Women's basketball trounced by Princeton in 20-point loss at packed Levien Gymnasium

Upper West Side NY

24 February, 2022

2:15 PM

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Columbia Daily Spectator BY ADAM LANG FEBRUARY 23, 2022 After a painful defeat in its first game against Princeton, the women's basketball team sought to secure a victory in a packed Levien Gymnasium. But the game was over before anyone knew it in a 73-53 loss, the worst of the season. The Tigers (20-4, 12-0 Ivy) extended their three-year Ancient Eight win streak to 38 with another statement win over the Lions (19-5, 10-2 Ivy). With just two games remaining against Harvard (12-12, 6-6 Ivy) and Penn (11-13, 6-6 Ivy), both of whom they have already beaten by at least 18 points, the Tigers are likely to extend their streak of conference dominance to 40. The Light Blue, on the other hand, was hoping to earn a win to showcase its potential to lift the Ivy League trophy, but the 20-point loss does not bode well for the team's title hopes. When the teams last went head-to-head, the Lions outscored the Tigers in the second half, but the 19-point first-half deficit they dug for themselves was too large to overcome. The Lions needed to improve upon their poor defense in Wednesday's game to show that they learned from the first matchup. In front of the frenzied home fans, it seemed at first that Columbia had resolved its shortcomings. Princeton got off to a slow start with no points scored for the first two minutes of the game. But Princeton guard Grace Stone caught fire to score 13 in the quarter and led the Tigers to a 14-0 run to end the quarter 26-8. Columbia's first quarter was very unrepresentative of their conference-play defense so far this season, as the Lions previously only allowed on average 54.7 points per game. The Tigers continued to crush the Lions in the second quarter, extending their insurmountable lead to 27 with a 10-1 run. Kaitlyn Chen, despite only averaging 8.3 points this season, took over the offensive duties and dominated her smaller defender, junior guard Carly Rivera, going 5-of-6 from the field in the quarter to total 21 at the half. With two consecutive crowd-silencing quarters, Princeton scored 47 points at the half, just 10 points short of what it scored the whole game earlier this season. Columbia's defense strategically aimed to limit Princeton's top scorers Abby Meyers and Julia Cunningham, a mission at which succeeded. The guards had scored just 5 and 2 points respectively at the half. However, the overall defensive performance was even worse than the first game, as the Light Blue was slow to adjust to Chen's brilliance. "I would hope that if one of our players hit a shot, and then they hit another shot, and then another shot, they'd be closely guarded the next time. … That didn't register for [our team]," head coach Megan Griffith said. "I think we got lost in the moment, we got lost in the environment, and we got lost in the game." After the half, the Light Blue adjusted defensively to deliver a quarter in its favor but only chipped 7 points off of the giant deficit. At one point, the Lions went on a 15-4 run and closed the gap to 15 points, a reasonable amount to overcome if they had continued that effort. Much like the last time they met, however, the Tigers closed out the third quarter strong to keep a comfortable cushion at 19. The Lions fought until the last minute, but the result was sealed by the half. Junior forward Kaitlyn Davis' performance was encouraging, especially after she was limited in Columbia's last contest against Princeton due to foul trouble. Over the course of her 35 minutes, she stayed out of foul trouble and made a career-high three triples, helping her lead the team with 17 points. However, her shooting performance in the first half was inefficient, as she shot just 3-of-10 from the field. Sophomore guard Abbey Hsu took just four shots for a quiet 5-point first half, while junior guard Jaida Patrick couldn't find her touch, going 1-of-7. For a great offensive team like the Lions, it is unusual for the key complaint at halftime to be the offensive effort. Nevertheless, Griffith was frustrated by the poor offensive performance in the first twenty minutes. "Our goal today was to take 30 threes. We took six at the half. Abbey took 10 shots, took [four] shots in the first half, and I told you to take 25 today," Griffith said. "So to me it's just a lack of attention to detail. I think it really showed our youth." For Princeton, this win was evidence that its last game against the Lions was not a fluke. The team, which garnered 16 Top 25 votes in the Women's Basketball AP Poll, is not afraid to face Columbia again if they meet in the final. "We are focused on the next game, but our ultimate goal is to be playing in that NCAA tournament after winning an Ivy League title," Princeton head coach Carla Berube said. "There's no secret [to our success]. Really, we just … play together. We play hard, we play for each other. And yeah, they have a lot of fun out there." To the Lions' credit, they showed once more that they can compete against and perhaps even defeat the Tigers if they remain focused. Reproducing their last performance against the Tigers, they again won the second half, this time by six points. They also held Princeton to a shooting percentage below 40 percent. "To me, they felt us the entire second half. And if you didn't look at the score, you would have thought we were winning," Griffith said. "We really had a great first half … but [we knew] Columbia was going to come roaring back. They certainly were tough throughout," Berube acknowledged. Griffith believes that the team needs to learn from this game and remain focused on winning. The gym was packed with fans, but in order to do right by the Columbia faithful, the Light Blue needed to play better, Griffith said. "We had kids that just got lost in [the atmosphere] I felt. And … you either have that [winning mentality] innately in you or you had that experience, which I don't think a lot of them have had," Griffith said. "I said to our team, 'I can't want it more than you, and that's very clear that that's how we are right now.'" Even with today's loss accounted for, the Lions have clinched second place in the Ancient Eight standings. They have two more games left in the regular season. Columbia will host Brown on Saturday, Feb. 26, at 2 p.m. The game will be broadcast on ESPN+. Senior staff writer Adam Lang can be contacted at [email protected]. Follow Spectator Sports on Twitter @CUSpecSports. Founded in 1877, the Columbia Daily Spectator is the independent undergraduate newspaper of Columbia University, serving thousands of readers in Morningside Heights, West Harlem, and beyond. Read more at columbiaspectator.com and donate here.