NEW YORK – The 2023 Columbia Women’s Basketball Media Day was held Wednesday at the Dodge Physical Fitness Center on the campus of Columbia University. Members of the local media participated in press conferences and conducted interviews with Abbey Hsu, Kitty Henderson and eighth-year head coach Megan Griffith.
Columbia is coming off its most successful season in program history, posting a record of 28-6 (12-2 Ivy) and hoisting the Ivy League Championship trophy for the first time. Along the way, the Lions won a program-record 10 consecutive games and had marquee non-conference victories against Seton Hall, Miami and UMass. They lifted the Farquhar-Baker Trophy in front of a sold-out Levien Gymnasium crowd, defeating Cornell in overtime, 69-64, on March 4 in the regular season finale.
After coming up short in the Ivy League Tournament, the Lions made an unprecedented run in the Women’s National Invitation Tournament (WNIT). Columbia rolled off victories over NEC Regular Season Champion Fairleigh Dickinson in the first round and went on to defeat Fordham and Syracuse before avenging their Ivy Tournament loss against Harvard in the Great Eight. The victory over the Crimson made Columbia the first team in Ivy League history to advance to the National Semifinals of the WNIT, where they went on the road and led wire-to-wire to take down Bowling Green in front of a sold-out crowd, 77-70.
The win over the Falcons advanced the Lions to the Championship Game, which took place on April 1 at historic Allen Fieldhouse against Kansas. The Lions led 16-15 at the end of the first quarter and took a five-point lead with an 8-0 run to start the second half, but eventually fell in a hard-fought battle to the Jayhawks, 66-59. The game aired on national television on CBS Sports Network and drew in a crowd of over 11,000, the largest for a women’s basketball game at Allen Fieldhouse in the last 14 years.
This year, the Lions return eight players from their championship team and welcome in seven newcomers. Two of the returners, Abbey Hsu and Kitty Henderson, participated in Wednesday’s Media Day. Hsu has been named to both the Ann Meyers Drysdale Award and Becky Hammon Mid-Major Player of the Year Award watch lists. She’s coming off a season in which she scored 606 points, broke the Ivy League record for made threes for a second consecutive season (112) and was a WBCA All-America Honorable Mention. Henderson, a junior, was the starting point guard on last year’s championship team. She led the Ivy League and ranked No. 53 in the NCAA with 145 total assists, the third-most in a single season in Columbia history.
Columbia begins the season on the road this coming Monday, November 6, at Stony Brook. The game is set to tip at 6:30 p.m. ET. The home opener is next Friday, Novemer 10, against Seton Hall.
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