As women's basketball wins WNIT opening round, Abbey Hsu breaks record for most Ivy League threes in a season

Upper West Side NY

18 March, 2022

5:04 PM

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Columbia Daily Spectator BY REBECCA WACHEN MARCH 16, 2022 Just one day after falling to Princeton in the Ivy League championship finals, Columbia women's basketball kept its season alive and accepted an invitation to compete in the 2022 Postseason Women's National Invitational Tournament. The Postseason WNIT offers 64 Division I teams that succeeded in the regular season a chance for a postseason crown after being excluded from the NCAA Tournament. The 2022 field consists of 30 automatic qualifiers and 34 at-large selections. After successful seasons that ended short in their respective conference tournaments, both Columbia and College of the Holy Cross each accepted an automatic bid to the WNIT before facing off on Wednesday. Both Columbia's and Holy Cross' seasons came to disappointing ends. Columbia (23-6, 12-2 Ivy) made it to the Ivy League finals for the first time in program history after cruising past Yale with a 67-38 semifinal victory, before falling to Princeton in the finals. Holy Cross (20-11) was named the regular-season Patriot League champions before falling to the U.S. Naval Academy (10-21) in the quarterfinals of the Patriot League Tournament. On March 16, Columbia welcomed Holy Cross to Levien Gymnasium for the opening round of the tournament. The Lions immediately showed why they deserved to be at what was their first ever WNIT appearance. After winning the jump ball, sophomore guard Abbey Hsu scored her 98th three of the season to give the Lions the early lead. But with a strong team on the other side of the ball, Holy Cross was able to draw three charges, frustrating Columbia. Even with all the charge calls, the Light Blue's offense maintained its lead. Another three by Hsu gave Columbia a 6-point lead as it entered the second quarter, and officially tied her with Harvard's Katie Benzan, who set the record for the most three-pointers in an Ivy League season in 2017-18 with 99. "I thought, offensively, we were clicking on all cylinders," head coach Megan Griffith, CC '07, said. "Defensively is where I think we really need to make a lot more concerted efforts and make some changes." In the second quarter, the Crusaders inched closer to Columbia's lead, narrowing it down to one possession. Hsu came in clutch for the Lions yet again, scoring her 100th three of the season, breaking Benzan's record and giving Columbia a more comfortable lead. Holy Cross still put up a fight, however, forcing Columbia to fight for the win. Using its team's overall greater height to its advantage, Columbia out-rebounded Holy Cross in the first half to put it ahead on its second-chance points. The size advantage may have been the difference for the Lions, as they entered the halftime break with a 38-33 lead. The Crusaders also came into the halftime break strong, continuing to pressure the red-hot Lions. But as they had the entire game, the Lions rose to the challenge, preventing Holy Cross from catching up with them. A three-point play by junior forward Kaitlyn Davis put the Lions up by double digits for the first time in the game. Holy Cross continued to fight in the fourth quarter, narrowing the lead down to three early on, when a three-pointer by forward Madison Demski made the game within one possession. Crusader guard Avery LaBarbera, who was named the Patriot League Player of the Year, was successfully guarded by the Lions defense for much of the game but still managed to score 21 points in the final game of her Holy Cross career. Despite LaBarbera's efforts, the Lions ran away with the win, in part due to Hsu, junior guard Jaida Patrick, and junior forward Hannah Pratt converting from downtown, especially in the final quarter. With eight total makes from behind the arc compared to the Crusaders' four, the Lions' offense overpowered the Crusaders'. Holy Cross's only option was to foul, but with the Lions making 20-28 from the charity stripe, Columbia came away with a 80-69 win. Hsu had a strong showing on Wednesday, scoring 24 points. She continued her record-breaking streak in the fourth quarter, when she broke the Columbia women's basketball record of 166 for most three-pointers made in a career, originally set by Melissa Shafer. Still a sophomore, Hsu has two more years to continue adding to her career total, putting the career three record even more out of reach. "I love that kid. She's just all the right things about being a player," Griffith said about Hsu. "Her work ethic is impeccable, her approach to the game is easy. She's just the next level kid, and I'm just really happy that she's here." Hsu gives much of the credit to her teammates and was aided by Patrick and Davis on the offensive end. They scored 18 and 15 points, respectively. "We're hungry," Hsu said. "We're not satisfied with how our last game went, and we just want to prove to everybody else that we're not done yet." With Wednesday's win, Columbia now moves onto the round of 32 in the WNIT. It will take on the winner of the Old Dominion University (23-9) against Towson University (24-7) game on Friday and will expect to play some time from March 19 to March 22 to reach the round of 16. Staff writer Rebecca Wachen can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @rebecca_wachen. 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.