The Columbia women’s basketball team achieved a 75-63 victory over Delaware on Wednesday night at Levien Gymnasium. With the win, the Lions (4-3) avenged last season’s 14-point loss to the Blue Hens.
Columbia head coach Paul Nixon cited rebounding as the key to the victory. The Lions grabbed a total of 40 boards to the Blue Hens’ 31.
“We knew coming in that the boards was really going to be a huge factor—that we had to have all five people rebounding, and clamoring for the loose balls, and really trying to keep it alive—and I thought that we did a good job with that,” Nixon said. “We end up out-rebounding them for the game, and I think that was the difference in the outcome.”
The game began as a back-and-forth contest. After three minutes of play, the score was knotted at 4-4. Junior guard Kathleen Barry then went on a 4-0 run of her own, scoring a jumper and a transition layup to put Columbia ahead by four points. Delaware (2-3) kept the game close, however, and took a two-point lead with 7:40 left in the first half.
Just 10 seconds later, Columbia retook the lead when sophomore guard Melissa Shafer drilled a 3-pointer. Sophomore guard Mary Beato entered the game for the Lions with just under six minutes to play and immediately made her presence felt. She hit two free throws and a trey after fewer than two minutes on the court, giving Columbia a seven-point advantage.
With 1:21 left in the first half, Beato gave the Lions their first double-digit lead of the night with her second 3-pointer. She then scored Columbia’s final points of the period by sinking another pair of foul shots with 14 seconds to play. At halftime, the Lions held a 41-30 advantage.
Columbia opened the second half with sloppy play on both ends of the floor, allowing Delaware to cut its deficit to four points in the first three minutes. The Lions were able to regroup, however, and led by 11 with 11:58 to play. From that point on, Columbia held a double-digit advantage.
Beato extended the Lions’ lead to 20 points when she hit her third 3-pointer with 7:18 remaining. Columbia struggled against Delaware’s full-court pressure defense in the final minutes but finished with a 12-point win.
Barry led Columbia with 18 points, but it was Beato who stole the show for the Lions, with 17 points in 16 minutes off the bench. Beato did not compete last year due to an ACL injury.
“I just needed to put points on the board,” she said. “I feel like, for the first time … I kind of stepped up and played the way I should play.”
Junior guard Tesia Harris scored a game-high 24 points for the Blue Hens, who were without forward/guard Elena Delle Donne for a second straight game due to an ankle injury. Delle Donne—named the 2007-2008 National Player of the Year by the Naismith, McDonald’s, and Gatorade foundations as a high school senior—leads Delaware with 25 points and nine rebounds per contest.
Columbia continues nonconference play on Friday, when it hosts St. John’s. Tip-off is set for 12:30 p.m.
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