5,970 miles traveled and just 41 hours in New York City.
That sums up the last 10 days for the Columbia women’s basketball team, who is set to take the floor for the WBIT semifinals against Wisconsin in the WBIT semifinals this afternoon at 2:30 p.m. ET at Charles Koch Arena in Wichita, Kan.
So, how did they get here?
The Lions opened the tournament with a 74-26 rout of St. John’s at home on March 19.
Then, the travel began.
They flew halfway across the country and knocked off Summit League regular-season
champion North Dakota State 86-57 in Fargo on March 22.
They touched down back in the Big Apple in the early morning hours last Monday before taking off for a cross-country flight to California Tuesday evening. Columbia defeated Cal 74-68 Thursday night.
Then, it was wheels up again. This time to Wichita – the site of the WBIT semis and championship – on Friday.
“It’s a journey, but you just have to really embrace what’s in front of you and be ready to attack the next thing,” Columbia head coach Megan Griffith said. “These tournaments, with the quick turnarounds and just playing opponents that you don’t see all the time … you get to learn a lot about the game. I love watching great coaches and what they get to run with their programs.”
Griffith’s group is no stranger to being road warriors. The Lions are 13-1 in true road games, which is the fifth best mark in the country. The four teams who were undefeated: Final Four participants and No. 1 seeds in the NCAA Tournament UConn and UCLA, third-seeded Louisville and previously mentioned NDSU, which posted a program Division-I record 29 wins this season. Columbia was undefeated on the road in 2025 – the only team in Division I that can make that claim.
The Lions have been led by a trio of players for this WBIT run. Junior Riley Weiss (21.7), senior Perri Page (20.3) and sophomore Mia Broom (17.3) are averaging a combined 59.3 points per game over the last three games. They are outscoring Columbia’s opponents (50.3 points per game) by themselves.
Weiss, an All-American Honorable Mention honoree, is shooting above 50% from the field and hits 42% from deep. She broke the program’s single-season scoring record last time out. Page, the Ivy League Defensive Player of the Year, is contributing 6.3 rebounds and 3.3 steals per game in the tournament while also shooting 60.9% from the floor. Broom is a statsheet-stuffer for the Lions and has posted 5.3 rebounds, 5.3 assists and 2.7. steals per game during this WBIT run.
This postseason is the fifth straight for the program, and it has been a historic run for the Lions. They advanced to the WNIT Great 8 in 2022. That set the stage for a run to the WNIT championship game, where they lost at Kansas, the following year.
Columbia demonstrated even stronger seasons in 2024 and 2025 and claimed the program’s first two bids to the NCAA Tournament. Both were at-large selections, and the Lions won their first-ever March Madness game last year by defeating Washington in the First Four.
“That’s the reason I came here and understanding coach’s vision and what she has for this program,” Page said. “We set out to do this. Being able to play our best basketball and understanding that’s how you win in March – just being able to move onto the next thing, which I think each time that I’ve been on has done a really good job of that. I’m really excited to see what this team does.”
So, now as Columbia embarks on playing in the final days of March (and potentially into April) for a third time in five years, it has its sights set on two more wins. Now, here’s the twist.
Three years ago, the Lions lost the WNIT championship game to Kansas on April 1 in the Sunflower State. This year’s WBIT championship game is April 1 in Wichita, and the Jayhawks are in the other semifinal against fellow Big 12 team BYU.
“[It’s] kind of poetic that we’re back in Kansas to finish the job this time,” Griffith said. “I feel more ready than ever to go win this thing.”
