Vanderbilt women's basketball defeats Columbia for first March Madness win since 2013
BLACKSBURG, Va. — In Vanderbilt women's basketball's first March Madness appearance in a decade, the Commodores beat Columbia, 72-68, at Cassell Coliseum on Wednesday in the First Four.
No. 12 seed Vanderbilt (23-9) used a 10-0 run in the second quarter to get out to a double-digit lead at halftime, but the Commodores were never able to pull away as No. 12 seed Columbia (23-7) came back in the third quarter to keep the game close.
After a 6-0 run by the Lions late in the fourth quarter, Iyana Moore made a late shot clock 3-pointer with 24.4 seconds to go. Despite that, Columbia cut the lead to two in the waning seconds of the game when Cecelia Collins was fouled, rebounded her own missed free throw and then made a jump shot with 3.1 seconds to go. Justine Pissott made two free throws to ice the game for Vanderbilt.
Vanderbilt's last NCAA tournament win was in 2013.
The Commodores advance to play No. 5 seed Baylor on Friday.
Feeding the post
Against an undersized Columbia team, Vanderbilt found success in the second quarter by finding Khamil Pierre and Sacha Washington in the post.
Washington notched a double-double early in the second half and she especially excelled on the offensive glass. She finished with 16 points and 15 rebounds.
Forcing turnovers
Vanderbilt's guards pressured Columbia, leading to a high number of turnovers from the Lions. But most of those turnovers came in the first half.
That allowed the Commodores to take vastly more shots than the Lions.
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Moore leads scoring charge
Iyana Moore, as she has so many times this season, led the team in scoring with 22 points as Vanderbilt ran a lot of its offense through her.
Moore is usually a sharpshooter, but she found more success by getting in transition and finding space around the basket before her late three.
Aria Gerson covers Vanderbilt athletics for The Tennessean. Contact her at agerson@gannett.com or on Twitter @aria_gerson.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Vanderbilt women's basketball beats Columbia for March Madness win
