Women's basketball falls to Princeton in Ivy League Championship Finals

Upper West Side NY

16 March, 2022

2:04 PM

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Columbia Daily Spectator BY ADAM LANG MARCH 12, 2022 Women's basketball took the court for its first-ever Ivy League championship final after beating the Yale Bulldogs easily in the first round. Looking for revenge against the Princeton Tigers, the Lions fell short for a third time, losing 77-59. Princeton was crowned Ivy League champion, while Columbia settled for second place. "I feel personally like our staff really gave everything for [the players], and it was just unfortunate that they couldn't step up in some big moments that we really needed somebody to do it," head coach Megan Griffith, CC '07, said. "We haven't grown to the point where they can fix things on their own and adjust in real time." The Lions (22-6, 12-2 Ivy) switched to a taller starting lineup in the Ivy League tournament in both the dominant first-round victory against Yale (16-11, 9-5 Ivy) and in the loss to Princeton (24-4, 14-0 Ivy). In today's game, Columbia again replaced 5-foot-4 junior guard Carly Rivera with 6-foot-1 first-year forward Noa Comesaña. The change made an impact early on. While the Light Blue ended its first quarters down in its previous matchups with Princeton, today it got off to a strong start, keeping the Tigers to 41.7 percent shooting and going into the second quarter tied 16-16. However, Princeton guard Kaitlyn Chen, who scored a game-high 27 points in the Feb. 23 victory against the Lions, caught fire to score 9 straight points and kick off a 15-2 Tigers run. The Light Blue shot just 30 percent in the second quarter, failing to score a field goal in the last eight minutes before halftime. Meanwhile, its defense faltered, allowing the Tigers to shoot 60 percent from the field. Junior guard Jaida Patrick, who scored a career-high 23 points on Friday, got into trouble with fouling early on and saw limited minutes, scoring just 2 points in the first half. Sophomore guard Abbey Hsu also cooled off after starting the game on form, going 0-of-7 after a 2-of-2 start. Even so, her 8 points in the first half led the Lions in scoring and helped keep the score deficit at halftime to 12. Despite recovering offensively in the third quarter, the Light Blue could not find enough of a rhythm to catch up with Princeton. The team's defensive efforts kept the Tigers to 42.9 percent shooting, but turnovers weakened the Lions. While remaining impenetrable themselves, the Tigers were able to score 8 points on four Lions turnovers. The gap extended to 13 points with only one quarter to go. With an early offensive foul in the third quarter, Patrick was only able to fully participate in the fourth quarter. While she was off the court, Hsu carried the Lions on her shoulders, scoring 8 points on 3-of-5 shooting. With Patrick's return came the hope that she could distract the Princeton defense, making it easier for Hsu to score and allowing the Lions to look for a run. While Patrick continued her form from the last game in her short fourth quarter stint, going 4-of-5 to score 11 points and reducing the score deficit to single digits, Hsu lost her touch, missing all five shots. In contrast, after a relatively quiet third quarter, Chen dominated in crunch time, adding another 13 points to her stats sheet and setting a new career-high of 30 total points. The guard scored 7 out of 8 points for the Tigers to match Patrick's 8 consecutive points, helping keep the Tigers lead at 12 with less than a minute to go. The Lions' defense limited Princeton guards Abby Meyers and Julia Cunningham to below 40 percent shooting, but just like she did on Feb. 23, Chen stepped up. "I love Kaitlyn's game, wanted her to come to Columbia," Griffith said. "Tip our hats to her, I thought she played a hell of a game." Although the Lions ended with an 18-point loss, the game was close until the very end, a huge improvement from the previous two games against Princeton in which the Lions effectively lost by halftime. The Lions' focus meandered slightly in the second quarter, and the Tigers were able to capitalize on this mistake to build a lead. To win this championship, the Lions needed to be as consistent throughout the game as the Tigers were. "We played for, I would say, a good 15 minutes tonight; that's not good enough against a good program," Griffith said. "There were times where we showed that we learned from our past games, but then it looked like we fell back and started repeating old mistakes," Hsu said. "And that's just not acceptable in a championship game." In addition, the Lions badly missed point guard Rivera this game. The Light Blue's disorganized offense recorded only seven assists, less than half of its average of 16.5, and it gave up 20 turnovers to the Tigers' eight. When a team goes 6-23 in points off turnovers, it is nearly impossible to win. After the loss, Columbia ranks over 100, meaning it is unlikely to make the NCAA tournament. But with the Women's National Invitation Tournament still on their schedule this season, the Lions are not yet finished. Columbia will keep most of its key players next year, and with their new additions, the Lions hope to build on this season's success and continue the rapid climb they have achieved over the last three seasons. They are well poised to compete for next year's Ivy League title. "I think you are going to see a lot of great competitions between Columbia and Princeton in the future," Griffith said. "I'm personally really looking forward to that … rivalry." 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.