Women's basketball edges out Dartmouth in overtime

Women’s basketball defeated the reigning champion Dartmouth Big Green in a 66-59 overtime thriller. With the win, Columbia sweeps its series against Dartmouth for the first time since the 1990-1991 season. The Lions’ victory, which was their fifteenth of the year, also assures Columbia’s first ever winning season with five games still left on its schedule.

The defending champs made that sweep difficult, displaying its trademark tenacious defense throughout the game. In the early going, Columbia’s offense had a hard time scoring, only notching three points in the first five minutes.

However, sophomore guard Melissa Shafer provided a spark off the bench, carrying the Lions in the first half. She scored 12 of Columbia’s 26 first-half points and was 2 for 3 from 3-point range.

Columbia’s defense, after struggling in its past few games, was outstanding, forcing Dartmouth into 13 first-half turnovers. The defense also prevented any Big Green player besides guard Faziah Steen from scoring in the first 10 minutes of play, and held a 12-4 lead halfway through the first period.

From there though, Dartmouth went on an 11-0 run and reclaimed the lead. A few minutes later, Columbia’s All-Ivy forward Judie Lomax went down with an ankle injury, and had to be helped to the locker room.

Still, Caitlin Stachon hit a 15-foot jumper at the buzzer to provide Columbia with a 26-23 halftime lead.

The next half began with a surprise when Judie Lomax jogged onto the court and received a huge applause from the crowd. She demonstrated her ankle was fine, contributing nine points in the second half and grabbing many key rebounds. The game swung back and forth, and headed into the Light Blue’s first overtime game this season after guard Sara Yee missed a three with time winding down and guard Kathleen Barry failed to convert on her follow-up.

In overtime, the Lions displayed their grit, outscoring the reigning champions 13-6 to finally secure the elusive win.

Shafer scored a career-high 15 points in the win and center Lauren Dwyer anchored the defense with a career-best seven blocks. Lomax finished the game with 15 points and 17 rebounds. Kathleen Barry returned after missing three games due to a knee injury and finished with eight points and eight rebounds.

Dartmouth’s Sasha Dosenko scored a game-high 19 points, but reigning Ivy League Player of the Year Brittney Smith was held in check by the Light Blue defense, only scoring eight total points.

Columbia hosts Harvard tomorrow in its second game of the weekend doubleheader. Tip off is set for 7 p.m.