Despite trailing for most of the 40 minutes of play, the Columbia women’s basketball team took control at the right moments to win its first Ivy League matchup of the year. The Lions (8-7, 1-0 Ivy) gained their first lead of the second half with two minutes remaining and held on for a 47-44 victory over the visiting Big Red.
“We basically just kind of seesawed back and forth the first, probably, 15 minutes of the second half, where I’m looking up [at the scoreboard], and we’re still down four,” head coach Paul Nixon said. “It wasn’t until the very end of the game that we really had that push and made that final rally.”
While the Lions played with a deficit most of the game, they never let the Big Red (4-9, 0-1 Ivy) lead by more than eight points. Cornell held a 27-23 advantage at halftime.
“At the beginning of the game, I thought Cornell did a very good job of coming out and executing offensively,” Nixon said. “It took our players awhile to figure out the adjustments that they had to make to be effective defensively.”
Columbia’s defense improved throughout the second half, holding Cornell scoreless for more than six minutes as the final buzzer approached. During that span, junior point guard Sara Yee sank a three-point basket to bring the Lions within two points of the Big Red. Sophomore guard Kathleen Barry calmly hit two free throws to tie the game at 43, while senior guard Katrina Cragg gave Columbia the lead for good with two free throws of her own.
While the Lions received timely offensive contributions, their thoughts were on the other side of the ball.
“I was just really focused on getting stops down the stretch,” Cragg said. “Defensively, we all needed to come together, and we pulled through.”
Sophomore forward Judie Lomax was plagued by foul trouble but remained aggressive on defense for Columbia. She fouled out with 11 seconds left in regulation, sending senior forward Shannan Scarselletta to the free throw line with a chance to knot the score.
“I’ve got to give her credit,” Nixon said of Lomax. “I said, ‘I don’t care if you have four fouls. We have to keep playing defense. We can’t not play defense. We can’t play soft.’”
Scarselletta finished with a game-high 17 points but only made one of her two free throws. Barry sank two foul shots on the other end, and the Lions achieved the narrow win without junior guard Danielle Browne, who injured her ankle at Longwood on Jan. 7 and did not play for a second straight game. The Lions hope to have her back in action for their Jan. 24 rematch against Cornell, but her status remains uncertain.
“We really need her to make the kind of impact we want to make on the Ivy season,” Nixon said. “Hopefully, she’ll be back next weekend, because she could certainly make a difference with us having a chance to get the win in Ithaca.”
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