Women's Basketball Team Changes Pace Against Cornell, Sees Positive Results

In basketball, the team that determines the style of play dictates the result. The “Princeton offense” helped the Tigers rule over the Ivy League for over a decade and capture numerous memorable victories, the most famous being a 1996 upset of UCLA in the first round of the NCAA tournament. This offense slowed the game to a battle of half-court maneuvers.

Other programs have found success with similar tactics. Tony Bennett’s Washington State Cougars have not left the top-25 since midway through last year—going 43-10 over the last two years—with a slowed down grind-it-out game that has resulted in consistently ugly victories.

However, if there is one thing Columbia head coach Paul Nixon does not want, it is to play at the pace of a team like Princeton or Washington State.

In the Lions’ 76-59 victory over Cornell on Saturday, the women’s basketball team made a statement, not just by beating one of the league’s top teams handily, but also by doing something it has struggled to do all season—control the tempo.
“When we went up there last weekend, we really played to their style of basketball,” Nixon said. “It’s going to be very difficult for us to win that kind of game with a veteran ball club. We wanted to play our style of game, which is an up-and-down affair.”

In Columbia’s previous two games, losses at Cornell and at home against Longwood, the Light Blue allowed the opposing team to determine the speed at which the game was played. Both Cornell and Longwood slowed the game down and used their experience and comfort with their respective systems to out-execute the Lions in the half court. The Big Red starts no freshmen and one sophomore, while Columbia starts four underclassmen.

The Lions shot 35 percent at Cornell and 29 percent against Longwood, and failed to break the 60-point mark in both games. Throughout the season, they have struggled on offense, averaging just 55 points and 12 assists per game entering Saturday’s contest.

If there is any indicator of success for the Light Blue this season, it is reaching the 60-point mark—a target the Lions reached with seven minutes remaining on Saturday. They are 4-2 when scoring at least 60 points.

When they don’t? 0-10.

After the game, Nixon said there was no secret as to what was different this time.
“Tonight we played Columbia-style basketball versus what I feel is Cornell’s strength,” Nixon said.

While the Lions only scored two fast break points according to the box score, there was a clear difference in pace in this game. In Cornell’s 73-57 victory in Ithaca, the Big Red had 21 assists and just nine turnovers.

This time Sara Yee and Danielle Browne had the teams running up and down as Columbia forced 20 turnovers and doled out 18 assists of its own. The Lions shot nearly 46 percent, and the 76 total points was a season high.

The Lions set the tempo from the start. After Cornell junior forward Jeomi Maduka missed a jumper, the Lions ran down and Sara Yee nailed a three-pointer. On subsequent possessions, Light Blue guards pushed the ball following Big Red turnovers and missed shots, resulting in several easy lay-ups.

Just eight minutes into the game, Columbia sported a 20-3 lead and never once lost its advantage.

Though Cornell cut the lead at the end of the half, it did so not by running clock, but with second-chance points and the hot hand of sophomore guard Virginia McMunigal.

Once the second half began, the Lions continued to dictate the pace and opened up a double-digit lead for the remainder of the game.

Nixon said that he hoped his team would continue to play the way it did this weekend. If it does, he sees many victories in the future.