Before next weekend’s blockbuster matchup against the league-leading Princeton Tigers, women’s basketball will play at Brown and Yale and try to improve its 3-1 conference record.
Brown—who most consider an improved team from last year—has a 5-13 (2-2 Ivy) record so far this season. Against the Bears, Columbia will have to try and contain guards Hannah Passafuime and Lindsay Nickel. The duo forms a backcourt that has provided scoring options that the Bears lacked last year in their 1-13 Ivy League season.
Passafuime comes off the bench but leads the team in scoring with an average of 9.4 points per game. In her last outing, she altered the complexion of the game, scoring 21 points in 23 minutes to lead Brown to a 61-47 victory over Penn.
Freshman Nickel has also been a steady contributor for the Bears. She won the Ivy League Rookie of the Week award recently and is a bright spot in Brown’s future.
Columbia head coach Paul Nixon said of Nickel, “I think she’s a big part of the reason that their team is performing a little better this year. She is certainly someone we’ll need to pay attention to on Friday night.”
The last time these two teams played—a game in which the Light Blue flattened the Bears 88-57—neither guard was active. Nickel was not on the Bears’ roster yet and Passafuime missed the entire Ivy season last year with an injury.
Their presence will help Brown, but the Bears still need to find a way to contain Lions’ forward Judie Lomax. In the matchup last year, Judie Lomax had a dominant performance, scoring 16 points and securing 17 rebounds. Since then, Lomax’s game has only improved, and as of now she leads the league in both scoring and rebounding with averages of 18.8 points and 14.4 rebounds per game. Brown’s defense also failed to stop senior guard Danielle Browne last time, as she scored 10 points and dished out 11 assists.
After Brown, Columbia faces Yale (7-11, 2-2 Ivy). Yale is coming off a 58-51 win over Penn and a 69-48 loss to Princeton. Against Penn, Yale’s leading scorer Megan Vasquez paced the Bulldogs with 16 points. Junior forward Mady Gobrecht also had a solid all-around performance, scoring seven points, grabbing nine rebounds, and contributing five assists. Their efforts were enough to stave a late Quaker rally, and Yale was able to come out with the win.
Vasquez struggled in the next game, scoring just four points in a losing effort. The Bulldog defense also failed to sufficiently rattle Princeton’s offense, as the Tigers shot 49 percent for the game and only committed 15 turnovers. Meanwhile, the Bulldogs committed 20 turnovers themselves.
These turnovers are nothing new as Yale currently commits a league-high 22 per game. This bodes well for Columbia’s vaunted full-court defense, which will likely have its chances to generate additional possessions.
Although the Bulldogs are prone to turnovers, they are also great at forcing turnovers, and are currently forcing a league-best 22 turnovers a game. Columbia has struggled at times against full-court defenses, and a key to this matchup will be how well Columbia can break the Yale press.
Coach Nixon said, “Yale is a team that really prides itself in its pressure defense and we will certainly be prepared to attack that.”
With that, the Lions hit the road with hopes of continuing their strong conference start.
Tip-off is at 7 p.m. on Friday at Brown and 7 p.m. on Saturday at Yale.
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