After Tough Loss to Bulldogs, Lions Come Back to Beat Bears in Overtime

Having already lost leading scorer Chelsea Frazier in the weekend’s first game, it looked as if it would be a lost weekend for the Lions until a furious second-half rally forced overtime, and ultimately led to a 56-52 win over Brown on Saturday at Levien Gymnasium.

“We were in this position last year,” head coach Paul Nixon said. “We were scrambling then, but now we’ve been in this situation. She [Frazier] was in street clothes when we beat Lafayette.” Frazier is listed as day-to-day, though Nixon initially said he thought she’d be out a couple of weeks.

On Friday, the Lions fell to Yale, 66-59, which left Nixon looking beaten­—he suggested he needed a post-game shower as badly as the players did. His team responded by rallying from a double-digit deficit the next day.

The Lions hung close for much of the first half, trailing by just two with 5:23 to play in the half, but a three-pointer by Brown’s freshman guard Paris Waterman sparked a 9-1 rally to give the Bears a 28-18 halftime lead.

In the first period, the absence of Frazier, who left the Yale game with 13:45 remaining, was clearly an issue as Brown out-rebounded Columbia 13-3 on the offensive glass and took 15 more shots.

The Bears managed to maintain their lead, and a jumper by freshman forward Betsy Jacobson with 9:37 to play gave them their biggest lead of the game at 41-29.
A steal and a lay-up by Danielle Browne started what would be a 16-4 rally to tie the game and send it into the extra period.

“Danielle is one of those players that I am really fortunate to coach,” Nixon said. “I knew she had ability, but she’s come in and demonstrated that she’s much, much better than I thought when I recruited her.”

In overtime, a three-point play by Browne gave the Light Blue its first lead since the 12:52 mark in the first half, and the team never looked back. The Lions held the Bears to three field goals in the last 14:37, and 30 percent shooting for the game.
Michelle Gage led the Lions with 15 points and nine rebounds, and Browne contributed 13 and six while committing eight turnovers.

Browne committed the same number of turnovers in the loss to Yale, a fast-paced affair in which the team made 37 turnovers. In that game, the Lions let a second half lead slip away.

“It comes down to taking care of the ball,” Browne said. “If we had, we would have won.” Browne earned Nixon’s praise as she scored a game-high 23 points and also collected six steals against Yale.

Though the Bulldogs came out to take an early lead, the Lions went on a 9-0 run midway through the half to take the lead 16-14. However, their momentum was stopped by a 12-minute delay due to a leak in the ceiling.

“I don’t know that the leak could’ve come at a worse time,” Nixon said. “We came out flat but had taken momentum. Eventually we got it back ... but never got on the roll I hoped for.”

Columbia went into the half with a 28-25 lead as Browne chipped in 11 points and Yale’s leading scorer, sophomore forward/guard Melissa Colborne, was held to 5 points.
Two free throws by Browne built the lead to as large as seven in the second half but then Colborne led the Elis on a 9-0 rally to take the lead.

With just under seven minutes to play, Colborne took over the game, responding to every Lion basket and scoring nine of Yale’s next 12 points. However, the game was not sealed until freshman center Meghan Harker committed the last of Columbia’s 21 turnovers with 55 seconds left.

“It’s real simple,” Nixon said. “We had poor reads on our post feeds. We had opportunities to lob the ball over the top and either threw it too early or too late.”
Sitting at 5-13 and 2-2 in the Ivy League, the Lions venture to Penn and Princeton this weekend.