Women’s basketball creates turnovers, yet looks for more points

For 40 minutes every game, each dribble or pass is a chance for a turnover. The Columbia women’s basketball team ended nonconference play struggling with a 2-12 record, but managed to beat out its opponents when it came to turnovers—though Columbia sported a lower shooting percentage, number of rebounds, and, ultimately, points.

The Light Blue, having lost its three top scorers from last season–including star sophomore guard Brianna Orlich to injury—has found it a struggle to keep up with its high-scoring opponents. However, the Lions’ head coach Paul Nixon has set out to make the team competitive by improving how the players interact with each other on the court.

“I do think right now the team chemistry is as good as it has been. I think the number of injuries we’ve sustained, while unfortunate at the time, did give a number of our other players an opportunity to step in and get real game experience. So they will be ready to step up if needed in the Ivy League games,” Nixon said.

The Lions have found success in keeping possession of the ball, averaging 18.6 turnovers per game in nonconference play, while forcing 19.4 turnovers from nonconference opponents. Even though it would seem that the Lions’ positive turnover margin would complement the type of high-intensity, fast paced basketball that they feel most comfortable with, many of the turnovers have actually interrupted play.

“Live turnovers (or steals) are more easily converted into points, and deadball turnovers, which require the team that forced the turnover to take it out of bounds before they have a chance to convert. I would account for the difference being our committing more live turnovers than we have forced,” Nixon said.

The difference has been noticeable on the court—the Lions have struggled to translate turnovers into scoring opportunities, having been outscored 228-196 on points of turnovers in nonconference play. However, in the five games where the Lions have scored more points off turnovers than their opponents, they have emerged victorious in two of them and lost two other games by only four points.

“The thing I think we have done well is consistently force turnovers, except for the Princeton game, and the things we need to improve on are converting our steals more consistently into points and getting better half-court offensive execution to cut down on our own turnovers,” Nixon said.

In the first Ivy League game of the season against Princeton, the Light Blue reversed this trend, giving up 30 turnovers and only forcing the Tigers to relinquish the ball only 10 times. While the Tigers led the Lions in shooting, rebounding, possessions, and steals, the Tigers managed to run away from the game due to 43 points scored off turnovers, compared to just two points scored by Columbia.

“Princeton’s overall team size played a large role in the turnover disparity. They were able to easily throw over our presses while we had a hard time seeing over their bigger defenders. You cannot compare Princeton to any other Ivy League opponent due to that overwhelming height differential,” Nixon said.

“The Princeton game showed us we’re going to have to ramp that up even more if we are going to be competitive with the best team in the league.”

As the season continues, the Lions will not only need to continue to strive for a positive turnover margin, but also look to create opportunities to run away with games themselves off of their opponent’s mistakes.

“We have been working in practice ever since we came back from Christmas break to really push each other harder defensively, working to pressure the ball and play more physical against one another,” Nixon said. “We will have to focus on the opponent or opponents we face each week and look to counter their strengths with our defensive strategy so they do not have a high number of assists, and exploit their weaknesses so we can force an increased number of turnovers. Our defensive intensity, our focus on each game plan, and our effort on the defensive boards will be the keys to our success.”

Correction: A previous version of this article stated that Columbia's nonconference opponents averaged 25.8 turnovers, rather than 19.4. Spectator regrets the error.