Game Notes in PDF Format
GAME #3: Cornell vs. DePaul
TIP-OFF: Friday, Nov. 20, at 7:30 p.m. CST (Chicago, Ill.)
SERIES RECORD: DePaul leads, 1-0
LAST MEETING: DePaul won, 94-48, on Jan. 5, 1985 (Chicago, Ill.)
GAME #4: Cornell vs. San Diego/Tennessee State
TIP-OFF: Saturday, Nov. 21, at 5:30/7:30 p.m. CST (Chicago, Ill.)
SERIES RECORD (San Diego): First Meeting
SERIES RECORD (Tennessee State): First Meeting
RECORDS: Cornell, 1-1; DePaul, 2-0; San Diego, 1-1; Tennessee State, 0-1
LIVE RADIO: None
LIVE AUDIO:
www.CornellBigRed.com
LIVE STATS:
www.DePaulBlueDemons.com
LIVE VIDEO:
www.DePaulBlueDemons.com
THE MATCHUP – The Big Red travels to the Windy City this weekend to take part in DePaul’s Maggie Dixon Classic. Cornell will face the host Blue Demons on Friday, Nov. 20 at 7:30 p.m. CST. The following day, the Big Red will face either San Diego or Tennessee State. The consolation game will take place on Saturday, Nov. 21 at 5:30 p.m. CST, while the championship will tip-off at 8:30 p.m. CST.
THE SERIES VS. DEPAUL — Cornell and DePaul will meet for just the second time in program history. The Blue Demons won the first meeting, 94-48, on Jan. 5, 1985 in Chicago, Ill.
SCOUTING THE BLUE DEMONS – No. 17 DePaul was picked to finish third in the Big East preseason coaches poll and is off to a 2-0 start on the season after defeating both Central Michigan and North Dakota State last weekend by double-digits. The Blue Demons entered the season with four of its five starters from a 2008-09 team that made the program's 14th NCAA Tournament appearance and finished ranked fourth in the Big East conference. Senior guard Deirdre Naughton, who reached 1,000 points vs. North Dakota State on Sunday, has been named to several preseason lists, including the preseason Wooden Award and to the Wade Watch List. Naughton was also a preseason Sporting News third-team All-American, while sophomore Keisha Hampton was a preseason All-Big East selection.
LAST TIME VS. DEPAUL – Traveling the farthest of any Cornell women’s basketball team, the Big Red dropped a 94-48 decision to DePual on Jan. 5, 1985 in Chicago, Ill. Mary Browne led Cornell with 12 points to go along with seven steals and two assists, while Karin Dwyer chipped in seven points. Betsy Troutt had a team-high five rebounds. DePaul had a trio of players in double-figures, led by Janice Streit’s 19 points. The Blue Demons shot an impressive 64.5 percent from the field (40-for-62) and 28.6 percent from 3-point range (6-for-21), Cornell connected on just 35 percent overall (20-for-57). DePaul held the edge in rebounds, 40-29, and forced 19 Big Red turnovers.
CORNELL VS. THE BIG EAST – Cornell is 4-21 all-time vs. the current members of the Big East Conference, with all four wins coming against Syracuse. The Big Red holds a losing record vs. Cincinnati (0-1), DePaul (0-1), Georgetown (0-2), St. John’s (0-2), South Florida (0-1), Villanova (0-1) and West Virginia (0-1). Cornell has only faced two Big East schools other than Syracuse more than once (Georgetown, and St. John’s) and has never faced UConn, Louisville, Marquette, Notre Dame, Pittsburgh, Providence, Rutgers or Seton Hall in women’s basketball ... Coach Smith is 1-7 vs. the conference during her time at the helm of the Big Red program, with the lone victory coming against Syracuse, 82-62, during the 2003-04 season.
THE SERIES VS. SAN DIEGO – If Cornell faces San Diego on the second day of the Maggie Dixon Classic, it will be the first meeting between the two schools.
SCOUTING THE TOREROS – San Diego, which is off to a 1-1 start on the season, was chosen to finish sixth in the West Coast Conference preseason coaches poll. The Toreros are led by preseason All-WCC member, sophomore guard Dominique Conners, who was second amongst all freshmen in the league in scoring last season and is currently leading the team with 15.5 points per game. Senior forward Morgan Henderson, who led the league in 3-point percentage last season hasn’t found her touch just yet, shooting just .222 (2-of-9) from beyond the arc this year. Still, she ranks third on the team in scoring with 11.5 ppg. Emily Hatch and Sam Childs are both averaging double-digits with 13.0 and 10.5 ppg., respectively.
CORNELL VS. WEST COAST CONFERENCE – Cornell is 0-5 vs. the current members of the West Coast Conference. The Big Red has faced San Francisco the most, posting an 0-3 record, while also having a losing record vs. Saint Mary’s (0-1) and Santa Clara (0-1). Cornell has never faced Pepperdine, Portland or San Diego.
THE SERIES VS. TENNESSEE STATE – If Cornell faces Tennessee State on the second day of the Maggie Dixon Classic, it will be the first meeting between the two schools.
SCOUTING THE TIGERS – Tennessee State, which lost its season opener to Jackson State on Saturday, was selected to finish third in the Ohio Valley Conference preseason poll. The Lady Tigers finished the 2008-09 OVC race in third place and returned five players from that squad. Junior Jasmine Smith and redshirt senior Oby Okafor were selected to the 2009-10 All-OVC preseason team. Smith is the only starter returning from the 2008-09 squad and she finished the year with 11.4 points and 9.7 rebounds per game. Okafor will make her return to the court after sitting out last season due to an injury. The 2007-08 All-OVC second team selection averaged 16.9 points and 8.3 rebounds as a junior. She also led the league in offensive boards with 4.6 a game.
CORNELL VS. THE OHIO VALLEY – Cornell is 1-1 all-time vs. the current members of the Ohio Valley Conference. The Big Red has a winning record against Tennessee-Martin (1-0) and a losing mark vs. Austin Peay (0-1), but has never faced Eastern Illinois, Eastern Kentucky, Jacksonville State, Morehead State, Murray State, SIU-Edwardsville, Southeast Missouri State, Tennessee Tech, Tennessee State.
ON THE AIR – For the second straight season, Big Red fans are able to follow the squad for the 2009-10 season on the radio, as the Cornell Department of Athletics and Physical Education teamed up with WVBR 93.5 FM (Ithaca) to provide coverage of the Big Red women’s basketball games. The broadcast team of Jay Sage and Jared Feldman will provide the live call either on WVBR 93.5 FM (Ithaca) or as part of the Cornell RedCast package at www.CornellBigRed.com.
LIVE VIDEO – The Big Red’s home contests will all be broadcast live with streaming video as part of the RedCast subscription service. Visit www.CornellBigRed.com for all the latest information on Cornell broadcasts.
LIVE STATS – Cornell will use SIDEARM Live Stats for each of the Big Red’s home games in 2009-10. Visit www.CornellBigRed.com for all of the official statistics.
WELCOME HOME – For the first time since coming to East Hill, senior Lauren Benson will be returning to her home state as the Big Red travels to Chicago, Ill. A four-year letter winner at nearby Benet Academy, Benson played point guard for the Lady Redwings and holds the school’s assist record. She helped Benet Academy to four-straight regional championships (2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006) and two sectional titles (2003 and 2004). Benson served as team captain as a senior and was named a conference all-star and all-area, following a sophomore season in which she earned Street and Smith’s honorable mention honors.
TOURNAMENT TIME – Since taking over the Big Red program, Coach Smith’s teams have gone 12-18 in tournament play. During that time, Cornell has won one tournament title, taking the Cornell Classic crown during the 2003-04 season.
SCORES A LOT – Cornell racked up 81 points vs. Ithaca on Nov. 15. That is the highest point output by the Big Red since Cornell scored 83 vs. Columbia on Jan. 27, 2007.
FOR OPENERS – The Big Red owns a 17-22 all-time record in season openers. Coach Dayna Smith has posted a 1-7 record in season openers during her time with Cornell.
HELPING HAND – With her 17 assists during the first weekend of action this season, Lauren Benson moved closer to surpassing Kacee English, who sits in third place in Cornell history for career assists. Currently, Benson has 379 career assists, sitting just 24 behind English. Benson, who set the school record for assists in a single-season (156) in 2007-08, needs just 80 more to become the Big Red’s all-time leader in career assists.
COACHING HISTORY — With her victory over Bryant on Nov. 29, 2008, Coach Smith surpassed Linda Lerch (1981-88) to move into second place in Cornell women’s basketball history in number of wins by a coach. Smith currently has 73 wins with the Big Red, sitting behind only former coach Marnie Dacko (1995-2002), who ranks first all-time in wins with 80.
SWAT TEAM – As a team, the Big Red has blocked at least one shot in each of its last 30 games, dating back to the end of the 2007-08 season. Allie Munson leads the team with 16 career blocks, while Christine Vlasic has 12 for her career.
STANDING TALL – Standing at 6-4, sophomore Christine Vlasic is the tallest player in Cornell women’s basketball history. Prior to Vlasic’s arrival, the Big Red had three players that came in at 6-3 – Megan Fannon (2002-04), Christine McMillan (1997-2000) and Karen Lauster (1988-89).
SIX-FOOTERS – For just the second time in program history, the Big Red has seven players on its roster that stand 6-0 or taller. The only other time Cornell had seven six-footers was in 1999-2000.
BACK ON THE ATTACK – The Big Red returns 72.9% of its scoring from last season, including five of its top six scorers.
HOME SWEET HOME – Cornell has turned around its performance at Newman Arena in recent years. During the first four years of Coach Smith’s tenure, the Big Red posted an 18-28 record at home. Since the 2006-07 season, however, Cornell has gone 25-14 in front of the Newman Nation.
TOP HALF – With three top-four finishes in her seven seasons, head coach Dayna Smith has equaled the number of top-half finishes achieved by Cornell in the 20 years prior to her arrival.
40-MINUTE WOMAN – Lauren Benson set a new career-high on Feb. 27, 2009 when she played a full 45 minutes in the Big Red’s 66-61 overtime victory against Dartmouth. Benson played a full 40 minutes in 9-of-26 contests during the 2008-09 season, not including the Columbia game on Jan. 24 in which she played 39:34, riding the bench for just 26 seconds. Benson has racked up 13 complete games during her career. Only Karen Walker ’91 (27) and Kacee English ’97 (17) have played more 40-minute games than Benson.
IRISH NATIONAL – Sophomore Susie Doyle has been a member of the U16, U17, U18 and U20 Irish national teams. She led her U16 and U18 Irish National Teams to the European Championships and was named captain of the U16 squad in 2004 and the U18 in 2006. She was named MVP of the U18 team.
FOUR-YEAR FOREIGNERS – Susie Doyle will have the opportunity to be the first of her kind – a foreign student that uses all four years of her eligibility at Cornell. The Big Red has had three foreigners in program history: Jumana Salti (Amman, Jordan), Sarah Lee (Deep River, Ontatio) and Moïna Snyder (Nice, Frace), but all three only played two years for Cornell.
OH CAPTAIN, MY CAPTAIN – Seniors Lauren Benson, Allie Fedorowicz and Virginia McMunigal will serve as team captains for this season.
NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK – The Big Red added six players to this year’s squad: Caitlin Costello (Levittown, N.Y.), Kristina Danielak (Georgetown, Texas), Clare Fitzpatrick (Southbury, Conn.), Taylor Flynn (Floral Park, N.Y.), Whitney Hagan (Atlanta, Ga.) and Spencer Lane (W. Bloomfield, Mich.). The class hails from five different states and consists of three guards and three forwards.
HI, MY NAME IS – Cornell has a new face on the bench, as Julious Coleman has joined the women’s basketball staff as an assistant coach. Coleman came to the Big Red with nearly 15 years of coaching experience at the collegiate level, including stops at Northwest Nazarene, Boise State and Northern Arizona University. Before beginning his professional coaching career at Northwest Nazarene, Coleman spent three seasons as a graduate assistant at Kansas State. Prior to that, Coleman played at Point Loma Nazarene for three seasons, starting two, after spending one year at Pasadena City College.
AROUND THE WORLD – Each summer, Lauren Benson has done something to improve her game, and this summer was no different. The All-Ivy point guard kicked off her vacation by participating in a European tour with USA Athletes International. She was chosen for a team comprised of other Division I women’s basketball players and traveled to Vienna, the Czech Republic, Southern Austria, and Italy to play seven games against foreign competition. Benson, who was recommended for the team by Coach Smith, teamed up with Angel Chan (Central Michigan), Sharonda Hurd (Central Michigan), Latisha Luckett (Central Michigan), Jence Rhoads (Vanderbilt), Bianca Smith (Colorado), Gaati Werema (Prairie View A&M), Breynna Winkler (Gardner-Webb) and Jordan Zuppe (IPFW).
PRESEASON PREDICTIONS — Cornell was chosen to finish tied with Yale for fifth-place in the Ivy League, according to the preseason media poll. Dartmouth was selected to finish first with 11-of-16 possible first-place votes (123 points total), with Harvard earning the other five to come in second with 115 points. Princeton was tabbed to finish third (86), edging out fourth-place Columbia by three votes. Yale was tied with the Big Red for fifth with 57 points, while Penn (36) and Brown (19) round out the poll.
THE 2008-09 SEASON – The Big Red closed the 2008-09 season with a fourth-place finish in the Ivy League after finishing the year with a 10-16 record overall and a mark of 6-8 in the conference. It marked the third straight season in which Cornell finished in the top half of the league.
TICKLE THE (ALL) IVY – Three members of the Big Red earned All-Ivy honors following the 2008-09 season, highlighted by Lauren Benson’s second-team selection. Joining Benson was honorable mention selection Shannan Scarselletta ’09 and All-Rookie team pick Allison Abt.
DOUBLE-DOUBLE – Lauren Benson registered the first double-double of her career against Dartmouth on Feb. 27, 2009, doing it the hard way with 12 points and 10 assists to lead the Big Red. The 10 assists matched a career-high for Benson, who had previously handed out 10 assists against Albany earlier that season. The last time a Big Red player registered a point-assist double-double came nearly 12 years prior when Kim Ruck scored 14 points and handed out 11 assists on Feb. 7, 1997 against Brown.
UP NEXT – Cornell returns to Ithaca to take on IUPUI at Neman Arena on Tuesday, Nov. 24, at 7 p.m.