NEW YORK -- The senior backcourt duo of Danielle Browne and Sara Yee, as well as junior forward Judie Lomax have been selected as tri-captains of the Columbia University women's basketball team for the upcoming 2009-10 season, head coach Paul Nixon announced. The trio will look to build upon last year, which saw the Lions set a program record for NCAA Division I victories in a season.

Yee was named team captain for the second consecutive season, and is the first Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science women's basketball student-athlete to earn back-to-back captaincies since Leslie Goff '94SEAS in 1992-94. Yee was named the inaugural Ivy League Defensive Player of the Year in 2008-09 after ranking seventh in the Ivy League in steals at 1.7 per conference contest. The Walnut, Calif., native was also one of the top point guards in the league in securing the basketball, helping Columbia to the top assist-turnover ration in the conference.

Browne and Lomax, both Barnard College student-athletes, are the first pair of Barnard women's basketball student-athletes to be named captain in one season since Columbia began the athletics consortium back in 1984-85.

A three-year Ivy League honoree, Browne has established herself as one of the top guards in the conference. An all-rookie team member as a first-year in 2006-07, she was named to the All-Ivy League second team as a sophomore and was an honorable mention selection last season. Browne has also made her mark in the Columbia record books over the course of her career. The 5-8 guard ranks 19th in scoring all-time (714), eighth in career assists (278) and fifth in career steals (142).

Only the fourth Columbia women's basketball player to earn first team All-Ivy League status, Lomax had one of the most prolific seasons in school history in 2008-09. In addition to leading the nation in rebounding at 14.3 per game, she led the Lions in scoring at 14.2 PPG and paced the Ivy League in field goal percentage, connecting on 53.6 percent of her shots. Her single-season total of 401 rebounds set a school record, while her 397 poins ranked 10th on the all-time single-season chart.

Columbia will open its 2009-10 campaign on Friday, Nov. 13 against Sacred Heart at Levien Gymnasium at 7 p.m.