Boxscore
PROVIDENCE, R.I. – The Cornell women’s basketball team took Brown down to the wire, but in the end, the Bears were able to pull away for the 61-54 victory this evening at the Pizzitola Sports Center in Providence, R.I.
For the second night in a row, Allie Fedorowicz led the Big Red with 20 points, while adding five rebounds and an assist. Also in double-figures for Cornell was Clare Fitzpatrick with 12 points, while Allie Munson pulled down a team-high 10 rebounds.
Brown (6-14, 3-3) was led by Hannah Passafuime’s 22 points, while Natalie Bonds posted a 10-point, 12-rebound double-double. Also in double figures for the Bears was Christina Johnson (11), who added eight rebounds as well.
The Big Red outshot Brown, hitting 38 percent (19-50) overall and 35.3 percent (6-17) from 3-point range, while the Bears connected on just 32.8 percent (20-61) overall and 28.6 percent (4-14) from beyond the arc. However, Brown took 32 trips to the free throw line, making 17, compared to the Big Red’s 18 attempts, which resulted in just 10 points.
Brown also held the significant edge in rebounds, 45-37, and forced 19 Cornell turnovers with nine steals. The Bears turned the ball over just 12 times and the Big Red registered just one steal on the evening.
Cornell used some tough defense to hold Brown scoreless over the opening minutes as Cornell built a 5-0 lead at the 16:50 mark off a trey by Virginia McMunigal and a pair of made free throws by Fedorowicz. Back-to-back baskets by the Bears knotted the game at 5-5, but Fedorowicz nailed a 3-pointer to return the lead to Cornell.
Passafuime made a pair of free throws to make it a one-point game, but a tough layup by Fitzpatick on the other end pushed the Big Red lead back to three points, 10-7, with 13:52 remaining the half.
A jumper by Aileen Daniels brought the home team back to within one-point, but a trey by Lauren Benson started a 6-0 scoring run to give the Big Red a 16-9 lead at the 10:01 mark. During the run, Cornell got a free throw from Fitzpatrick and a jumper from Taylor Flynn.
Four straight points by Sheila Dixon brought Brown within three points, but a trey from the corner by Flynn made it a 19-13 game with 5:59 to play in the opening half. Benson had the assist on that basket, giving the senior point guard the Cornell record for career assists with 460.
Brown cut the Big Red lead back to one-point on a trey from Passafuime and took its first lead of the game on a jumper from the top of the key by Daniels. A layup by Johnson put the home team up by three, 23-20 with 2:23 showing on the clock, but four straight points by Fedorowicz returned the one-point lead to Cornell with 1:47 remaining in the half.
Neither team managed to score the rest of the way and the Big Red took the slim one-point lead into the intermission.
A jumper by Fitzpatrick opened the scoring in the second half, but six straight Brown points, four of which came on free throws, gave the Bears the 29-26 lead with 17:56 to play. Fedorowicz ended the Bears’ run with a jumper in the paint and then returned the 31-29 lead to the Big Red with a trey at the 16:50 mark.
Passifuime knotted the game at 31-31 and a back-door layup from Natalie Bonds returned the two-point lead to Brown. The lead was short-lived, however, as Fitzpatrick nailed a jumper from the left wing to tie the game at 33-33.
The teams traded baskets for the next six minutes with neither team taking more than a two-point lead before both teams went cold, with neither scoring for the next three minutes. A single made free throw by Bonds ended the drought and gave Brown a 42-41 lead with 6:52 to play in the game.
A jumper by Fedorowicz from the right elbow on the next possession gave Cornell the one-point lead, but a traditional three-point play by Bonds on Brown’s next trip down the court down the court gave the home team a 45-43 lead.
A single made free throw by Benson brought Cornell within one-point, but Passafuime answered with a pair from the charity stripe to push the Bears’ lead back to three points, 47-44, with exactly four minutes to play.
Once again, Benson connected on a single free throw to cut the Brown lead to two points, but a deep trey by Aileen Daniels put the home team up by five points, 50-45, at the 3:12 mark. The Bears outscored Cornell, 11-9, down the stretch to take the 61-54 victory.
Cornell (5-14, 0-6) returns home for the first time in nearly a month as it welcomes Penn and Princeton to Newman Arena on Friday, Feb. 12 and Saturday, Feb. 13, respectively. Both games are slated to tip-off at 7:00 p.m.