NEW YORK CITY – The Big Red women's basketball team downed Columbia for the eighth consecutive time on the strength of Samantha Widmann's 22-point, 12-rebound double-double this afternoon at Levien Gym in New York City. The Big Red held the Lions without a field goal (0-of-13) for a span of 10:59 to close the second and open the third quarter, building a double-digit lead in the process en route to the 57-47 victory. With the win, Cornell improves to 5-11 overall (1-2 Ivy), while the Lions slip to 6-12 overall (0-3 Ivy).
 
Joining Widmann in double-digits was Samantha Clement, who finished with 15 points, her seventh double-figure game in 11 starts. Danielle Jorgenson also finished with nine points, five of which came in the fourth quarter as the Big Red put the game away.
 
Zimmerman led Columbia with 22 points, and became the Lions' all-time leading scorer – men's or women's – with 1,768 career points.  No other Lion finished with more than two field goals.
 
The Big red shot 42.1 percent overall (24-57) and 33.3 percent from beyond the arc (5-15), while holding Columbia to 32.1 percent from the floor (17-53) and a mere 20 percent from 3-point range (4-20). Cornell dominated the boards (44-28), but finished with 22 turnovers to the Lions 16.
 
After some early turnovers allowed Columbia to stay in the contest, the Big Red began to pull away, thanks to seven straight points from Widmann, to take a 15-8 lead with 4:27 to go in the first quarter. The Lions closed the gap over the final four minutes with some timely 3-point shooting, but the visitors took the slim 19-16 lead into the first break.
 
The Lions battled all the way back to knot the score at 23-23 on a traditional three-point play from Zimmerman at the 7:23 mark, but the Big Red held Columbia to an 0-of-10 performance from the field the rest of the way to close the half with a 30-25 lead.
 
The Cornell defense continued to shine early in the third quarter, and the offense started to come to life as the Big Red pushed its lead to 40-27 on a traditional three-point play from Widmann at the 5:06 mark. The home team responded with a run of its own, outscoring Cornell, 11-5, down the stretch to cut the Big Red's lead to 45-38 at the final break.
 
Clement knocked down a big trey to open the fourth quarter and restore the 10-point lead (48-38) to the visitors. The Lions got within single-digits three times down the stretch, but each time the Big Red had an answer, holding on for the 57-47 victory.
 
The Big Red will host Columbia in the return game of the home-and-home series at Newman Arena on Saturday, Jan. 27 at 1 p.m. The game will be part of the program's annual Kid's Day double-header with the men's team tipping off at 4 p.m.