Game Notes (PDF)

Game #7: Cornell vs. Colgate
Tip off: Thursday, Dec. 3, at 7:00 p.m.
Series Record: Cornell leads, 15-14
Last Meeting: Cornell won, 82-47, on 12/18/07 (Hamilton, N.Y.)
2009-10 Records: Cornell (3-3), Colgate (5-2)
Live Radio: 93.5 FM, WFBR (Ithaca, N.Y.)
Live Audio: None
Live Stats: www.CornellBigRed.com
Live Video: www.CornellBigRed.com 

THE MATCHUP – The Big Red returns home to face in-state rival Colgate on Thursday, Dec. 3, in Cornell's final game before entering the University study break period. The Big Red fell to 3-3 on the season after falling to Albany on Sunday. Colgate is off to one of the best starts in program history, owning a 5-2 record after falling to Bryant, 82-74, on Tuesday.

SCOUTING THE RAIDERS – After a 5-0 start, Colgate has dropped its last two contests to Central Connecticut State and Bryant to fall to 5-2 on the season. Sami Kozlowski leads the team with 13.3 points per game, while Tayler Wejnert averages a team-best 7.5 rebounds per game. Jhazmine Lynch (10.9), Tricia Oakes (10.3) and Candice Green (10.0) are also averaging double-figures for the Raiders.

THE SERIES VS. COLGATE — Cornell pulled ahead in the series with the Raiders, 15-14, when it defeated Colgate, 82-47, during the 2007-08 season. The Big Red, the winner of the last three meetings, won the first-ever game with the Raiders, a 65-60 victory in overtime, and also holds the longest winning-streak in the series, posting five-straight victories from 1992-93 to 1996-97.

LAST TIME VS. THE RAIDERS – Cornell shot a blazing 62.1 percent in the first half of play to build a commanding 46-24 halftime lead as it rolled to an 82-47 victory over Colgate at Cotterell Court. The Big Red's attack was led by Jeomi Maduka and Kayleen Fitzsimmons with 17 and 14 points, respectively. Gretchen Gregg went 3-for-4 from 3-point range en route to 13 points, while Shannan Scarsetlletta (12) and Allie Fedorwicz (10) each registered season-highs. Colgate was led by Katie Grimm with 12 points and Sami Kozloski with 10. Both squads collected 29 rebounds apiece, while Cornell had the edge in the points in the paint at 28-20.

A CORNELL WIN WOULD —
• improve the Big Red's record to 4-3, the best start to a season since the 2001-02 team went 6-2 to start the season.
• improve Cornell to 16-14 all-time vs. the Raiders.
• give Coach Smith a winning record against Patriot League opponents (11-10).
• make Cornell 36-49 all-time vs. the current members of the Patriot League.

CORNELL VS. THE PATRIOT LEAGUE — Cornell is 35-49 all-time vs. the current members of the Patriot League. The Big owns the advantage in the series with Lafayette (8-7) and Colgate (15-14) buts holds a losing mark against American (1-2), Army (5-6), Bucknell (4-14), Lehigh (2-4) and Navy (0-2). Holy Cross is the only member of the Patriot League that Cornell has never faced in women's basketball ... Coach Smith's record vs. the conference is an even 10-10 after losing to Bucknell last season.

MOVING ON UP – With her six 3-pointers vs. Albany, Allie Fedorowicz jumped from sixth to third place in Cornell history for career 3-pointers with 112 treys. She needs just 18 more to surpass Karen Force, who sits in second place with 129.

RAINING THREES – With her seven 3-pointers vs. IUPUI on Nov. 24, senior Virginia McMunigal etched her name in the Cornell record books, with the second-most 3-pointers in a single-game for the Big Red. The record was set by Keri Farley, who connected on nine treys at Georgetown on Dec. 20, 1993. McMunigal joins Kayleen Fitzsimmons (vs. Harvard on March 3, 2006), as well as Suzy Onze (at Princeton on March 5, 1994 and vs. Brown Feb. 18, 1994), who have both registered seven 3-pointers in a game.

SHARE AND SHARE ALIKE – So far this season, the Big Red has assisted on 71.2 percent of its made shots (99-of-139). That is the best percentage during Coach Smith's tenure, including the 2007-08 season in which Cornell set the school record for assists (436-of-659 – 66.1%).

ALL TOURNAMENT TEAM – Allie Fedorowicz was named to the All-Tournament team of the Maggie Dixon Classic, as she led the Big Red in scoring in both games. Against No. 17 DePaul, Fedorowicz went 5-for-9, including 4-for-6 from 3-point range to lead Cornell with 14 points vs. the Blue Demons. The following day vs. Tennessee State, Fedorowicz registered a game-high 24 points, shooting an incredible 8-of-9 from the field and 3-of-4 from beyond the arc, to go along with five rebounds, three assists and one steal. For the weekend, she shot an impressive 72 percent from the field and 70 percent from 3-point range.

FOR THE (ASSIST) RECORD – Lauren Benson set the school record for assists in a single game with 12 vs. Tennessee State on Nov. 21, breaking a record that had been held by her and five other former Cornell players. Benson already owns the single season assist record (156 in 2007-08) and is just 59 helpers away from the career record.

SCORES A LOT – Cornell racked up 92 points vs. Tennessee State on Nov. 22. That is the highest point output by the Big Red during Coach Smith's tenure and is the most since Cornell scored 90 at Canisius in a two-point loss on Sept. 27, 1998.

HALFTIME HIGH – The Big Red registered 54 points in the opening half of play vs. Tennessee State on Nov. 22, the most points scored in a single half during Coach Smith's time at Cornell. The previous high of 50 points occurred vs. Yale on Feb. 20, 2008.

WELCOME HOME – For the first time since coming to East Hill, senior Lauren Benson returned to her home state as the Big Red traveled to Chicago, Ill., to take part in DePaul's Maggie Dixon Classic. Benson made the consolation game vs. Tennessee State a memorable one for her many fans in the stands, as she set the Cornell record for assists in a single game with 12.

DOUBLE-DIGIT ROOKIES – In the first games of their collegiate careers vs. Duquesne, both Clare Fitzpatrick and Taylor Flynn registered 11 points for the Big Red. The last time Cornell had two freshman reach double-digits in the same game came on March 3, 2006 vs. Harvard when Kayleen Fitzsimmons and Jeomi Maduka tallied 23 and 15 points, respectively.

HELPING HAND – With her seven assists vs. IUPUI, Lauren Benson surpassed Kacee English to move into third place in Cornell history for career assists. Currently, Benson has 406 career assists, sitting just 19 assists behind Patty Mills (2nd – 425). Benson, who set the school record for assists in a single-season (156) in 2007-08, needs just 53 more to become the Big Red's all-time leader in career assists.

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 26-14 in front of the Newman Nation.

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 75 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 34 games, dating back to the end of the 2007-08 season. Allie Munson leads the team with 17 career blocks, while Christine Vlasic has 14 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.

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. Over the past two seasons, Benson has played a full 40 minutes in 10-of-32 contests, not including the Columbia game on Jan. 24, 2009, in which she played 39:34, riding the bench for just 26 seconds. Benson has racked up 14 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.

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.

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.

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 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.

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.

UP NEXT – Cornell enters its study-break period following the game with Colgate. The Big Red will return to action on Saturday, Dec. 19 when it travels to Riverdale, N.Y., to take on Manhattan College at 7 p.m.