For the first time since 2007-08, the Wisconsin Badgers women’s basketball team will play in a postseason semifinal. Robin Pingeton and the Badgers travel to Wichita to face the Columbia Lions in the WBIT semifinals on Monday at 1:30 P.M. CT.
In their first postseason home game since 2011, the Badgers pulled out a miracle win over the Harvard Crimson, 64-61 in overtime. Wisconsin found themselves down 54-46 with under one minute remaining in the game before going on an 8-2 run to force overtime. In the extra period, Dorja Iva Zaja and Destiny Howell each scored four points, and Ronnie Porter took a late charge to seal the win for Wisconsin.
Facing their second-straight Ivy League opponent, the Wisconsin Badgers present a new challenge. What should Badger fans know about Columbia?
The Lions are led by former Columbia star Megan Griffith in her tenth season in New York City. Columbia comes into the semifinals with a solid 23-8 overall record and an 11-3 conference record, finishing one game behind regular-season champion Princeton. In their last game, the Lions defeated California 74-68 in Berkeley last Thursday.
Wisconsin must devise a defensive game plan to slow down honorable mention Associated Press All-American and Ivy League Player of the Year Riley Weiss. Weiss is the Ivy League’s top individual scorer at 20.0 points per game. This season, Weiss owns the two highest scoring performances in the Ivy League, scoring 40 points against Dartmouth on January 24th and 38 points at Cornell on February 7th.
Weiss is not the only member of the Lions’ backcourt who will give the Badgers problems. Fliss Henderson, an honorable mention All-Ivy League guard, leads Columbia with 6.9 rebounds per game and 3.7 assists per game. One item to note is that Henderson has not appeared in any of Columbia’s WBIT games, so her status is undetermined.
Rounding out Columbia’s strengths, the Lions also have the Ivy League’s best defender in guard, Perri Page. Page, who can play guard and forward for Columbia, leads the team with 2.5 steals per game and averages 14.9 points per game behind Weiss.
As a team, the Lions averaged 71.6 points per game, second in the Ivy League, and are fourth in the conference, allowing 58.8 points per game. Their scoring margin of 12.8 points is the best in the Ivy League.