The Columbia women’s basketball team is preparing to face three opponents over three days at the 2025 Cancun Challenge, held at the Hard Rock Hotel Riviera Maya in Mexico. The tournament will feature Columbia (3-2) competing against Kansas State, South Dakota State, and North Carolina from November 27 to 29.
Columbia’s first game is scheduled for Thursday against Kansas State. They will then play South Dakota State on Friday and finish the tournament against No. 12 North Carolina on Saturday. All games are set to be broadcast on Flo College, with Jon Gross and Jennifer George providing commentary for the first two games and Max Kelton and Lexi Ayala covering Saturday’s matchup.
Reflecting on Columbia’s growth since its last appearance in Cancun in 2017, head coach Megan Griffith said her program has evolved significantly. “At the time, they had never won an Ivy League title nor ever even qualified for a postseason tournament,” the release noted. Now in her tenth year as head coach, Griffith has led Columbia to three consecutive Ivy League Regular Season Championships and back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances. Since the start of the 2021-22 season, her teams have posted a combined record of 103-29.
Columbia recently ended a two-game losing streak with a win over Binghamton, where all five starters scored in double figures. Senior Susie Rafiu led with 14 points. Rafiu, along with senior Perri Page and junior Riley Weiss, have each scored double digits in every game this season.
The Lions currently average 17.8 offensive rebounds per game—ranking them twelfth nationally—with Page contributing an average of 4.2 per game (seventeenth nationally). Defensively, Columbia averages 12.8 steals per contest (thirty-first nationally), with Page leading individually at 3.2 steals per game after tying a program record with eight steals against Binghamton.
Rafiu leads the Ivy League in field goal percentage at 58.8 percent while Page ranks third at 52.7 percent.
Weiss (16.2 points per game), Page (14.4), and Rafiu (14.2) are currently Columbia’s top scorers this season.
This year’s schedule includes nine non-conference games against teams that participated in last year’s NCAA Tournament or other major postseason tournaments such as WBIT or WNIT; five of these matchups are against teams from last season’s NCAA field: Richmond, Kansas State, South Dakota State, North Carolina, and Florida Gulf Coast.
Columbia also holds a notable halftime winning streak—having won their last thirty-one games when leading at halftime—and features one of just twelve Division I programs nationwide with nine or more international players on its roster.
Head coach Megan Griffith will meet her former boss Courtney Banghart when Columbia faces North Carolina; Griffith previously served under Banghart at Princeton before taking over at Columbia.
Columbia returns nine players from last year’s roster—including three starters—and welcomes five newcomers this season: four first-years plus junior transfer Hilke Feldrappe from Missouri.
For updates on Columbia women’s basketball throughout the tournament and season, fans can follow @CULionsWBB on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook or visit GoColumbiaLions.com.
