Pair of Double-Digit Losses Opens Women's Basketball Season

In its two games this weekend, the Columbia women’s basketball team (0-2, 0-0 Ivy) entered halftime on almost equal footing with its opponent; against Oakland (1-0, 0-0 Summit), the Lions led by two points, and versus Wagner (1-0, 0-0 NEC), the Light Blue was only down by five. In both cases, however, the Lions could not maintain this parity, as they lost by double-digits to both teams.

On Friday afternoon, Columbia faced Oakland at Levien Gymnasium to open its season. For the first twenty minutes of play, both teams were aggressive. While Oakland went on a few runs, the Lions clawed away at the Grizzlies’ leads to keep the game close.

With 4.5 seconds left in the period, sophomore point guard Sara Yee dribbled up the center of the floor and fired a pass to her left, where senior guard Michele Gage sunk a three-pointer at the buzzer to give the Light Blue a 28-26 lead.

When play resumed, Oakland’s sharp shooting and fast breaks continued, but this time, the Lions did not have an answer for the Grizzlies.

“I really thought they pushed the ball up against us way too often,” head coach Paul Nixon said. “I don’t think our guards did a great job of dictating the tempo defensively.”

After opening up the game and draining all suspense from the gym, Oakland did not look back as it went on to win, 67-52.

“We’re probably just as strong as they are, but it’s more a matter of the aggressive mentality that they brought to the court,” said Nixon. “We didn’t respond in the second half.”

Junior guard Jessica Pike led all scorers with 23 points for Oakland, while Gage finished with a team-high 11 points for the Lions.

Fans got a glimpse into the future of Columbia women’s basketball, as its freshman class—center Lauren Dwyer, center Meghan Harker, and guard Kathleen Roehrkasse—saw playing time for the Lions.

“I was happy I had a chance to get them all on the court,” said Nixon. “I thought they played a little bit like freshmen, in terms of being a little tentative, maybe a little nervous, but I thought they played hard.”

Dwyer had a strong game on Saturday night against Wagner, as she led the Light Blue with 20 points; however, her offensive output could not lead Columbia to victory, as the Lions fell, 78-67, to the Seahawks.

Despite committing 22 turnovers, Wagner’s offense was virtually unstoppable. Senior guard Chelsey Bunyer had a game-high 23 points, while senior forward Ieva Sulskyte contributed 17 points for the Seahawks. Columbia responded to a 10-0 Wagner run in the first half, but could not recover from the five-point deficit it faced at the start of the second period, which eventually grew.

The Lions will look for their first victory on Friday night at the University of Hartford.