Women's basketball traveled to the Big Apple for its final match of the 2024-2025 season. The Red, ranked sixth in the Ivy League, took on regular season champion Columbia on Saturday.
With two over-25-point quarters and a command of turnovers that left Cornell (7-20, 3-11 Ivy) reeling, Columbia (22-5, 13-1 Ivy) trounced the Red 91-58.
Though the score was tied up 9-9 halfway through the first quarter, a nine-point run for the Lions gave Columbia an early advantage, a lead it continued to exploit. The deficit widened from 21 at the half to 26 by the end of the third, and a fourteen-point run in the final 10 minutes was the nail in the coffin for the Red.
Junior forward Emily Pape led the team with 17 total points, tying with sophomore guard and forward Rachel Kaus, who came off the bench as the team's sixth woman. Columbia had five athletes score in the double-digits, including Cecelia Collins, who netted 21 points and earned 10 rebounds for the double-double.
The game saw the Red's best performance from behind the arc, with both the most attempted (22) and made (nine) three-pointers in a single game for the season -- with five of the nine completed coming from Pape.
With the season at its end, the Red will look to develop under the tutelage of head coach Emily Garner and establish itself as a contender for the Ivy League Madness Tournament come next spring.
The Red improved its conference record, despite its regular-season record remaining stagnant. Though Cornell only managed three Ivy League victories throughout the season, including its first win over Yale since 2019, it came within two points of besting Brown and Yale at home.
Cornell earned its highest field goal percentage (.398) since the 2019-2020 season (.415), as well as narrowing its average scoring margin from -11.4 to -7.2 since last year, though its total points scored remained almost the same.
The team will have to part with four seniors going into the 2025-2026 season: forward Summer Parker-Hall, forward Jada Davis, forward Arianna Linoxilakis and guard and forward Lexi Green. Though the Red loses its top scorer in Parker-Hall, who averaged 12 points over 24 games, it will turn over four-fifths of the starting lineup.