest output but also one of fewest ever allowed by Columbia since records began more than sixteen seasons ago.
For updates about Columbia women’s basketball follow @CULionsWBB on social media platforms or visit GoColumbiaLions.com.
