BOX SCORE
New York, NY – Columbia used a 15-4 run midway through the second half to break open a close game on its way to a 79-69 win over Wagner at Levian Gymnasium. With the loss, the Seahawks fall to 2-3 while the Lions even their record at 3-3.
The two teams played the first half to a virtual stand-still with neither team claiming larger then a four-point lead throughout the half as there were 10 lead changes and six ties. The Lions used a late 5-1 run to take a 35-32 halftime lead.
Columbia opened the second stanza with five-straight points to extend the lead to 40-32 with 18:29 remaining. After exchanging buckets the Seahawks ripped off eight-straight points to tie the game up at 42-42 at the 15:12 mark. The Lions momentarily quelled the run with a Judie Lomax lay-up to go back in front at 44-42. The Seahawks then scored seven-straight points to take their largest lead of the day at 49-45 with 11:56 remaining on a
Kanifa Hicks (Fr., Paterson, NJ / Passaic County Tech) jumper, capping a 15-3 run that spanned 6:34. During that time the Seahawk defense limited the Lions to 1-13 shooting. Columbia snapped the run when after a pair of offensive rebounds Melissa Shafer nailed a three pointer to stop the bleeding.
Later with Wagner up 53-52, Columbia wrestled the momentum back with a game-changing 15-4 spurt to go in front 67-57 with 4:11 remaining. The Lion lead reached 11 points at 70-59 with 3:13 remaining before Wagner made one more big run. Junior John'a Poole (Middle River, MD / Eastern Tech) cut it to 70-61 with a jumper. After stopping Columbia on the next possession, sophomore
Ashley Olsen (Staten Island, NY / Notre Dame Academy) nailed a triple. The defense then forced a Columbia turnover and Hicks made it seven-straight Wagner points with a put-back lay-up, cutting the deficit to 70-66 with 1:53 remaining.
Unfortunately, that would be as close as the Green & White would get. Shafer sank two free throws after a questionable foul call on Poole. After
Andrea Reed (Jr., Pocomoke City, MD / Pocomoke) split a pair from the charity stripe, Katherine Goodwin extended the lead out to seven with a lay-up. A Thorpe lay-up again cut the lead back to five with just 58 seconds remaining. The Lions would not allow the Seahawks to score again, closing out the game with five-straight points to win going away 79-69.
Wagner out-shot Columbia 43.1 percent (25-58) to 37.1 percent (26-70) but were out-rebounded 54-34, including 27-11 on the offensive end which led to a 24-13 advantage in second-chance points. The Seahawks turned in a good performance from the charity stripe, shooting 81.0 percent (17-21) compared to 69.7 percent (23-33) for the Lions.
After missing the last three games due to injury, Poole scored a team-high 14 points, on 7-13 shooting, in just 21 minutes of action. Hicks had a breakout performance with her first double-double, notching career-highs in points (10) and rebounds (10). Reed hit for double-digits for the fifth-straight game to start the year with 11 points while also recording five rebounds and four assists.
Lomax, who was named to the Pac 10 All-Rookie squad as a freshman at Oregon State before transferring, recorded game-highs in points (20) and rebounds (19) to lead Columbia. Shafer also contributed 14 points off the bench.
Wagner returns to action on Monday, Dec. 1 at 7:00 pm when the Seahawks host Colgate.
