Game Notes (PDF)

Game #22: Cornell vs. Harvard
Tip off: Friday, Feb. 19, at 7:00 p.m. (Ithaca, N.Y.)
Series Record: Harvard leads, 52-11
Last Meeting: Harvard won, 69-53, Jan. 30, 2010 (Cambridge, Mass.)
2009-10 Records: Cornell (6-15, 1-7), Harvard (14-7, 5-2)
Live Audio: None
Live Stats: www.CornellBigRed.com
Live Video: www.CornellBigRed.com

Game #23: Cornell vs. Dartmouth
Tip off: Saturday, Feb. 20, at 7:00 p.m. (Ithaca, N.Y.)
Series Record: Dartmouth leads, 51-11
Last Meeting: Dartmouth won, 55-53, Jan. 29, 2010 (Hanover, N.H.)
2009-10 Records: Cornell (6-15, 1-7), Dartmouth (9-12, 4-3)
Live Audio: None
Live Stats: www.CornellBigRed.com
Live Video: www.CornellBigRed.com

THE MATCHUP – The Big Red wraps up a four-game home stand as it welcomes Harvard and Dartmouth to Newman Arena on Friday, Feb. 19 and Saturday, Feb. 20, respectively. Both games are slated to begin at 7 p.m. Cornell (6-15, 1-7) is coming off its first Ivy League win, as it defeated Penn last weekend, 59-52. Harvard (14-7, 5-2) has won three straight contests and sits in second place in the Ivy League, while Dartmouth (9-12, 4-3) has split its last three weekend series and is looking to make a late season push to get into the upper-half of the conference standings.

THE SERIES VS. HARVARD — The Big Red first played Harvard in the 1974-75 season with Cornell winning the contest, 36-20, but from there, the Crimson has controlled the series, leading the Big Red 52-11, including a perfect 31-0 in contests against Cornell played in Cambridge, Mass. The Big Red snapped a seven-game skid to the Crimson in the first meeting of the 2007-08 season with an 85-61 victory at Newman Arena, but have dropped the past four contests to Harvard.

SCOUTING THE CRIMSON – Harvard has won its last three games to improve to 14-7 on the season (5-2 Ivy). The team has four players averaging double-figures, led by Emma Markley, the team's leading scorer (14.7) and rebounder (7.1). Also in double figures are Brogan Berry (12.5), Victoria Lippert (12.1) and Christine Matera (11.2). Berry is also the league's assist-leader with 6.2 helpers per game.

LAST TIME VS. HARVARD – For the second night in a row, Cornell w gave one of the top programs in the Ivy League all it can handle, and for the second night in a row, the Big Red came up short as it fell to Harvard, 69-53, at Lavietes Pavilion. The freshman duo of Clare Fitzpatrick and Taylor Flynn turned in their second strong performance in as many nights with Fitzpatrick leading Cornell with 15 points and nine rebounds, while Flynn scored 11 points, grabbed six rebounds, handed out four assists and had two steals. Senior Lauren Benson added 14 points, six rebounds and had four helpers.Harvard (11-6, 2-1 Ivy) had four players in double-figures, including Christine Matera (16), Brogan Berry (14), Elle Hagerdorn (12) and Emma Markley (10). Berry also handed out seven assists. Victoria Lippert and Jackie Alemany had 13 and 11 rebounds, respectively, helping the Crimson to a 47-35 advantage on the boards. Cornell (5-12, 0-4 Ivy) shot 31.6 percent from the floor and 30.8 percent from 3-point range, while Harvard connected on 41 percent overall and 33.3 from beyond the arc.

THE SERIES VS. DARTMOUTH — Cornell's rivalry with Dartmouth began in the 1976-77 season when the Big Red squeaked out a 50-49 victory, but the Big Green has dominated ever since. Dartmouth holds the advantage in the all-time series, 51-11, but had an 11-game winning streak ended during the 2007-08 season when the Big Red earned a 50-43 victory at Newman Arena. Dartmouth responded by winning the next meeting, 46-44 at Leede Arena on Feb. 29, before Cornell won the Ivy League playoff game against the Big Green two weekends later to earn the program's first-ever trip to the NCAA tournament. The teams split the series last season and Dartmouth pulled out a squeaker in the first game this season, winning, 55-53, in Hanover, N.H.

SCOUTING THE BIG GREEN – Dartmouth has split the last three weekends, winning each Friday night Ivy League game before falling on Saturday night to bring a 9-12 overall record (4-3 Ivy) into Newman Arena. Brittney Smith is leading the Big Green, averaging a double-double with 12.4 points and 10.6 rebounds per game. Smith is also leading Dartmouth in assists (42), blocks (42) and steals (42). Helping Smith offensively is Faziah Steen with 8.7 points per game.

LAST TIME VS. DARTMOUTH – The Big Red took a 33-25 lead into the half, but couldn't hold off a surging Dartmouth team as the Big Green stole a 55-53 victory at Leede Arena. In their first- ever trip to Hanover, a pair of freshmen, Taylor Flynn and Clare Fitzpatrick came up big for Cornell setting career-highs in points and rebounds, respectively. Flynn led the Big Red with 19 points, thanks five 3-pointers, while Fitzpatrick posted her first career double-double with 10 points and a game-high 13 rebounds. Allie Fedorowicz broke out with 13 points and Lauren Benson handed out nine assists. Dartmouth (7-9, 3-0 Ivy) was led by Brittney Smith's 22-point, 12 rebound double-double, while Betsy Williams had nine points and Faziah Steen tallied six assists.Cornell returned to its early-season shooting form, connecting on 36.7 percent from the floor and 40.9 percent from 3-point range against an outstanding defensive Dartmouth team. The Big Green shot just 34.5 percent from the floor and was held to 27.3 percent from beyond the arc.The Big Green held a slight edge in rebounds, 37-35, and forced 21 turnovers with 11 steals. Dartmouth turned the ball over just 12 times.

PINK ZONE – Once again, the Big Red will take part in the Women's Basketball Coaches Association's Pink Zone initiative on Saturday, Feb. 20 as it played host to Dartmouth. 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, nearly 500 fans came out to support the cause and watch Cornell defeat Brown, 68-58. In the end, the Big Red raised over $1,500 for the Cancer Resource Center of the Finger Lakes.

IRON WOMAN – Over the past four seasons, no one has played more minutes than senior Lauren Benson, who has started the past 90 games. If Benson starts the final six games of the season, she will end her career as the Big Red leader in games started (97) and games played (109). Benson, who has averaged 32.5 minutes per game over her career, needs to average just 20 minutes per game the rest of the way to become Cornell's all-time leader in career minutes played (3,470).

RACKING UP THE POINTS – Allie Fedorowicz needs just nine more points to become the 15th highest scorer in Cornell history with 830 for her career.

SMARTY PANTS – Senior Virginia McMunigal has been selected to the ESPN The Magazine/CoSIDA Academic All-District second team for her work in the classroom and on the court. McMunigal, a two-year starter and one of the Big Red's top offensive threats, is an outstanding student with a 3.64 grade-point average in economics in Cornell's College of Arts and Sciences.

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 28-17 in front of the Newman Nation. The turnaround in Ivy League play has been even more impressive. During her first four seasons, Cornell was 9-19 at home in conference play. Since the start of the 2006-07 season, the Big Red has gone 16-8 against the Ancient Eight.

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 78 wins with the Big Red, sitting behind only former coach Marnie Dacko (1995-2002), who ranks first all-time in wins with 80.

FOR THE (ASSIST) RECORD – Lauren Benson set the school record for career assists when she assisted on a Taylor Flynn 3-pointer with 5:59 to play in the opening half vs. Brown on Feb. 6. Benson surpassed Karen Force '04, who previously held the top spot with 459 career helpers. Benson already owns the single season assist record (156 in 2007-08), as well as the single game mark with 12 vs. Tennessee State on Nov. 21, breaking a record that had been held by her and five other former Cornell players.

MOVING ON UP – With her six 3-pointers at Yale and Brown (Feb. 5 and Feb. 6), senior Allie Fedorowicz surpassed Karen Force '04 to move into second place in Cornell history for career 3-pointers with 132 treys. Classmates Virginia McMunigal and Lauren Benson have also moved into the top-10 list for career 3-pointers, ranking seventh with 107 and eighth with 106, respectively.

ROOKIE OF THE WEEK – Freshman forward Clare Fitzpatrick was named the Ivy League Rookie of the Week on Monday, Feb. 1. Fitzpatrick had a pair of solid outings as she opened the weekend with her first career-double-double, scoring 10 points and grabbing a career-high 13 rebounds against perennial Ivy League power Dartmouth. The next night against Harvard, Fitzpatrick led the Big Red with a team- and career-high 15 points, while pulling down nine caroms. She also showed her durability over the weekend, playing a full 40 minutes in both games.

ROOKIES OF THE WEEKEND – A pair of freshman led the Big Red in its games at Dartmouth and Harvard on Jan. 29 and 30, respectively. Taylor Flynn posted a career-high 19 points vs. the Big Green, while Fitzpartick posted her first career-double-double with 10 points and 13 rebounds. The next night, Fitzpatrick led the Big Red with a career-high 15 points, while Flynn chipped in 11 points.

NATIONAL RANKINGS – Cornell is making its mark in the national rankings, both as a team and individually. As of the rankings on Sunday, Feb. 14, the team ranks 48th in the nation in 3-point field goal percentage (35.4 percent), while senior point guard Lauren Benson is 18th in the country in assists per game (5.6).

SWAT TEAM – Cornell registered seven blocked shots in its first contest vs. Columbia. That is the most blocked shots for the Big Red in a single game since blocking seven against Gardner-Webb on Nov. 30, 2007.

THE HOT HAND – Allie Fedorowicz and Virginia McMunigal rank third and fourth, respectively, in the Ivy League in 3-point field goals made per game. McMunigal is third overall in 3-point field goal percentage, while Fedorowicz sits in eighth place.

MEETING MILESTONES – Senior Allie Fedorowicz accumulated 700 career points with her 10-point performance vs. Samford at the Marriott Cavalier Classic. Classmate Lauren Benson, who reached the 300-rebound plateau with her 10 caroms vs. Samford, surpassed 700 career points with a seven-point outing vs. Columbia on Jan. 16.

SHARE AND SHARE ALIKE – So far this season, the Big Red has assisted on 68.2 percent of its made shots (281-of-412). That is the best percentage during Coach Smith's tenure, including the 2007-08 season in which Cornell set the school record for assists (436-of-659 – 66.1%).

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. Over the past two seasons, Benson has played a full 40 minutes in 14 contests, not including two contests during her career in which she rode the bench for less than 30 seconds. Benson has racked up 16 complete games during her career. Only Karen Walker '91 (27) and Kacee English '97 (17) have played more 40-minute games than Benson.

SCORES A LOT – Cornell racked up 92 points vs. Tennessee State on Nov. 22. That is the highest point output by the Big Red during Coach Smith's tenure and is the most since Cornell scored 90 at Canisius in a two-point loss on Sept. 27, 1998.

HALFTIME HIGH – The Big Red registered 54 points in the opening half of play vs. Tennessee State on Nov. 22, the most points scored in a single half during Coach Smith's time at Cornell. The previous high of 50 points occurred vs. Yale on Feb. 20, 2008.

WELCOME HOME – For the first time since coming to East Hill, senior Lauren Benson returned to her home state as the Big Red traveled to Chicago, Ill., to take part in DePaul's Maggie Dixon Classic. Benson made the consolation game vs. Tennessee State a memorable one for her many fans in the stands, as she set the Cornell record for assists in a single game with 12.

DOUBLE-DIGIT ROOKIES – In the first games of their collegiate careers vs. Duquesne, both Clare Fitzpatrick and Taylor Flynn registered 11 points for the Big Red. The last time Cornell had two freshman reach double-digits in the same game came on March 3, 2006 vs. Harvard when Kayleen Fitzsimmons and Jeomi Maduka tallied 23 and 15 points, respectively.

ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM TIMES TWO – Allie Fedorowicz was named to the All-Tournament teams of both the Marriott Cavalier Classic and the Maggie Dixon Classic.

STUDYING THE OPPONENTS – With the victory over Manhattan on Dec. 19, Coach Smith's record following the annual Cornell two-week study break improved to 6-2 overall. Since the 1980-81 season, the Big Red is just 12-18 coming out of the study break.

FREE THROW FIENDS – The Big Red managed to defeat Manhattan, 71-67, on Dec. 19, despite the fact that Cornell did not hit a field goal for the final 6:54 of the game. A layup by Allie Munson put the Big Red up, 60-50, with 6:54 to play, but from there, Cornell's only scoring came at the foul line, where it converted 11-of-14 to hold on for the victory. During the stretch, Allie Fedorowicz came up big, scoring Cornell's final seven points as she went 7-for-8, including making three free throws in the final 15 seconds to seal the victory.

SENIOR STORM – Cornell's three seniors – Lauren Benson, Allie Fedorowicz and Virginia McMunigal – all scored in double-digits vs. Colgate on Dec. 3. The last time the Big Red had three seniors score in double-digits came on March 5, 2004, when Tanya Karcic, Katie Romey and Lauren Kilduff did so in an 83-60 loss to Yale. Just two games later vs. Miami, the three seniors all scored double-digits again.

20 POINT PERFORMANCES – In its three straight games vs. Tennessee State, Albany and Colgate, Cornell had at least one player reach the 20-point plateau. The last time the Big Red had a stretch like that came during the 2005-06 season when Cornell had at least one player reach 20 points in four straight games. The streak began with Clare Perry (22 vs. Penn) on Jan. 13, 2006. The next night, Shannan Scarselletta (20 vs. Princeton) led Cornell. The streak concluded in back-to-back games vs. Columbia on Jan. 21 (Jeomi Maduka – 22 points) and Jan. 28 (Clare Perry – 23 points).

RAINING THREES – With her seven 3-pointers vs. IUPUI on Nov. 24, senior Virginia McMunigal etched her name in the Cornell record books, with the second-most 3-pointers in a single game for the Big Red. The record was set by Keri Farley, who connected on nine treys at Georgetown on Dec. 20, 1993. McMunigal joins Kayleen Fitzsimmons (vs. Harvard on March 3, 2006), as well as Suzy Onze (at Princeton on March 5, 1994 and vs. Brown Feb. 18, 1994), who have both registered seven 3-pointers in a game.

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% of its scoring from last season, including five of its top six scorers.

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.

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.

FOR OPENERS – The Big Red owns a 17-22 all-time record in season openers. Coach Dayna Smith has posted a 1-7 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).

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.

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.

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 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.

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.

UP NEXT – Cornell hits the road next weekend as it travels to Princeton and Penn on Friday, Feb. 26 and Saturday, Feb. 27, respectively. Both games are slated to tip-off at 7:00 p.m.