ITHACA, N.Y. – For the second night in a row junior Virginia McMunigal set a career high, scoring 24 points to lead the Cornell University women's basketball team to a 68-58 victory over Brown this evening at Newman Arena. The Big Red overcame a seven point deficit late in the second half to even its Ivy League record at 5-5 while improving to 9-13 overall. The game was played as part of the WBCA's Pink Zone initiative to raise awareness and money for breast cancer research and nearly 500 fans came out to cheer Cornell onto victory.

 

McMunigal connected on 9-of-16 from the floor and 6-of-12 from beyond the arc, grabbed four rebounds, including two critical offensive rebounds in the final two minutes of the game. Joining McMunigal in double –figures was Lauren Benson, who scored 14 points, handed out a game-high eight assists and grabbed six rebounds. Freshman Allison Abt had a solid game with eight points and a game-high eight rebounds, while Shannan Scarselletta and Allie Fedorowicz chipped in nine and eight points, respectively.

 

Brown (3-21, 1-9) was led by three players in double-digits, with Courtney Lee's 13 points leading the way. Lee also grabbed five rebounds and came up with three steals. Shea Fitzpatrick and Sarah Delk scored 12 points apiece, with Delk grabbing four rebounds.  

 

Cornell went into half time trailing, 32-30, but shot an impressive 59.1 percent in the second stanza, including a mark of 57.1 from 3-point range to take the victory. The Big Red finished the night shooting 46.2 percent overall and 42.3 percent from beyond the arc. Brown, on the other hand, put up impressive shooting numbers in the first half, but saw their production slip to 33.3 percent overall and 22.2 percent from 3-point range in the second to finish the evening shooting 39.3 percent for the game and 35.3 percent from beyond the arc.

 

The Big Red held the 37-28 edge in rebounds and both teams took care of the basketball with Cornell turning it over 14 times, while Brown turned it over just 11 times.

 

The game was a tightly contested one early-on, but the Big Red kept a slim lead throughout the first 10 minutes of play thanks to McMunigal, who scored 15 of Cornell's first 19 points to give the home team the slim 19-18 advantage at the 9:21 mark. The highlight of McMunigal's performance came 12 minutes into the contest when she hit back-to-back 3-pointers on consecutive Cornell possessions, with both shots finding the net as the shot clock expired.

 

Brown's Becky Jacobson hit a jumper at the 8:59 mark to give the visitors their first lead of the game, but the advantage was short lived as Benson answered with a jumper on the other end. The teams traded baskets twice more before a 8-0 scoring run by Brown gave the Bears a 30-24 lead with 3:29 to play in the opening half.

 

A single free throw by Christine Vlasic ended the Cornell drought and the Big Red went on to score the next five points with a trey by Fedorowicz and a layup by Vlasic to knot the game at 30-30 with 53 seconds remaining until halftime. The Bears' Amy Earhart scored just 20 second later and Cornell couldn't get the equalizer before time expired to go into the intermission trailing, 32-30.

 

Brown opened the second half with a 9-2 scoring run to build a 41-32 advantage at the 17:09 mark before extending its lead to double-digits just two minutes later, 45-34.

 

The Big Red responded with seven-straight points off a jumper by Benson, a layup from Scarselletta and a trey by Fedorowicz to make it a 45-41 game with just over 12 minutes to play. The Bears pushed their lead back to seven points, 53-46, at the 7:35 mark, but once again, Cornell answered, this time with a decisive 12-2 scoring run to take over the contest.

 

The run opened with a layup by Scarselletta and a trey by Benson before Delk hit a layup for the Bears. From there it was all Cornell, with McMunigal hitting a trey and a runner in the lane, before Scarselletta knocked down a jumper to make it 58-55 with 3:49 to play.

 

A single free throw by Lee ended the Brown drought, but a jumper by Benson pushed Cornell's lead to four points, 60-56. The teams traded free throws on the next two processions, before the Big Red got seven unanswered points to take the 68-58 victory.

 
The Big Red remains in Ithaca, as it plays host to Dartmouth and Harvard at Newman Arena on Feb. 27 and 28, respectively. Both games are slated to tip off at 7 p.m.