Lomax shines in Light Blue win

Going into the half last Saturday against Cornell, Columbia led the Big Red 35-17, in large part because of the performance of junior Judie Lomax. Lomax scored 18 of the Light Blue’s 35 points in the first half, meaning that, going into the locker room, she had outscored the entire Cornell team.

Give that statistic to Lomax, though, and she’ll credit her teammates. She’ll say that her teammates set up her shots and got the ball to her at the right time. According to Lomax, her statistics are only a reflection of the hard work the whole team has put in, starting last spring.

“Everyone’s been working really hard for us to be successful, so it’s really rewarding for it to culminate in a victory, especially against Cornell,” Lomax said. “Hopefully we’ll keep working, and it will keep showing up, whether it’s me or one of our other teammates.”

Lomax finished with 30 points and 17 rebounds against the Big Red, which earned her Ivy league Player of the Week honors for the second week in a row and the Co-Player of the Week in the Eastern College Athletic Conference. Although she is so dominating on the court, Lomax deflects the attention she gets off the court, praising her teammates, her coaches, the fans.

That doesn’t mean she’s not competitive, though. When she’s on the court, Lomax won’t let anything keep her from giving the Lions their best shot to win.

“Whether it’s rebounding, whether it’s scoring, whether it’s diving down on the floor for a loose ball, taking a charge, just being so competitive that you’re willing to do whatever it takes,” Lomax said. “And I think for the most part we have a lot of people on the team who are willing to do that and that’s led to a lot of success this year,”

Her success—and Columbia’s success—didn’t come without a lot of hard work. Lomax is the first in the gym and the last to leave. In the five minutes between the end of practice and the team meeting on Monday she shot nonstop mid-range jumpers—an aspect of her game she’s steadily improved over the last year—until she’d sunk ten baskets.

Her 30 points against Cornell tied a career high for the junior transfer student. She finished the night with four steals and four more assists. But Lomax will more likely talk about the Columbia women’s basketball 2-0 start to Ivy play than her near triple-double night.

It’s just who she is at heart: a team player. She’s the type of player who goes above and beyond what’s asked of her but is more likely to celebrate a teammate’s success than her own. And she’s had plenty of success to celebrate.

Lomax spent her freshman year playing for the Oregon State Beavers, where she led the team in rebounding and field goal percentage. She ranked fifth in the Pac-10 in rebounding and was named to the Freshman All-Pac-10 Team.

“Once I got there, I kind of realized that I needed more family support. Being closer to home and, just, school was really important too, and I wanted to think more about long term,” Lomax said.

She was on pace to tear up the Pac-10 but decided to transfer to Columbia to be closer to her parents and her four siblings. Sitting out a year due to NCAA transfer regulations, Lomax has had high expectations heaped upon her during her entire career as a Lion. And she’s delivered.

Last season, Lomax led the nation in rebounding. No, not the Ivy League, not Division I-AA, or any other subdivision. In Division I basketball, Judie Lomax led the nation in rebounding. And she’s doing it again this year. Not only that, but she leads the Ivy league in scoring, averaging 18.3 points a game.

And yet, what’s her favorite aspect of the team?

“I don’t think we really have a star of the team,” Lomax said. “I don’t think we really have people who are limited.”

But if they did have a star, it would be Lomax.