Charly-Evon-Simpson

The small black box is swaddled in thin drapes, streaked with watercolor branches. The fabric winds its way toward the ceiling, where it hangs like acoustic panels for an orchestra or a Milky Way made out of linen.

“The play was about breath before we all started losing ours.”

It's Monday, and, like Ashlee Simpson, we are all waiting (for the weekend, for the package center line to shorten, for the pumpkin spice latte to become irrelevant, etc.) As the week begins, take a moment to celebrate Hobbit Day, which is September 22nd and also a great excuse to eat two breakfasts. Here are the things you'll need to get all the way to Mordor (read: get through your Monday.)

Brown guard Ellise Sharpe had one second left to save the game for the Bears (9-17, 3-9 Ivy) when she let go of a shot behind the arc. But instead of sending the game to overtime, the shot was off, and left her senior teammates winless in their last game at home. The Light Blue (4-21, 2-9 Ivy) defeated the Bears 58-55 on Saturday night.

The game stands as the team's first road victory in two years, a nice consolation for its 66-49 fall at Yale (12-14, 7-5 Ivy) on Friday.

During the Yale game, an assist from guard Janna Graf to Megan Vasquez put the first points of the game on the scoreboard. Graf ultimately tallied 19 points, six rebounds, and three assists to lead her team.

The first half jolted back and forth until guard Allie Messimer hit a trey with 7:35 to put the Elis up, 20-17. From then on, Yale never lost the lead, capitalizing on Columbia's 34.6 percent shooting performance.

"I thought we did a very, very poor job just as a team collectively of finishing our short shots around the rim," Light Blue head coach Paul Nixon said. "I thought offensively we did a really good job of executing the plays to the point where we were getting the layups that we should've been getting when we were on offense, but we just did not hit those."

The scoreless possessions allowed Yale to push the ball out faster than the Lions could keep up in transition defense. With fewer than 13 minutes left in the second half, the Bulldogs began an 18-6 run to seal the victory and improve its Ivy record to above .500.

But fortunately for the Lions, the next day's contest was a different story.

"I thought our energy was tremendous. We talked about the fact that it was Brown's Senior Night, and that they were going to come out with a ton of emotion," Nixon said. "We knew especially that their best player, Sheila Dixon, would really come out of the gate super strong."

And Dixon did, scoring 16 of her 20 points in the first 20 minutes. But senior guard Tyler Simpson outlasted her, sinking 26 points as the night's top scorer.

A suspenseful first half opened the meeting, enduring eight lead changes and six ties. The last knot came with a minute left, when Simpson dropped a jumper in the paint to match Brown, 27-27.

Brown guard Lauren Clarke responded with a layup 15 seconds later. Dixon followed with her own drive to put the Bears ahead 31-27 at halftime. The pair had combined for 27, matching the Lions by the time the buzzer sounded.

"We talked about that at halftime and really challenged everyone. And, you know, we were able to hold them to a combined nine points in the second half. I think that's what allowed us to come back and take the win," Nixon said.

Columbia indeed came back in the back end of the game, after falling behind by nine points. Though junior Taylor Ward tied it up to 31 two minutes into the second half, Brown held Columbia scoreless for four minutes thereafter.

Simpson finally broke the spell with a jump shot at the 14:30 mark. The Light Blue chipped away for five more minutes until sophomore Caitlyn Unsworth put the team within four points of the opponent.

"We really felt like we'd got a chance to not just stay competitive, but to come back and really win this game when Caitlyn Unsworth came in off the bench and hit those two three-pointers for us in the second half," Nixon said.

Simpson then added two foul shots to put the squad ahead for good.

sports@columbiaspectator.com | @CUspecsports

While the women's basketball team (1-4) managed a 63-58 victory over Army (5-1) last season, head coach Paul Nixon says that Wednesday night's matchup is going to be an entirely different ball game. "I think it will present a brand new challenge for us," he said. "Last season the Army team had a very distinctive style of play that I think we were able to take advantage of. However, this season they are playing in a completely different style, and they are doing very well in that style." Army's new style laregely comes down to the contributions of freshman center Aimee Oertner, who has given the team a boost by averaging 13.2 points and 10.7 rebounds per game. And Oertner isn't the only offensive catalyst for Army, as every player in the starting five has averaged at least 9.8 points per game this season. The Lions will look to their scoring leaders, senior guard Tyler Simpson and freshman forward Bailey Ott, to lead their offensive efforts Wednesday night. Although the team has had stretches of strong offensive production and has managed to build some significant leads, it has struggled to maintain this offensive dominance and has often fallen into scoring droughts. Going into Wednesday night's matchup against Army, the team will strive to maintain a more consistent offensive presence, Nixon said. "It hasn't really been our defense this year that has let us down­— it has been a lack of production on offense. We are looking to have a breakthrough game on Wednesday and really put some points on the board," he said. In terms of finding consistent offensive hustle, senior guard Brittany Simmons has been a bright spot. Last week, Ott said that every player on the team should strive to match Simmons' hustle. "I think the only thing you really need on a basketball team to keep going is energy," Ott said. "Brittany is a great source of energy every time we get on the court, so I have tried to follow in her footsteps, and I thrive off of her energy, and the whole team does." In light of Army's strong start to the year and the Lions' periodic scoring droughts, Nixon said that the Lions "are going to have to regroup and bring a different game plan to the table." "I am very confident that our team will execute that game plan and be able to come out on top," he said. After battling injuries in recent games, Simpson and senior forward Courtney Bradford will be ready to play at full strength against Army on Wednesday. Nixon said they are both "going to be at 100 percent." The action starts Wednesday at 7 p.m. away in West Point, N.Y.

Even though Brian Barbour was unable to make it to this week's filming of the Spectator Sportscast, there was no lack of basketball talent in the studio.

April Simpson may have stayed in her hometown of New York City for college, but the work she's done here has transcended the boundaries of the Big Apple. As president of the Caribbean Students Association, Simpson founded the service program There is Hope to address the needs of children in the Caribbean through education. "I put my life into it," Simpson said of her work with CSA. Last spring, under Simpson's leadership, CSA members traveled to Jamaica, where they explored Jamaica's culture and developmental challenges. CSA brought the students they were working with to the University of the West Indies. "I learned so much about Caribbean people, how to organize, and how to develop an organization," Simpson said. "The service trip was an ideological feat for us, because we focused on the idea that you don't have to leave the Caribbean to make it a better place." Simpson also stepped out of Columbia's boundaries when she got involved with the Jamaica Diaspora group, which focuses on strengthening ties between Jamaicans overseas and those living in Jamaica. She serves as a board member and ended up making some of her best friends through her involvement with the group. "I was in constant communication with government officials and people from Jamaica," Simpson said of her experience on the board. "I'm even going to the consulate tomorrow night," she added, clearly excited. In addition to her work with CSA and the Jamaican Diaspora Group, Simpson was also a producer of for the Black Heritage Month fashion show and cultural showcase. She also ran for Columbia College Student Council with the ReNew CU party in 2010. For her, the work was a way to help others and learn about herself at the same time. "You have to focus as much on oneself as you do developing what's on the outside. I feel that people come to Columbia and give themselves to everything around them. I recommend that people grab things around them—you only have four years." After graduation, Simpson said she plans to be a "nomad." But while the word may not have positive connotations for some seniors, it's exactly what she wants. "I'm really trying to be a nomad. I want to do the work that I really want to do. So right now, I'm working on developing my own thing," Simpson said. But before she gets there, she will graduate with someone very close to home—her mother. Simpson's mother will graduate from Teachers College at the same time that Simpson receives her degree in anthropology. "Graduation is definitely going to be very special for me," Simpson said. She paused. "My mother had me when she was really young, so it means a lot for me to see her getting her master's." jackie.carrero@columbiaspectator.com

Poor shooting and an inconsistent level of urgency sunk Columbia women's basketball (2-11) in its attempt for a second straight win, as it fell 53-45 to Lafayette (6-9) Wednesday evening. Leopard sophomore forward Kristan Liddle scored nine points and freshman forward Emily Homan had 11 rebounds for the hosts, who scored on 42.6 percent of their shots, compared to the Light Blue's 27.6 field goal percentage. Junior guard/forward Tyler Simpson led the Lions with 13 points and added four steals, and freshman forward Amara Mbionwu continued her strong play, grabbing an impressive career-high 15 boards. Despite Lafayette's height advantage, the Lions outrebounded the Leopards 44-31 and held the advantage in second-chance points, 21-4. Columbia started the game strong, opening up a nine-point lead in the first 12 minutes. The game was tied with a little over a minute to go in the first half, but after a pair of successful free throw attempts by Lafayette junior guard Ashley Springer, the Leopards held the lead for good. "They changed their defense and started getting the ball out in transition," Lions head coach Paul Nixon wrote in an email. "They basically took the game plan that we were running, and used it." Columbia made a late run after being down 18 with four minutes to go, but could not cut the lead to less than eight, which was the final margin of the loss. "We did pretty well for the first 10 minutes of the game, and pretty well in the last five minutes," Nixon said. "Otherwise, it was not a very good performance at all." Senior guard Melissa Shafer, the Lions' leading scorer on the season, had a rough shooting night, going only 1-12 from the field for three points. She entered the contest averaging about 11 points per game. "I feel like they were aware of where she was," Nixon said. "I think a lot of times, she had to take the shot with a hand in her face, but it's not like they were in a box and one." Columbia next hosts Morgan State on Wednesday in the team's final tune-up before Ivy season. Tipoff is scheduled for noon at Levien Gymnasium and conference play begins Jan. 15 at Princeton.