Third in the league standings, the Columbia women’s basketball team will get its best chance of the season to break into the top two this weekend. Columbia (13-11, 6-4 Ivy) faces second-place Harvard on Friday night and first-place Dartmouth on Saturday night, closing its home portion of the schedule with a bang.
The Light Blue has won its past three games, a streak that started when it overtook Harvard (15-8, 7-2) by three points in Cambridge. The Lions scored 74 points in that victory, and their offense only improved in their next two contests, with 88 points against Brown and 77 points against Yale this past weekend.
While Columbia has momentum on its side, Harvard and Dartmouth (14-9, 9-0) are not lacking in confidence or ability. The Crimson swept its opponents last weekend, while the Big Green is undefeated in league play. In addition, Harvard and Dartmouth are both unbeaten on the road.
“If we have a crowd like what we had for the ‘Pink Zone’ game, then I think we have a home-court advantage,” head coach Paul Nixon said. “I don’t think it’s a coincidence that we had the best, most active crowd since I’ve been the coach at Columbia for our ‘Pink Zone’ night, and we set the program record for largest-ever margin of victory in an Ivy League game. I just don’t think that’s coincidence, that our players stepped up and played that well.”
Every Columbia player contributed at least two points in the 88-57 win over Brown, with five Lions in double figures. Columbia didn’t let up the following evening either, beating Yale by 16 points.
“When you look across college basketball, it’s not the rims at Duke that make it hard to play there. It’s the Cameron Crazies that are constantly on the opponent from the time they walk out for warm-ups,” Nixon said. “If you go play at Kentucky, it’s not the Rupp Arena floor. It’s the 24,000 blue fans that are screaming in the stands that make it such a tough place to play at.”
Columbia hopes that a supportive crowd can help the team gain some ground in its Ivy title run. The Lions certainly have their work cut out for them against the Crimson and the Big Green.
Harvard sophomore Emma Markley is the conference’s fourth-highest scorer with 14.1 points per game. The forward also pulls down 7.6 rebounds per contest, good for third in the league. Sophomore forward Brittney Smith averages 13.5 points per game and 8.2 boards per game for Dartmouth. She ranks fifth and second, respectively, among Ivy players in those categories.
“The biggest factor in the games this weekend is going to be rebounding,” Nixon said. “That’s something that was a big factor, especially in the Dartmouth loss, that we’re just going to have to do a better job of in this weekend’s games.”
Columbia will look to sophomore forward Judie Lomax to be a dominant frontcourt presence against Markley and Smith. Lomax earned Ivy League Player of the Week honors for a conference-best fourth time this year after averaging 18 points and 17.5 rebounds against Brown and Yale. She is third in the league with 14.5 points per game and first in the nation with 14.1 boards per game.
Tip-off for both contests is set for 7 p.m. in Levien Gymnasium.