ITHACA, N.Y. – Just one week after the Big Red women's basketball team defeated Columbia on its home court, the Lions returned the favor, beating Cornell 72-54, this afternoon in Newman Arena. The win snapped Columbia's eight-game losing streak against the Big Red and was the Lions first win in Newman since the 2009-10 season.
Cornell (5-12, 1-3) was led by
Samantha Widmann's second straight double-double (13 points, 12 rebounds), while
Samantha Clement had a team-high 15 points.
Danielle Jorgenson also finished in double digits (14 points) and handed out four assists while playing a full 40 minutes.
Camille Zimmerman's 23 points led five Lions in double figures. She also pulled down a game-high 13 rebounds and handed out six assists.
Columbia (7-12, 1-3) shot 45 percent for the game (27-60) and 30.4 percent from beyond the arc (7-23), while holding the Big Red to just 32.1 percent overall (18-56) and a mere 25 percent from 3-point range (7-28). Cornell held the 41-33 edge on the boards, but the Big Red's 22 turnovers led to 22 points by the Lions.
Columbia took advantage of seven Big Red turnovers in the first quarter to jump out a 12-4 lead, but after a Cornell timeout the home team closed the stanza strong and trailed 14-8 at the break.
The Lions pushed its lead to 27-14 on a pull up jumper from Janiya Clemmons with just under three minutes to go in the half, but a pair of treys from
Caroline Shelquist and Clement helped make it a 31-20 game at the intermission.
Clement and Widmann took over early in the third quarter, sparking a 7-2 run to get Cornell to 33-27. During the run, Clement had five points, while Widman drew a charge before stealing a Lions' pass and taking it the distance. The visitors responded and pushed its lead back to double-digits (40-29) on a layup from Clemmons and managed to maintain at least an eight point lead the rest of the way.
The Big Red is back in action next weekend when it travels to Dartmouth and Harvard on Friday, Fe. 2 and Saturday, Feb. 3, respectively. The game with the Big Green will tip at 7 p.m., while the contest against the Crimson is slated for 5 p.m.
