Game Notes in PDF Format 

Game #1: Cornell vs. Duquesne
Tip off: Friday, Nov. 13, at 7:00 p.m. (Newman Arena)
Series Record: Duquesne leads, 3-0
Last Meeting: Duquesne won, 93-49, on Nov. 16, 2008 (Pittsburgh, Pa.)

Game #2: Cornell vs. Ithaca
Tip off: Sunday, Nov. 15, at 1:00 p.m. (Newman Arena)
Series Record: Ithaca leads, 11-7
Last Meeting: Cornell won, 66-38, on Jan. 2, 2007 (Ithaca, N.Y.)

Live Radio (Friday ONLY): WVBR, 93.5 FM
Live Stats: http://livestats.internetconsult.com/cornell/wbball/
Live Video: http://www.cornellbigred.com/showcase/

 

THE MATCHUP – For the first time in head coach Dayna Smith's eight-year tenure, Cornell will open a season at home, as it welcomes Duquesne to Newman Arena on Friday, Nov. 13. Two days later, the Big Red will battle for local bragging rights as it plays host to crosstown rival Ithaca College on Sunday, Nov. 15.

THE SERIES VS. DUQUESNE — Cornell's rivalry with Duquesne is a short one, as the teams have met only three times. The Dukes have won all three games, winning in back-to-back seasons (2003-04, 2004-05), as well as last year's meeting in Pittsburgh, Pa., 93-49.

SCOUTING THE DUKES – Duquesne was picked to finish tied for sixth place with St. Bonaventure in the Atlantic 10's preseason poll of league coaches and media. The team will be led by senior guard Keri Pryor and redshirt junior forward Samantha Pollino, who were named preseason third-team all-conference selections. Pryor is coming off a 2008-09 season where she set career-highs in points, rebounds and assists. The three-year starter is the Dukes' leading returning scorer, averaging 11.3 points per contest last season. Pollino had a career year in 2008-09, as she finished fourth in A-10 Conference games with 14.5 point per game

LAST TIME VS. DUQUESNE – Cornell kicked off its 2008-09 season with a 93-49 loss to Duquesne at the Palumbo Center in Pittsburgh, Pa. Lauren Benson led Cornell with 11 points to go along with five rebounds and three assists, while Shannan Scarselletta added 10 points and a team-high six rebounds. Allie Fedorowicz was the Big Red's only other scorer in double-figures with 10 points. Duquesne got 23 points from Rachel Frederick and 22 points from Samantha Pollino, while Kristi Little came up with five steals. The Dukes shot 50 percent from the field (37-for-74) and 28.6 percent from 3-point range (6-for-21), Cornell connected on just 31.3 percent overall (15-for-48) and 30.0 percent from beyond the arc (6-for-20). Duquesne held the slight edge in rebounds, 40-37, but forced 34 Big Red turnovers.

CORNELL VS. THE ATLANTIC 10 — Cornell dropped two games to Atlantic 10 opponents last season (Duquesne and St. Bonaventure) to fall to 6-13 all-time vs. the current members of the A-10. All six victories have come vs. St. Bonaventure (6-5). The Big Red holds a losing record vs. Dayton (0-1), Duquesne (0-3), 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 0-8 against her former conference.

THE SERIES VS. ITHACA – In just the third-ever game in the history of the Cornell women's basketball program, the Big Red took on Ithaca College and dropped a 44-42 squeaker. The Bombers went on to win the next 10 contests before Cornell took its first win with a decisive 61-37 victory during the 1982-83 season. The Big Red has cut Ithaca's lead in the series to 11-7 by winning the next six games, including a 66-38 victory in 2006-07.

SCOUTING THE BOMBERS – Ithaca College, a Division III school, has been a force in the Empire 8 Conference, winning seven tournament or regular-season titles in the past 10 years. The team went 19-10 last season and reached the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Upstate NY title game, where it fell to St. John Fisher College. The Bombers return three starters, including Empire 8 first-team selection Katherine Bixby, who is the team's top-returning scorer with 11.9 points per game.

LAST TIME VS. ITHACA – After a 20-year hiatus, the Big Red met Ithaca on the hardwood and defeated its crosstown rival, 66-38, on Jan. 2, 2007. The point total was the lowest by a Cornell opponent during Coach Smith's tenure. Moïna Snyder led all scorers with 15 points and grabbed nine rebounds, while Claire Perry chipped in 11. Lauren Benson added nine points and handed out six assists. Ithaca (2-7) was led by Katherine Bixby with 10 points. The game was a back and forth battle for the first 10 minutes. In all, there were seven lead changes and two ties before the Big Red took the lead for good, going up, 15-14, on a layup by Snyder at the 9:18 mark. The Big Red closed the first half on a 20-2 run and opened the second half by scoring 12 unanswered points before Bixby connected on a free throw at 11:39 to make it 47-17. The Big Red would use its bench liberally as it cruised to the 66-38 victory. Cornell shot 38.6 percent from the floor for the game, including 40 percent from 3-point range, and held a dominant advantage on the boards, outrebounding Ithaca, 40-27.

CORNELL VS. THE EMPIRE 8 – Cornell is 16-25 all-time vs. the current members of the Empire 8, but has played only one game vs. a member of the conference since the 1987-88 season. The Big Red holds a winning record vs. Hartwick (9-6), but has a losing mark against Ithaca (7-11), Nazareth (0-3), St. John Fisher College (0-1) and Utica (0-4). Cornell has never faced Alfred, Elmira or RIT in women's basketball.

ON THE AIR – For the second straight season, Big Red fans are able to follow the squad on the radio, as the Cornell Department of Athletics and Physical Education teams 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.

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.

FOR OPENERS – The Big Red owns a 17-21 all-time record in season openers. Coach Dayna Smith has posted a 1-6 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).

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 percent 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 24-13 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 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.

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.

HELPING HAND – With her 10 assists in the final weekend of action during the 2008-09 season, Lauren Benson jumped into third place in Cornell history for assists in a single season (134), edging out Karen Force by a single helper (133 in 2003-04) ... Benson currently ranks fourth overall in Big Red history with 362 career assists, sitting just 31 assists behind Kacee English in third place. 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) that year, breaking the old mark of 140.

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.

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 72 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 blocked at least one shot in each of its 26 games during the 2008-09 season. Leading the way was Shannan Scarselletta '09 with 18 blocks, but nipping the senior's heels was Allie Munson with 16.

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.

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.

UP NEXT – Cornell travels to the DePaul Classic next weekend as the Big Red will play the host Blue Demons on Nov. 20 at 5:30 p.m., before facing either San Diego or Tennessee State the next day in the consolation/championship games at 5:30 p.m. or 7:30 p.m., respectively.