Women’s basketball will host Pink Zone Night and the reigning champions, the Dartmouth Big Green, in a momentous game on Friday, Feb. 19. This game is an annual event meant to raise breast cancer awareness, and half of all ticket revenues will be donated to breast cancer research.
The game itself is also significant because both teams are trying to stay afloat in the Ivy League standings. Columbia (14-8, 5-3 Ivy) broke its school record of wins in a season by defeating Penn last week, and is in great position to climb ahead of their current third place conference standing. Meanwhile, Dartmouth (9-12, 4-3 Ivy) was picked in the preseason to repeat its title, but has failed to live up to its expectations so far. A win for the Big Green would be huge, and would provide a lot of momentum for the second half of the season.
A win over Columbia would also be redemption for Dartmouth’s 72-59 home loss to Columbia earlier in the year, in which the Big Green suffered its worst conference loss this season. The Lions’ full-court press stifled Dartmouth’s offense, forcing 18 turnovers in the game. Judie Lomax posted a dominant performance, scoring 26 points, grabbing 16 rebounds, and getting six assists. However, Columbia may have to play this rematch without guard-forward Kathleen Barry, who dropped 17 points on Dartmouth’s second-ranked Ivy defense last game.
Dartmouth’s star forward, reigning Ivy League Player of the Year forward Brittney Smith had a solid game with 18 points and 11 rebounds, but it wasn’t nearly enough to notch the win. Dartmouth’s strength lies in its strong defense, and the team lacks the offensive makeup to allow another huge opponent point total.
Head coach Paul Nixon said of Dartmouth, “They’re a team that really, really prides itself on their defense and limiting teams’ scoring, trying to keep games in the forties and the fifties… We’re going to have to be just as determined offensively as we were up there.”
The next game will be equally significant when Columbia faces off against Harvard (14-7, 5-2 Ivy) on Saturday. Harvard currently stands in second place behind undefeated Princeton, and a loss on Saturday could cause the Crimson to drop beneath the Lions in the conference standings. The last time these teams met, Columbia fell behind early in the game and eventually lost 73-55.
In the game, Lomax recorded 20 points but most came in the second half. Additionally, Lomax, the leading rebounder in the country, uncharacteristically struggled on the boards, recording only six rebounds that night. As a result, Columbia was outrebounded 35-26 in the game.
The Lions also failed to stop Harvard’s star Emma Markley, who controlled the game with final totals of 19 points, eight rebounds, and seven blocks.
In order to have a chance of winning this time, Nixon said, “We can’t give her as many easy baskets, or as many one-on-one opportunities. We have to do a better job of providing some help defense.”
Tip-off in the Dartmouth game is set for Friday 7 p.m. in Levien Gymnasium and the Harvard game will be played the day after at 7 p.m. in Levien.
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