Lions Unable to Deliver on ‘Final Exam’

The Columbia women’s basketball team took itself out of the race for the Ivy League championship with a heartbreaking one-point loss at Harvard on Friday. After being mathematically eliminated from attaining a title, however, the Lions still had a game to play the next night. With the devastation of Friday’s loss hanging over their heads, the Light Blue came out flat against Dartmouth and fell by 18 points to the Big Green.

“The best way I can explain it is, you’re taking a hard class and your goal for the semester is to get a 4.0,” head coach Paul Nixon said. “You come to the final exam, and know you have to get a 90, and you end up making an 89. You come up one point short, and you need to turn around the next day and take a final in your pass/fail class.”

That first “final exam” occurred on Friday night and did not go the Lions’ way. Columbia extended its two-point halftime lead to seven points less than a minute into the second period, but Harvard answered with offense of its own, and the game remained a back-and-forth affair until the end. The Light Blue did not hit the shots that it needed to make and guaranteed that it would finish the season empty-handed. Nevertheless, the game was a highly competitive one.

“Our focus was probably at the highest level it had been this season,” Nixon said, adding that after a game like that, “your heart and soul is left on the floor.”

That intensity was not displayed at the beginning of the Dartmouth game. The Big Green dominated Columbia from the start of play and took a comfortable 19-point lead into the half. During the second period, the Lions’ competitiveness returned as they cut Dartmouth’s lead to nine points with 8:56 to play, but the Big Green still came away with an easy victory.

Nixon attributed the Light Blue’s lack of passion during the first period against Dartmouth to Friday night’s defeat.

“I really believe if we had won the Harvard game, you would’ve seen a completely different team take the floor against Dartmouth.”

The Lions went to Harvard knowing they needed a win, and they played with the intensity needed to overtake the Crimson. But after the loss in Cambridge, their fire went out in Hanover. Columbia has shown an ability to compete with the top teams in the league, but its inconsistent mindset and play throughout the season cost the team a first-place finish in the conference.

While the Lions cannot take the Ivy League championship this season, Nixon is not overlooking his team’s games against Princeton and Penn next weekend.

“The two games coming up, they’re not pass/fail,” he said.