NEW YORK – The Columbia women's basketball team (5-1) will compete this weekend in the 22nd Christmas City Classic, presented by SureStay PLUS Hotel by Best Western Lehigh Valley Hotel and Conference Center. The Lions open the four-team tournament with a battle against Missouri (5-0) on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. ET. Sunday's game will be against either Lehigh (4-1) or Rider (0-3) and will tip at 2:30 p.m. ET.
GAME COVERAGE
Live stats will be provided by LehighSports.com. Live updates will also be posted to the women's basketball team's Twitter page (
@CULionsWBB).
The non-Lehigh games will not be streamed. Any games involving Lehigh will be streamed on ESPN+. Should Columbia face Lehigh on Sunday, please check GoColumbiaLions.com for a link to the ESPN+ broadcast.
TICKETS
Fans planning to attend this weekend's tournament can purchase tickets ahead of time by visiting
LehighTIckets.com.
5 THINGS TO KNOW:
1.. THE LATEST
• The Lions are coming off their first loss of the season on Wednesday, falling at home to undefeated Stony Brook, 91-82. It was the first battle between two teams with a record of 5-0 or better in the NCAA this season. Columbia started the season 5-0 for the first time in program history, which included wins at Clemson, 82-78, and Georgetown, 66-56 (2OT).
• Columbia is 5-1 for just the fourth time in program history. The team's last 5-1 start came in 2015-16. The other two such occasions came in 2002-03 and in 1986-87 - their first season competing as a Div. I program.
2. COLUMBIA VS. THE SEC
• Saturday's matchup between Columbia and Missouri will be the first between the two programs. The Lions are 0-3 all-time against opponents from the Southeastern Conference (Alabama in 2004, Mississippi State in 2017, Vanderbilt in 2019). Two of the three prior matchups have come at neutral sites. Columbia's last matchup against the conference was the only true away contest, Dec. 29, 2019, resulting in a 71-52 loss at Vanderbilt.
3. TAKING DOWN THE POWER CONFERENCES
• With wins over Clemson and Georgetown this season, Columbia is 6-5 in its last 11 games against power-conference opponents (ACC, Big 10, Big 12, BIG EAST, SEC, Pac 12). The 10-game span began in 2016 with an overtime win at home over Providence. The Lions then opened the 2017-18 season by defeating the Friars on the road, 73-64. The Lions earned their first ACC win in the 2017-18 season as well, when they defeated Boston College, 68-60, in front of a record 2,372 fans on Education Day. In 2019-20, they added to the tally with a 54-49 victory on Education Day over Georgetown (Dec. 6).
4. MID-MAJOR RANKINGS
• Columbia was voted No. 11 in this week's CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Poll. The poll is voted on by coaches from the mid-major conferences. The ranking is Columbia's highest of the season and is the best among the three teams ranked in the Ivy League (Princeton No. 12, Penn No. 13). The Lions debuted in the poll the week of Nov. 16 at No. 14 after defeating Clemson, 82-78, to improve to 3-0.
5. THE FIELD
•
Mizzou (5-0) | The Tigers have played four of their first five games at home. They most recently defeated Troy, 76-63, on Tuesday. They are led by Aijha Blackwell's team-high 16.4 points and 13.8 rebounds per game. The 6-foot junior guard leads the SEC and ranks No. 2 nationally in rebounding. She also has four double-doubles on the year, third-best in the NCAA. Hayley Frank is the other Tiger averaging double figures scoring (14.2). Both Blackwell and Frank are shooting north of 50 percent from the floor.
•
Lehigh (4-1) | Like Mizzou, the Mountain Hawks have also played four of their first five games at home and are 4-0 in their home arena this year. Lehigh defeated Merrimack, 85-64, on Sunday, two days after defeating Mount St. Mary's, 91-72, on Friday. The team's only loss this season came on the road at Seton Hall, 87-77. The Mountain Hawks have three players averaging 14 or more points, led by Frannie Hottinger's 19.8 points per game. She ranks among the top 50 nationally in scoring and sits No. 2 in the Patriot League. Mackenzie Kramer (15.2) and Emma Grothaus (14.2) are the team's other double-figure scorers. Grothouse (7.4) and Hottinger (7.0) head the effort on the glass.
•
Rider (0-3) | The Broncs are the only team at this weekend's tournament who enter with a losing record. They opened the season with a 14-point loss at Penn State, fell at La Salle by nine and suffered a home-opening defeat to St. Francis Brooklyn, 74-62. Three players are averaging double figures scoring, led by Lenaejha Evans at 15.3 points per game. Evans is shooting 68 percent from the field (17-25) to rank top 10 in the NCAA. Raphaela Toussaint (11.7) and Makayla Firebaugh (10.3) round out the double-figure scorers. Toussaint is the team's leading rebounder at 8.3 per contest.
--
MORNINGSIDE HOOPS
The newly branded Morningside Hoops podcast is back for a fourth season. Formerly known as Inside Columbia Basketball, the podcast features weekly interviews with coaches and members of the men's and women's basketball programs. New episodes are available weekly on SoundCloud, Spotify and Apple Podcasts.
To listen to this week's episode,
click here.
--
For the latest on the Columbia women's basketball, follow @CULionsWBB on
Twitter,
Instagram and
Facebook, or on the web at
GoColumbiaLions.com.
