Box Score
Photo Gallery (Carlisle Stockton)
ITHACA, N.Y. -- For the first time in program history, the Cornell women's basketball team is going dancing.
The Big Red used a stifling defense to rout Dartmouth 64-47 on Sunday afternoon at Columbia University's Levien Gymnasium in an Ivy league playoff contest to capture the school's first NCAA tournament bid. Cornell (20-8) will find out its NCAA opponent, date and time of competition during Monday's night's selection show, which can be viewed on ESPN at 7 p.m.
Senior Moina Snyder had 14 points and five rebounds to lead four double figure scorers, with Shannan Scarselletta adding 11 points and Allie Fedorowicz recording 10. Junior Jeomi Maduka, who finished eighth in the long jump on Friday at the 2008 NCAA Indoor championships to capture All-America honors in Fayetteville, Ark., completed her amazing weekend with 14 points, eight rebounds, three steals and two blocked shots. Lauren Benson also had a solid game with six assists, five points and five rebounds.
“Obviously, we’re ecstatic and I’m proud of my team,” said head coach Dayna Smith. “We tip our hats off to Dartmouth and Harvard for great years but for our players, this is a dream come true and we’re honored to represent the Ivy League at the NCAA tournament.”
As a team, the Big Red surrendered just 19 first half points and allowed the Big Green to shoot just 28 percent from the floor from the game, including a 1-of-11 (9 percent) performance from 3-point range. Cornell outrebounded the Big Green 40-37 and shot 44.7 percent from the floor and 50 percent (5-of-10) form beyond the arc.
Dartmouth (16-15) was led by Kristen Craft and Brittney Smith with 13 and 12 points, respectively.
The Big Red performed a defensive clinic over the opening minutes of the game, holding Dartmouth scoreless for the first 5:52 of the contest as it jumped out to an early lead from which the Big Green could not recover.
“We had a great game plan going in and we were fired up for this opportunity. We felt like we are a good defensive team. Everyone talks about our offense, but today we wanted to prove something on defense.”
After jumping out to an early 7-0 lead at the 16:46 mark, Snyder went on a tear, scoring Cornell’s next six points off a layup and two jumpers from the free throw line to put the Big Red up 13-2. Lacey Workman extended the Big Red’s lead to 13 when she missed a 3-pointer, but followed her own shot and converted the wide-open layup to make it a 15-2 game with 12:56 left in the opening half. Maduka gave Cornell the 15-point advantage when she got the ball on the right side of basket, rolled baseline and hit a spectacular reverse layup to make it 17-2.
A jumper by Betsy Williams ended the Cornell run, but Maduka answered right back with a jumper from the free throw line to make it a 19-4 game at the 10:50 mark. Williams hit another jumper on Dartmouth’s next trip down the floor, but Fedorowicz got in on the act with a 3-pointer that brought the raucous Big Red fans to their feet as Cornell took the 22-6 advantage with 9:39 remaining in the half.
A pair of layups by Scarselletta, sandwiched around a jumper by Brittany Smith gave the Big Red a 26-8 lead at the 7:01 mark.
From there, Dartmouth used an 11-6 scoring run to close out the half as Cornell took a 32-19 lead into the locker room.
Cornell extended its lead to 17 points early in the second half as two made free throws by Snyder, followed by a single free throw from both Maduka and Scarselletta made it a 36-19 game with 17:42 left to play in the game.
A layup by Darcy Rose got the Big Green on the board, but a fast-break layup by Scarselletta, an eight-foot jumper by Fedorowicz as the shot clock expired, and an offensive rebound put-back by Scarselletta doubled up Dartmouth, 42-21, with 14:13 to play.
Scarselletta knocked down two free throws to make it a 44-21 lead, before the Big Green got a layup by Brittany Smith and one made free throw by Margaret Smith to make it 44-24. Cornell responded when Benson found Fedorowicz off a broken play and Fedorowicz knocked down a big 3-pointer to make it 47-24.
Dartmouth used a 9-2 scoring run to make it a 47-33 game with just under 10 minutes to play but three straight points by Maduka and a 3-pointer by Gregg pushed Cornell’s lead back to 22-points, 55-33 with 7:33 remaining.
The teams traded baskets the rest of the way but Cornell continued to enjoy a nearly 20-point lead the entire time as the team rolled to the 64-47 victory.