The Columbia Lions, named NCAA.com's “Team of the Week,” defeated Princeton 67-65 on Saturday in front of a sold-out crowd of 2,698 at Levien Gymnasium, making it the school's top pick against an Associated Press Top 25 team. We recorded our first win in history and moved up to parity. The Tigers won the Ivy League regular season.
Columbia improved to 19 wins and 5 losses overall, and 10 wins and 1 loss in Ivy League games, winning seven consecutive games and 13 consecutive home games. Princeton, whose winning streak had stopped at 15, fell to 20 wins, 4 losses, and 10 wins, 1 loss. Since joining the Division I ranks in 1986-87, Columbia was 0-12 against AP Top 25 opponents.
Senior guard Abby Hsu, the all-time scoring leader in Columbia men's and women's basketball history, reached 2,000 career points during the game while scoring a game-high 26 points on Senior Night. Suh becomes the fourth player in Ivy women's basketball history to score 2,000 points, and the first since Harvard's Hannah Perito in 2004. She reached 2,000 points in just four seasons.
Sixteen of Suh's 26 points came in the second half, including 13 in the third period when the Lions built a 10-point lead. His 3-point field goal at 6:31 of the third period was his 355th career goal and pushed his career point total to over 2,000 points. Columbia took its largest lead of the afternoon at 64-53 on Suh's triple at 5:17 of the fourth period. Princeton fought back with a 12-2 run, trailing by one point with 53 seconds left, but ended up whiffing.
Cecelia Collins and Kitty Henderson supported the Soo with 14 and 11 points, respectively. Collins had four assists and three rebounds, and Henderson had a team-high eight rebounds.
Columbia now heads off for its final three games of the regular season. The tension begins this Friday and Saturday when they play against Brown University and Yale University.
