ITHACA, N.Y. – The Cornell University women's basketball team defeated St. Francis (N.Y.), 59-48, this evening at Newman Arena in Ithaca, N.Y. With the win, the Big Red evens its record to 2-2, while the Terriers remain winless at 0-4 on the season.
Senior Shannan Scarselletta registered team-highs with 14 points and eight rebounds, while handing out a career-high five assists and matching a career-high with five steals. Junior Virginia McMunigal kept the Big Red in the game early-on with 10 first-half points before finishing the evening with 13 points and six rebounds, while classmate Lauren Benson tallied 10 points and handed out eight assists.
SFC was led by Kara Ayers and Kendra Williams with 19 and 11 points, respectively, while Kristin Leitheuser grabbed a game-high 12 rebounds.
Cornell shot 42.3 percent from the floor and an impressive 44.4 percent from the arc, while holding the Terriers to just 26.2 percent from the floor and 21.1 percent from three-point range. SFC held the slight edge in rebounds, 41-38, and forced 17 Big Red turnovers with six steals, while turning the ball over just 13 times.
The game featured five ties and seven lead changes in the first half of play, but Cornell opened the second half with a 10-2 scoring run to take a commanding lead that it would not relinquish.
The Big Red opened the game with a layup by Scarselletta and back-to-back 3-pointers from McMunigal and
Allie Fedorowicz to jump out to a 8-4 lead at the 17:24 mark, but SFC stormed back thanks to seven straight points from Ayers to take the 11-10 lead with just under 15 minutes to play in the first half.
The Terriers took their largest lead of the game approximately three minutes later, going up 18-14 on a 3-pointer by Kristen Miah.
A 3-pointer by
Lacey Workman, followed by a jumper from McMunigal returned the lead to Cornell, 19-18, and after a layup by Ayers the Big Red used a 12-3 scoring run to take a 31-23 lead with 5:56 remaining in the half.
SFC closed the opening stanza on an 8-2 run of its own to pull within two points as Cornell took the 33-31 lead into the intermission.
A driving layup by Scarselltta on the opening play of the second half set the tone as the Big Red offense began to click. Cornell extended its lead to 12 points just six minutes in as Benson scored on a layup and then nailed a 3-pointer to make it a 45-33 game.
The Terriers fought back, thanks to five points by Williams, to pull back within six points, 46-40, but back-to-back layups by
Allie Munson and Scarselletta ended the threat and pushed Cornell's lead back to double-digits, 50-40, with just under 10 minutes remaining in the contest.
Cornell eventually pushed its lead to its largest of the evening, 59-43, when
Susie Doyle connected on a layup, to go up by 16 points at the 3:20 mark.
SFC closed the game with five straight points to account for the 59-48 final.
The Big Red travels to Coach Smith's alma mater Rhode Island this weekend to take part in the URI Classic. Cornell will face Central Connecticut State on Friday, Nov. 28, before taking on Division I newcomer Bryant on Saturday, Nov. 29. Both games will take place at the Ryan Center on the University of Rhode Island campus and are slated to begin at noon.
