CHAPEL HILL, N.C.—Women’s basketball defeated the University of Washington on Thursday night, 63-60, to take its first NCAA tournament victory in program history.

Ahead of the game, ESPN Analytics predicted that Columbia had a 41.9 percent chance of winning. In the court of public opinion, however, the Lions had big players on their side: Former President Barack Obama, CC ’83, had the Light Blue moving on to face West Virginia University in the first round, as did WNBA legend Diana Taurasi and country star Tim McGraw, according to brackets posted on the women’s March Madness Instagram account. And while the matchup was a roller coaster, their predictions ultimately came true.

Despite falling behind in the first three quarters, the Lions had the comeback of the season on the back of dominant performances from senior guard Kitty Henderson and sophomore guard Riley Weiss to take their first victory against a Big Ten opponent in program history. The Lions now move on to the First Round where they will face West Virginia on Saturday.

The Huskies won the tipoff and were first to get on the board. The Lions missed their shots from beyond the arc on their two opening possessions, and Washington was soon off to a 4-0 lead. Senior guard Cecelia Collins responded with a layup just under two minutes into play to give Columbia its first points. After a steal from junior forward Susie Rafiu, Collins scored again to make it even.

The Light Blue’s shots from three were unsuccessful early in the period as they went 0 for 7 by the halfway mark of the quarter. The Huskies didn’t make as many attempts from beyond the arc, but their physicality in the paint enabled 87.5 percent shooting from the field—with the Lions shooting at just 30 percent.

With under three minutes on the clock in the quarter the Lions were down 11 points. Henderson scored her first points of the night when she bodied past a Husky defender with less than a minute and a half left to play, but as the clock wound down Columbia was unable to put a dent in the deficit and the quarter ended 21-10 in Washington’s favor.

Neither team scored on their opening three possessions in the second quarter, and a shotclock violation returned the ball to the Lions’ paws. Henderson broke the ice in the third minute to cut the deficit to single digits, and Weiss finally found the three she’d been hunting for all game. Sophomore guard Marija Avlijas hit the Light Blue’s second three of the night with under five to play, but Washington continued to stretch its lead.

Weiss drove under the hoop to cut the Huskies’ lead to 9, but Washington guard Sayvia Sellers soon responded. Junior forward Perri Page grabbed an offensive board and sank a bucket as the Lions entered the final minute of the half. An attempt from Collins from three went in and out, and the Huskies had the final say of the quarter with a layup from forward Dalayah Daniels—who earned a first-half double-double—to close out the half out 34-21.

Across the first half, the Lions took more than triple the number of shots from three as the Huskies, but only connecting on two of 15 attempts to Washington’s one of four. Columbia was unable to dig itself out of the shooting rut it found itself in in the first half, only going 30 percent from the field in the first 20 minutes. Washington’s physicality—with Daniels standing at 6-foot-4—proved difficult to overcome.

Halftime adjustments proved crucial for the rest of the Lions’ game. Head coach Megan Griffith, CC ’07, commented postgame on her halftime locker room speech.

“I’m like, ‘You’re just getting punked right now, basically,’” she said. “We even heard their players being like, ‘We should be up 30 right now.’ ... So we tell our team, ‘Hey, listen, this is the game—they think they should be beating you by more.’ And for them, I think the sense of pride came back into their heads.”

“Coach G knows how to get us riled up in the locker room at halftime,” Weiss said postgame. “We knew that it wasn’t our best, nearly, and she just told us we need to be better, pretty much. And I’m proud of us, because I think we rose up to that challenge in the second half.”

Henderson opened the scoring in the second half with two shots from the charity stripe, but Washington responded with a quick bucket. Weiss sank her second three of the night as the Lions attempted to build a spell of momentum, and Henderson was sent to the line for the second time in two minutes after a foul by Washington.

Another bucket from Collins put the Lions within 8 points of the Huskies, and baskets on successive possessions from Henderson and Weiss made it a 6-point game. Daniels continued to be a problem for the Light Blue defensively, but strong rebounding from the Lions enabled them to slowly chip away at Washington’s lead—with under three minutes to play, it was a 5-point game.

A crucial steal from Henderson with a minute to play led her to take the ball back to the net and cut the deficit to 3. As the clock wound down, the Huskies scored on their closing possession, but with a scoreline of 45-40 heading into the final 10 minutes of play, a first NCAA tournament victory was in reach for Columbia.

In the first minute of the fourth quarter, Henderson earned another steal—claiming the outright single-season record in steals for Columbia—and set up Weiss to sink a shot from beyond the arc. Weiss was fouled on the attempt. Stepping to the line, she brought the Light Blue within 1 point of Washington, the closest it had been to closing the point deficit since the early minutes of the first quarter. Momentum favored the Lions as Weiss sank another shot from downtown with under eight minutes to play, giving Columbia its first lead of the game.

Thursday’s victory marked the 100th of Henderson’s career. Griffith was full of praise for the senior, who is winding down her time with the Light Blue.

“What a winner,” Griffith said. “She’s absolutely my most favorite player I’ve ever coached—and I love Abbey Hsu, everybody hear me say that—but wow, Kitty’s a winner, and she’s the winningest player that’s ever played at Columbia.”

Washington tied the game on the following possession, but Weiss was unstoppable as she drained another three. Henderson setup Collins under the net for another layup, and then another on the following possession to put the Lions ahead by 5. The Huskies got within 1 point of the Light Blue with under five minutes to play, and a foul from Avlijas allowed guard Teagan Brown to step to the line and tie the game with just over three minutes remaining.

“My shots felt really great,” Weiss said of her second half run. “My teammates, they do a great job finding the ball, and then the coaching staff tells me to keep shooting, make or miss. So, just moving on to the next shot, make or miss, I’m gonna shoot the next one.”

Avlijas found redemption on the following possession, setting up Rafiu for a layup to retake the lead. Another steal from Henderson set up Avlijas to drain her second three of the night, giving the Lions a 5-point cushion. A three from Washington guard Elle Ladine put the Huskies within 2 with a minute and a half to play, and a shotclock violation from the Lions returned the ball to Washington. Sellers failed to make her shot, and Page grabbed the rebound with under 30 seconds to play.

Weiss stepped to the line with 18 seconds on the clock, sinking both free throws to put the Lions up by 4. Undeterred, the Huskies hit a three of their own to cut the deficit to 1 point. After a Columbia timeout, the Lions inbounded the ball with 13 seconds to play, and Weiss was sent to the line once more, sinking both shots—making the final score 63-60.

With the Lions faithful on their feet, Columbia secured its first NCAA tournament victory in program history.

“It feels really great to get this win, but after we get this win and celebrate a little bit, we’re on to the next thing,” Weiss said as the team now resets their focus. “We’re focused on winning the next game, because I know we can make it deeper on. We have a ton of potential, and we’re not even close to it yet.”

Progressing to the First Round of March Madness, the Lions will face sixth-seeded West Virginia University on Saturday at 2 p.m. in Chapel Hill. The game will be streamed on ESPNews.