Columbia rallies past Washington in First Four to score its first-ever March Madness win

Columbia coach Megan Griffith didn’t mince her words when she got to the team’s locker room at halftime Thursday night.

“You’re just getting punked right now,” Griffith said.

Washington was in command of the first two quarters, breaking the Lions press and scoring at ease.

4

At the half, Columbia trailed by 13 and Griffith heard some of the Huskies players say, “We should be up by 30 right now.”

Griffith’s message got her team “riled up.”

The Columbia team that took the court in Chapel Hill, N.C., in the second half was not the one that looked timid at the start.

Columbia acted like the team it had been all season. The Lions were gritty, diving for 50-50 balls, forcing turnovers and making shots.

---

Want to tune into as much March Madness as you can? every channel you’ll need, plus free trials.

---

Columbia, led by sophomore Riley Weiss and senior Kitty Henderson, rallied back to beat Washington 63-60 in the First Four.

It wasn’t pretty, but it didn’t have to be.

4

This is the month of survive and advance, and that’s what Columbia managed to do after falling short in last year’s First Four, which was its first NCAA Tournament appearance.

Thursday’s thriller was the Lions’ first NCAA Tournament win and sets the stage for Columbia to play sixth-seeded West Virginia on Saturday.

“This is something we’ve been working toward all year,” Weiss said. “It feels really great to get this win but after we get this win, and celebrate a little bit, we’re onto the next thing. We’re focused on winning the next game because I know we can make a deep run. We have a ton of potential and we’re not even close to it yet.”

Weiss scored 19 of her game-high 24 points and made four of her five 3s in the final two quarters.

4

Henderson added 11 points, seven rebounds, seven assists and four steals.

“I had a lot of fuel coming out of halftime because I knew we weren’t giving them our best,” said Henderson, who recorded her 100th win with Columbia. “I had missed so many layups, I just needed to get onto the next thing and started it with the defense … and that just fuels everything.”

Columbia changed its post coverage at the half to limit Huskies forward Dalayah Daniels, which limited her to six points and one rebound in the second half.

4

Weiss hit back-to-back 3s in the fourth quarter to give the Lions their first lead of the game.

The two teams exchanged blows for the remainder of the game, with neither team leading by more than five points.

In the end, though, the Lions managed to hold on.

Griffith pledged after last year’s First Four loss that Columbia would be back.

The Lions came back stronger, more hungry to prove they belong.

“It just amazes me what we can do when we have great people understanding why we’re doing what we’re doing. I just think you can do so many hard things together,” said Griffith, a Columbia alumna. “Here we are doing what I always thought we could do. So again, it’s special just seeing a group coming together and do hard things together.”