Light Blue’s Lack of Control Results in Loss to Harvard

Head coach Paul Nixon has said all season how important it is for his team to dictate the tempo and play a fast-paced, high-scoring game. This weekend, the Columbia women’s basketball team struggled to establish that tempo against two of the elite programs in the Ivy League, but when it did control the flow, it showed just how dangerous it can be.

The Lions entered the weekend 4-2 in league play with two chances to catch up at home against Dartmouth and Harvard, which both were 5-1 in the league. They walked away 5-3, knowing that a few more intense minutes could have them at 6-2.

“I thought, overall, this weekend the team showed it was on the verge of playing with the leaders of the conference,” Nixon said.

Against a Dartmouth team with one of the most athletic frontcourts Columbia has seen, the Light Blue seemed to dominate the first half but went into halftime tied. Columbia fell behind by as much as 11 in the second half as Dartmouth’s freshman forward Brittney Smith and the rest of the Big Green frontcourt took over temporarily.

“I was more frustrated with the offense than the defense,” Nixon said. “We played Dartmouth’s game. That was not a typical Columbia game.” As an indicator of Nixon’s assertion, last weekend, the Lions reached 59 points with nearly nine minutes to play at Princeton. They never reached that marker against Dartmouth.

Despite not playing their style, the Lions found a way to win. They ended the game by outscoring Dartmouth 26-12 for the 58-55 victory. However, the comeback came in unusual fashion. 5’1” Sara Yee led her team with 10 rebounds as the Lions outrebounded Dartmouth, the best rebounding team in the conference.

“The kid is 5’1” but you can’t measure her heart,” Nixon said. “She is fearless.”

However, the 24 first-half points and 58 game points are indicators that the Big Green dictated the tempo.

The Lions excelled in areas—second chance points and blocks—that are frequently weaknesses. When they rallied from a 43-32 deficit late in the second half, it was not through steals and transition baskets—as it was Saturday—but by feeding it inside to freshman forward Lauren Dwyer and getting timely shots from their seniors.

Nixon went into Saturday’s game believing their style of play might be even harder to assert against Harvard.

“It will be difficult to make the transition,” Nixon said Friday night. “Harvard’s posts are different. The Dartmouth posts are athletic. Harvard is just huge. They are very, very big women. They have four women bigger than anyone on our team.”

For the first 20 minutes, Nixon saw what he has become too accustomed to—Harvard dominating from the start.

“The difference in experience comes in the approach to a game,” Nixon said. “In a game of this magnitude you know how to come out of the gate.”

Harvard started fast and never slowed down for the first 20 minutes. After opening up the game with an 11-0 run, the Crimson led by as many as 27 points in the first half.

“We played possibly the worst we could’ve played last night and we proved today we were wrong,” senior Michele Gage said. “They dictated everything.”

Last year, Harvard led at the half, 31-16, and went on to win by 29. This time the halftime lead was 37-16, but what the Lions had in store for the second half was completely different.

What the Light Blue lacked in execution and experience it showed in fire as it rallied from a double-digit deficit to tie the game in the second half again on Saturday.

Having played Dartmouth and Harvard’s style for nearly 60 minutes, Columbia turned the tables and sprinted out of the gate in the second half. After junior forward Katie Rollins converted a three-point play, the Lions scored more points in the next four minutes than they did in the first half. Nixon went to a strategy of constant pressure that flummoxed the experienced Harvard guards.

“I was thrilled with everyone I put in the game in the second half,” Nixon said.

A 17-5 run brought the Lions within 12 with 15 minutes to play, but Harvard weathered the storm and held a 17-point lead with 10:36 remaining. A Gage three sparked a 21-4 run that tied the game for the only time all night with over six minutes to play. During the second run, Harvard only attempted 3 shots compared to nine for the Lions.

Harvard then righted the ship, but those 15 minutes showed the future of Columbia basketball. Nixon’s locker-room shouts spoke to the fact that his team dominated the conference’s top team for nearly an entire half.

If this weekend revealed one thing for Nixon, it was that, when on, his team can win a conference championship. However, the question is always how the Lions actually play.

“If nothing else, I hope we learned the intensity you need to start a game with for the Ivy League,” he said. “I’m hoping it doesn’t take a full season to learn.”

Nixon will find out in two weeks when the Light Blue travel to Hanover and Cambridge to face Dartmouth and Harvard again.