NEW YORK – Columbia women’s basketball (4-4) and Manhattan (0-7) meet on the hardwood for the first time since 2010 when the Lions visit Draddy Gymnasium on Wednesday. Opening tip is scheduled for 7 p.m.

BROADCAST INFORMATION

Wednesday night’s game will be streamed live on ESPN+ and the ESPN app. Jason Guerette and Chris Williams will have the call.

OPENING TIPS

• Columbia is coming off the Cancun Challenge (Nov. 27-29), where it played three games in three days against Kansas State, South Dakota State and No. 12 North Carolina. K-State won a shootout thanks to a school-record 17 threes (17-26) on Thursday. The Lions bounced back by defeating the No. 1 team in the Mid-Major poll, the Jackrabbits, 80-67, on Friday. They then held their own against the Tar Heels on Saturday, trailing by just two points with 2:00 left in the third quarter, and still within 10 in the middle of the fourth before UNC pulled away.

 

• Riley Weiss was named the Ivy League Player of the Week on Monday. In her three games at the Cancun Challenge, Weiss averaged 27.3 points, shot 48% from the field and 42% from 3-point range. She had a game-high 30 against K-State, a season-high 31 against South Dakota State, and a game-high 21 against UNC. She was named to the Cancun Challenge All-Tournament team.

 

• Weiss (20.4) is the Ivy League’s top scorer. She ranks 15th in the NCAA in total points (163) and top 25 in points per game. Perri Page (14.1) and Susie Rafiu (13.3) rank top 10 in the Ivy League.

 

• Senior co-captains Perri Page (55.6%) and Susie Rafiu (52.5%) rank No. 2 and No. 3 in the Ivy League in field goal percentage. Both are inside the top 100 in the NCAA.

 

• Page ranks No. 2 in the Ivy League in steals (2.6) and No. 3 in the Ivies in rebounding (6.9).

 

• Columbia leads the Ivy League in assists per game (15.9) and steals per game (10.5).

• Columbia assistant coach Allie Bassetti returns to Draddy Gymnasium, where she served on head coach Heather Vulin’s staff for six years (2016-22). Bassetti helped Vulin develop a team that won eight games during her first season into a 21-game winner in the 2021-22 campaign.

WEISS SHINES IN CANCUN

• Riley Weiss averaged 27.3 points, shot 48.3 percent from the field, including 11-of-26 (.423) from 3-point range, and was 13-of-15 (.867) at the free-throw line in Columbia’s three games at the Cancun Challenge.

• Weiss scored 30 in the opener against Kansas State, followed with a season-high 31 the next day in a win over South Dakota State, and finished with 21 against then-No. 12 North Carolina.

• Weiss is the first player in program history to score 30 points in consecutive games. Sue Altman nearly did it in 2003, scoring 30+ twice in three games — 33 against Harvard (Feb. 14) and 32 against Brown (Feb. 21).

• Weiss’s 19 fourth-quarter points against South Dakota State tied the program record for points in a quarter, matching the mark Abbey Hsu set in the third quarter against UMass on Dec. 11, 2021.

• For her efforts, Weiss was named Ivy League Player of the Week (Dec. 1) for a second time this season. She was also named to the Cancun Challenge All-Tournament Team.

 

CANCUN CHALLENGE POSTGAME NOTES (Nov. 27-29)

• Columbia’s 92 points scored against Kansas State were the most in program history in a loss. The previous was a 95-91 defeat to Penn on Feb. 20, 1987.

• Kansas State shot 65.4 percent (17-26) from 3-point range. Their 17 threes were the most in K-State program history, and the most Columbia has allowed through at least the 2009-10 season.

• Taryn Sides’ 30 points were the most scored by an opposing player since March 1, 2024, when Brown’s Kyla Jones scored 30.

• Marija Avlijas had career-highs in points (15), field goals made (6), field goal percentage (.667), 3-pointers made (3) and assists (6) against Kansas State.

• Columbia defeated South Dakota State, 80-67, on Friday. The Jackrabbits were ranked No. 1 in the Mid-Major Top 25 heading into the matchup.

• Columbia fell to 1-15 all-time against AP Top 25 opponents. Their first and only win to date came on Feb. 24, 2024 over then-No. 25 Princeton, 67-65, at Levien Gymnasium.

• Columbia played Kansas State, South Dakota State and North Carolina, all for the first time.

BUILDING A MARCH RESUME

• Columbia’s non-conference schedule includes nine games against teams that qualified for last year’s NCAA Tournament, WBIT or WNIT. Five of those games are against last season’s NCAA field, which includes the home opener against Richmond (Nov. 15), all three contests at the Cancun Challenge – Kansas State (Nov. 27), South Dakota State (Nov. 28) and North Carolina (Nov. 29) – as well as a late December trip to Fort Myers to battle Florida Gulf Coast (Dec. 29). The Lions will also host 2025 WBIT competitors Saint Joseph’s (Nov. 20) and UTSA (Dec. 20) and travel across the Hudson to renew a rivalry with Seton Hall (Dec. 9). Butler qualified for the 2025 WNIT.

• In total, Columbia’s 2025-26 schedule includes eight games against NET Top 50 teams and 12 games against NET Top 100 teams from a year ago.

HALFTIME WINNING STREAK

• Columbia has won 32 consecutive games when leading at halftime. The Lions have won their first four such games so far this season, all 20 games when leading at the half in 2024-25, and their final eight such games in 2023-24. Columbia’s last loss with a halftime lead came at Princeton on January 20, 2024, taking a 37-33 lead into the locker rooms but coming up short, 80-65.

INTERNATIONAL LIONS

• According to research performed by NCAA member institution communication staffs, Columbia is one of just 12 programs in the country with nine or more international players on its roster. Of those schools, only Columbia, Washington State, South Florida and San Francisco have nine or more countries represented on their respective rosters. Columbia has two players from Spain, and one each from Australia, Canada, Estonia, Germany, Greece, Serbia and the United Kingdom. Six of Columbia’s 15 players are from the United States.

PRESEASON NUGGETS

• Columbia begins its 41st varsity season and 39th competing at the NCAA Div. I level as a member of the Ivy League. The program’s first season competing as the Columbia-Barnard Athletic Consortium was 1984-85, followed by its first season competing in both the Ivy League and NCAA Div. I in 1986-87. The 2020-21 season was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

• Columbia returns nine of its 12 players from the 2024-25 season, including three of its five starters. The Lions return 62.9 percent of their scoring and 70.1 percent of their rebounding. Eight of the nine returners played in at least 20 of Columbia’s 31 games last season.

• Kitty Henderson and Cecelia Collins are Columbia’s biggest losses from last season. Both graduated last May. Henderson was a four-year member of the program, while Collins was a two-year member who transferred in as a junior from Bucknell. Last season, the duo combined for 825 points, 357 rebounds and a staggering 288 assists. Both were All-Ivy League selections.

• Columbia’s top returning scorer is junior Riley Weiss. Last season, she scored 553 points and averaged 17.8 per game, ranking top 10 in Columbia single-season history in both categories. Weiss also knocked down 96 triples last year, good for third-best in team history, with an 87.5% free throw percentage, which ranked second.

• The Lions have five newcomers to the roster this year, welcoming four first-years and one junior transfer, Hilke Feldrappe, who played her first two collegiate seasons at Missouri.

ABOUT THE OPPONENT

• Click here for information on the Manhattan Jaspers.

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