NEW YORK, N.Y. – Senior Letava Whippy put up a 12-point effort, but the LIU Brooklyn women's basketball team fell to Columbia, 54-45 on the road on Sunday afternoon in New York, N.Y.
 
Whippy nearly had a double-double, also chipping in nine rebounds, but the Blackbirds shot just 24.1 percent from the field. Sophomore Brianna Farris added nine points, all three-pointers, while junior Jolanna Ford had seven points and six rebounds.
 
A foul in the second minute of the game put the Blackbirds on the board first, before another Columbia foul gave LIU the early 3-0 lead. The Lions would regain the lead with 16:21 to go, leading by as many as nine during the first half.

Coming out of the fourth media timeout with 3:40 to go, the Blackbirds went on a 7-0 run to close the gap to one.  Columbia's Tori Oliver scored to extend the lead to 22-19, but Farris tied the game with 1:47 to play with a three-pointer, her third of the game.

LIU briefly took the lead 30 seconds later, but a foul call on the Blackbirds led to a successful pair of free throws from Columbia.  The teams would head into the half with the Lions ahead by two, at 26-24.

The Blackbirds tied the game at 36 just 30 seconds into the second half on two made free throw by Ford. Ford then gave LIU its first lead of the half with 19:18 to go on a layup in the paint.

The two teams traded the lead twice more before Columbia went up by four with 15:22 and held onto the lead the rest of the way.  The Lions pushed the score to 39-34 with 12:39 on the clock, but the Blackbirds cut the gap to two with a free throw and layup from Whippy.

LIU moved within one of Columbia twice in the last 10 minutes, but could never regain the lead. The Lions were 11-14 from the free throw line in the second half, sealing the nine-point victory.

Up next, LIU Brooklyn heads to NJIT on Thursday, Dec. 11. Game time is set for 7:00 p.m.