Boxscore

NEW YORK - The Cornell women's basketball team fell to Columbia, 68-47, this afternoon at Levien Gym in New York city. The Big Red was led by Clare Fitzpatrick's career-high 14-point performance.

In addition to her 14 points, Fitzpatrick tallied four rebounds and handed out one assist, while Lauren Benson chipped in nine points and had two assists. Allie Munson had a team-high six rebounds, as Allie Fedorowicz blocked three shots.

Columbia (11-5, 2-0) was led by Judie Lomax, who posted a 30-point, 17-rebound double-double. Also in double-digits for the Lions was Melissa Shafer, with 12 points.

The Big Red struggled offensively, shooting just 26.1 percent from the floor and going a mere 1-for-11 from 3-point range (9.1%). The Lions, on the other hand, shot a blistering 45.6 percent overall and 42.9 percent from beyond the arc.

Both teams had 38 rebounds, but Columbia forced 30 Big Red turnovers with 15 steals. The Lions turned the ball over 24 times on the day.

The game opened as an intense defensive battle with a lay-up from Lomax in the opening seconds answered by an offensive put-back from Munson to make it a 2-2 game at the 17:56 mark. Neither team scored again for over two minutes when a trey by Shafer gave the home team a 5-2 lead with just under 16 minutes to play in the opening half. A pair of made free throws by Whitney Hagan brought Cornell within one-point, but back-to-back layups by Lomax in a 16-second span and another trey by Shafer put Columbia up, 12-4, at the 13:15 mark.

Caitlin Costello found a wide-open Fitzpatrick, who ended the run with an easy layup, but four unanswered points pushed the Lions' lead to double-digits. The teams traded baskets to 20-10 before an 8-1 run put Columbia up, 28-11, with just over four minutes to play in the half. A 3-pointer from Benson ended the run, but the Lions outscored the Big Red, 7-3, down the stretch to take the 35-17 lead into the intermission.

The Big Red's offensive struggles continued early-on in the second half and Columbia opened the final 20 minutes with nine unanswered points to push its lead to 44-17. Despite five-straight points from Fitzpatrick, the Lions managed to push their lead to 53-22 with just under 12 minutes to play. The teams essentially traded baskets for the next eight minutes, before the Big Red scored a flurry of points in the final moments to account for the 68-47 final.

Cornell (5-10, 0-2) remains on the road next weekend as it travels to Dartmouth and Harvard on Friday, Jan. 29 and Saturday, Jan. 30, respectively. Both games are slated to tip-off at 7:00 p.m.