GAME #1: Cornell at Duquesne
TIP OFF: Sunday, Nov. 16, at 1:00 p.m.
SITE: Paulumbo Center (5,358); Pittsburgh, Pa.
SERIES RECORD: Duquesne leads, 2-0
LAST MEETING: Duquesne won, 67-40, on Dec. 28, 2004 at Newman Arena (Ithaca, N.Y.)
LIVE RADIO: None
LIVE AUDIO: www.CornellBigRed.com
THE MATCHUP – The Big Red opens the 38th season in women's basketball program history this weekend as it travels to Pittsburgh, Pa., to take on Duquesne on Sunday, Nov. 16, at 1 p.m. Cornell is coming off a season in which it set the school record for wins (20) and conference wins (11), while earning the first Ivy League championship and first NCAA tournament appearance in program history. The Dukes open their season on Friday, Nov. 14, as they play host to Morehead State.
THE SERIES VS. DUQUESNE — Cornell's rivalry with Duquesne is a short one, as the teams have met only twice. The Dukes have won both games, taking the first meeting during the 2003-04 season (77-62), as well as the return trip the following season (67-40).
SCOUTING THE DUKES – Duquesne, led by second-year head coach Suzie McConnell-Serio, was selected to finish eighth overall in the Atlantic 10 preseason media poll. The Dukes return the reigning A-10 Defensive Player of the Year, Kristi Little. The senior guard was also named to the 2008-09 A-10 Preseason All-Conference First-Team. Little finished last season leading the conference in steals (3.3 spg) and was the league's fourth leading scorer (16.3 ppg), scoring in double-digits in all 30 games last season. The Dukes have played two exhibition games going into the 2008-09 season, winning both by an average of 49.5 points as they defeated Team Essence, 91-44, and Clarion, 92-40. Little led six Dukes in double figures against Team Essence with 19 points and 10 assists, while junior Keri Pryor registered a 12-point, 10-rebound double-double. Against Clarion, Eve Pyle had a double-double of 10 points and 11 rebounds and Amanda Peck recorded a game-high 13 points to lead Duquesne, while Little added 12 points and nine assists.
LAST TIME VS. DUQUESNE – The Dukes got double-doubles from Loui Hall and Nicole Sinclair and Duquesne head coach Dan Durkin picked up his 150th career coaching win as the Dukes defeated Cornell, 67-40. Duquesne pressured the Big Red into 22 miscues and limited Cornell to 25 percent shooting for the game while Hall and Sinclair recorded 11 points and 10 rebounds and 15 points and 10 boards, respectively. Aiga Bautre netted a game-high 22 points, to go along with five assists in the win. Two-time Ivy League Rookie of the Week Lindsay Krasna scored 18 points and grabbed three rebounds as the lone Cornell player to reach double figures. Claire Perry chipped in with eight points and a career-best four assists, while Megan Hughes tallied a team-high six rebounds.
A CORNELL WIN WOULD —
• Improve Cornell to 1-0 on the year.
• Give the Big Red its first win in the series, making Duquesne's record against Cornell 2-1.
• Be Coach Smith's first victory vs. an Atlantic 10 opponent.
• Make Cornell 7-11 all-time vs. the current members of the A-10.
• Improve the Big Red to 18-20 in season openers.
CORNELL VS. THE ATLANTIC 10 — Cornell dropped two games to Atlantic 10 opponents last season (Dayton and St. Bonaventure) to fall to 6-11 all-time vs. the current members of the A-10. All six victories have come vs. St. Bonaventure (6-4). The Big Red holds a losing record vs. Dayton (0-1), Duquesne (0-2), Fordham (0-1), UMass (0-1) and Richmond (0-1), while never having faced Charlotte, George Washington, La Salle, Rhode Island, Saint Joseph's, Saint Louis or Xavier ... Coach Smith, who played (1992-96) and served as interim head coach (1999) at A-10 member Rhode Island, is 0-6 against her former conference.
ON THE AIR – Big Red fans can enjoy a new way to follow the squad for the 2008-09 season, as the Cornell Department of Athletics and Physical Education has teamed up with WVBR 93.5 FM (Ithaca) to provide coverage of nearly every Big Red women's basketball game this season. The broadcast team of Jay Sage and Jared Feldman will provide the call for every game, with the exception of the contests at the URI Classic, as well as the game at IUPUI. Every other game will be broadcast live on either WVBR 93.5 FM (Ithaca), on www.WVBR.com, or as part of the Cornell RedCast package at www.CornellBigRed.com. Please check the women's basketball schedule page at www.CornellBigRed.com for details.
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 2008-09. Visit www.CornellBigRed.com for all of the official statistics.
PRESEASON PREDICTIONS — Cornell was chosen to finish third in the Ivy League, earning three first-place votes, according to the preseason media poll. Harvard and Dartmouth were selected to finish ahead of the Big Red, with the Crimson tabbed to win the conference with 10 of a possible 17 first-place votes. The Big Green picked up four first-place votes to finish 13 points ahead of Cornell. Yale was selected fourth overall with 83 points, while Columbia finished right behind in fifth-place with 74 points. Penn (52), Princeton (46) and Brown (18) rounded out the bottom three.
FOR OPENERS – Cornell has a 17-20 all-time record in season openers. Coach Dayna Smith has posted a 1-5 record in season openers during her time with the Big Red.
WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS – The 2007-08 Cornell women's basketball team won the first Ivy League title in program history, finishing the year with an 11-3 conference record.
BIG RED DANCERS – Cornell, which won a share of the Ivy League title along with Dartmouth and Harvard, earned the right to represent the Ancient Eight in the 2008 NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament by defeating the Big Green, 64-47, in a play off game held at Columbia's Levien Gym on March 16, 2008. It was the first postseason berth in the history of the Big Red women's basketball program.
HONORABLE MENTION – Lauren Benson was named All-Ivy honorable mention last season. Benson was the Big Red's most improved player during the year, leading Cornell, the Ivy League and ranking 24th in the nation with 5.38 assists per game. She also chipped in 6.9 points and 3.5 rebounds per game, while shooting a conference-best 46.2 percent from 3-point range. Her assist/turnover ratio was second-best in the league (1.44) and she ranked 10th in the conference in 3-pointers made per contest (1.24 pg).
SWAT TEAM – Senior Shannan Scarselletta currently ranks ninth in Cornell history with 45 career blocks.
HELPING HAND – Lauren Benson currently ranks ninth in Cornell history with 228 career assists, sitting just 25 assists behind Mary LaMacchia. Benson's career total comes in large part thanks to a sophomore season in which she averaged a team-high 5.4 assists per game, good for first in the Ivy League and 24th in the country. She also set the school record for assists in a single-season (156), breaking the old mark of 140.
CAREER DAY – When Lauren Benson handed out eight assists vs. Long Island on Nov. 10, 2007, it marked the most assists in a single-game for a Cornell player since Lindsay Krasna dished out eight assists at Dartmouth on Jan. 29, 2005. Benson matched that total three times more last season (Colgate, Dayton and Yale) before setting a new career-high with nine assists vs. Texas A&M-CC. She handed out nine assists again at NJIT on Jan. 15.
STEPPING UP — Lauren Benson and Virginia McMunigal became bigger parts of the Cornell offense last season, as Benson registered double-figures in nine games, while McMunigal did it three times. During their entire rookie campaigns, Benson reached double-digits just once, while McMunigal had never reached double-figures.
IRISH NATIONAL – Freshman 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 and finished the 2006 season with the national team as the leading rebounder with 8.3 caroms per game.
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.
DON'T I KNOW YOU? – There is a familiar face on the sideline for the Big Red this season as Moïna Snyder '09 has returned to serve as a volunteer assistant for her former team. A two-time All-Ivy selection, Snyder helped Cornell to the first Ivy League championship and NCAA tournament berth in women's basketball history during the 2007-08 season. Despite only playing two seasons for the Big Red, she finished her career ranking in the top 10 of 10 season and career categories at Cornell, including career field goal percentage (.500 – second), career rebound average (5.8 – ninth), career blocks (66 – fifth), season field goal percentage (.513 – third, .489 – 10th), season blocks (36 – fourth, 30 – sixth), season block average (1.3 – fifth), season games played (29 – first) and season games started (29 – first). Snyder, a native of Nice, France, is pursuing a degree in biological sciences in Cornell's College of Arts and Sciences.
SWEET 70 – When Cornell defeated Princeton, 76-59, on March 8, 2008, it marked the 16th-straight game in which the Big Red scored at least 70 points and went on to win the contest. The last time Cornell scored 70 or more points and lost was on Feb. 4, 2006, when the Big Red dropped an 80-71 decision at Harvard.
AWKWARD TURTLE – Senior Shannan Scarselletta currently writes one of the most popular Op-Ed articles in the school paper, The Cornell Daily Sun. Her column, entitled Awkward Turtle, appears alternate Mondays throughout the school year.
PACK THE HOUSE – This season, Cornell will take part in the NCAA's Pack the House Challenge. The event, which will take place on Saturday, Feb. 7 as the Big Red plays host to Penn, allows NCAA member schools to compete against schools in their own conference, as well as all Division I schools, for a chance to win prizes by setting an attendance record.
PINK ZONE – Once again, the Big Red will take part in the Women's Basketball Coaches Association's Pink Zone initiative on Saturday, Feb. 21 as it played host to Brown. Pink Zone, formerly known as Think Pink, is a global, unified effort for the WBCA nation of coaches to assist in raising breast cancer awareness on the court, across campuses, in communities and beyond. Last season, over 500 fans came out to support the cause and watch Cornell defeat Dartmouth, 50-43.
NON-CONFERENCE RECORD — With the 75-60 victory over NJIT last season, the Big Red finished the non-conference portion of its schedule with an 8-5 record. That matched the most non-conference wins in school history and is the most since the 1999-2000 squad went 8-4. Since the formation of Ivy League women's basketball, the Big Red has won eight non-conference games on just five occasions (1982-83, 1983-84, 1986-87, 1999-2000, 2007-08).
HOME SWEET HOME — Cornell went a perfect 7-0 in Ivy League play at Newman Arena last season, marking the first time in program history that the women's basketball program had an undefeated conference slate at home. Overall, the Big Red lost just one home contest on the season, dropping a 70-54 decision to Bowling Green during the Cornell Classic on Dec. 1.
D-E-F-E-N-S-E — Cornell finished the 2007-08 season ranked 55th out of 326 Division I schools in scoring defense, allowing opponents only 58.9 points per game. The Big Red held opponents to less than 60 points in 18 of its 29 games that season.
REVERSAL OF FORTUNE – Lauren Benson finished the 2007-08 season ranked first in the Ivy League in assists per game (5.4). That was a huge improvement from her rookie season, when she ended the year ranked 10th in the conference in that same category with 2.67 assists per game.
GOING STREAKING – Cornell enjoyed an eight-game winning streak before falling to both Dartmouth and Harvard on Feb. 29 and March 1, 2008, respectively. The eight games proved to be a school record, eclipsing a mark that was set when the Big Red closed the 1972-73 season and opened the 1973-74 season with seven victories in a row. At the time that the streak was broken, the eight straight wins was good for 16th in the nation.
TEAM ASSISTS — The Big Red was very efficient on the offensive end last year, registering assists on 66.1 percent of its made shots (436 assists, 659 field goals). Meanwhile, Cornell's opponents have had to work harder to get their shots, assisting on just 52.6% of its made shots (340 ast., 646 FGM).
THE BIG SCORE – Cornell averaged 65.8 points per game during the 2007-08 season, the most ever under coach Smith.
POINT PRODUCTION — The 85 points scored by Cornell vs. Harvard on Feb. 15, 2008 was the highest point total scored by the Big Red since Coach Smith took over the program. Earlier during the season, Cornell hung 82 points on Colgate, which ranks fourth overall for the most points scored by a Coach Smith team.
3-POINT THREAT — Cornell finished the 2007-08 season ranked fourth in the nation in 3-point percentage (39.4%) and 21st overall in 3-pointers per game (6.9).
GET A GRIP – The Big Red turned the ball over a season-low six times last season at Penn on Feb. 9, 2008. That matched the school record for the lowest number of turnovers by Cornell in a single game, which was accomplished just once previously, at Princeton on March 9, 1985.
21-OF-21 – Cornell set an NCAA team-high for the season last year when it connected on 100 percent of its free throw attempts (21-of-21) at Penn on Feb. 9, 2008. Last season, 10 schools made 100 percent of its free throw attempts (min. 15 made), but only Cornell made more than 20, with the next highest being Manhattan (19-of-19) vs. Fairfield.
COACHING HISTORY — With her two victories vs. Brown and Yale on the weekend of Feb. 1-2, 2008, Coach Smith moved into third place in Cornell women's basketball history in number of wins with 53. Smith ended the 2007-08 season with 62 career wins and needs just three more to surpass Linda Lerch (1981-88), who ranks second with 64. Former coach Marnie Dacko (1995-2002) ranks first all-time in wins with 80.
BIG D – Cornell has held opponents to less than 45 points in a game on 11 occasions since Coach Smith took over the program, including four times during the 2007-08 season and four times during the 2006-07 season. When the Big Red held Brown to just 37 points on Feb. 1, 2008, it was the second-lowest point total by a Cornell opponent during Smith's tenure, a distinction that also belongs to the Bears, who managed only 36 points on Feb. 24, 2007.
WINNING BIG — When Cornell defeated Colgate, 82-47 on Dec. 18, 2007, it was the largest margin of victory (35 points) for the Big Red in over eight years. Just over one month later, Cornell nearly matched that output when it beat Brown by 33 points, 70-37. Prior to the 2007-08 season, the last time Cornell defeated a team by more than 30 points came on Nov. 11, 1999 when it outpaced Canisius, 85-50.
MILESTONE WINS — With Cornell's 75-60 victory over NJIT last season, Coach Smith earned the 50th win of her career. The victory was also the 300th win in the history of the Cornell women's basketball program.
20-POINT PERFORMANCE — Shannan Scarselletta is the only current Big Red player to have registered 20 points during her career, accomplishing the feat against Princeton on Jan. 14, 2006.
ON THE BOARDS — Last year, the Big Red grabbed a season-high 59 rebounds vs. Texas A&M-CC, the most rebounds in a single game by a Cornell team since the 2005-06 squad pulled down 59 rebounds in back-to-back contests vs. Columbia.
UP NEXT – The Big Red opens the home portion of its schedule on Wednesday, Nov. 19, as it plays host to Albany at Newman Arena at 7 p.m.
