Game Notes (PDF)

Game #18: Cornell at Yale
Tip off: Saturday, Feb. 5, at 7:00 p.m. (New Haven, Conn.)
Series Record: Yale leads, 39-22
Last Meeting: Cornell won, 80-62, Feb. 20, 2009 (Ithaca, N.Y.)
2009-10 Records: Cornell (5-12, 0-4), Yale (7-11, 2-2)
Live Audio: www.CornellBigRed.com  
Live Stats: www.YaleBulldogs.com 
Live Video: www.YaleBulldogs.com

Game #19: Cornell at Brown
Tip off: Saturday, Feb. 6, at 7:00 p.m. (Providence, R.I.)
Series Record: Brown leads, 41-19
Last Meeting: Cornell won, 68-58, Feb. 21, 2009 (Ithaca, N.Y.)
2009-10 Records: Cornell (5-12, 0-4), Brown (5-13, 2-2)
Live Audio: www.CornellBigRed.com  
Live Stats: None
Live Video: www.BrownBears.com 

THE MATCHUP – The Big Red concludes a five-game road trip as it heads to Yale and Brown on Friday, Feb. 5 and Saturday, Feb. 6, respectively. Both teams are slated to begin at 7 p.m. Cornell (5-12, 0-4) is looking to end a eight-game losing streak, while Yale (7-11, 2-2) enters the weekend having split its last four contests. Brown (5-13, 2-2) snapped a two-game skid by defeating Penn in its last outing.



THE SERIES VS. YALE — Cornell first faced the Bulldogs in the 1974-75 season, with Yale taking the 31-23 victory. Cornell has dominated the series for much of this decade (leading 13-5), winning seven-straight from 2000 to 2003, and splitting the series in 2005-06 and 2006-07, before sweeping Yale the past two seasons. Still, the Bulldogs hold the lead in the all-time series history, 39-22.

SCOUTING THE BULLDOGS – Yale enters the weekend with a 7-11 record overall and a mark of 2-2 in the Ivy League. The Bulldogs are led by freshman Megan Vasquez's 11.1 points per game, while Yoyo Greenfield is averaging 10.1 points per game. Mady Gobrecht is leading the team in rebounds (6.6 rpg) and chipping in 9.5 points per game.

LAST TIME VS. YALE – For the first time in over three years, the Big Red had two players score 20 points in the same contest as Virginia McMunigal and Allison Abt each set career highs and led Cornell to an 80-62 victory over Yale. Abt went 7-for-10 from the floor for 20 points, while McMunigal connected on 7-for-12 overall for 20 points. Also in double-figures was Allie Fedorowicz with 11 points. Fedorowicz filled out the stat line with six assists, four rebounds and two steals. Lauren Benson handed out a game-high seven assists, while Allie Munson grabbed a team-high six rebounds and blocked three shots. Yale was led by Melissa Colborne's 27 points, while Jamie Van Horne chipped in 11 points. The Big Red shot a blistering 61.2 percent from the field and 61.1 percent from 3-point range, both of which were season highs. Cornell held the 33-23 advantage in rebounds, but turned the ball over six times more than the Bulldogs (20-14).

THE SERIES VS. BROWN — Cornell's rivalry with the Bears began in the 1974-75 season when Brown defeated the Big Red, 34-30. The Bears dominated the series during the first 20 years, with Cornell winning only three times prior to the 1994-95 season. Since that year, however, Cornell has taken the lead in the series winning 16 of the last 30 games, as Brown holds the advantage in the all-time series with a record of 41-19. Cornell has won six straight games against the Bears, the longest Big Red winning streak in the history of the series.

SCOUTING THE BEARS – Brown snapped a two-game skid with a victory over Penn in its last outing to improve to 5-13 overall and 2-2 in Ivy play. The Bears have struggled on offense, averaging just 53.8 points per game and doesn't have a single player averaging double-figures. Hannah Passafuime leads the team with 9.4 points per contest, while Christina Johnson is averaging 8.2. Brown's leading rebounder is Natalie Bonds with 6.2 caroms per game.

LAST TIME VS. BROWN – For the second night in a row Virginia McMunigal set a career high, scoring 24 points to lead Cornell to a 68-58 victory over Brown. The Big Red overcame a seven point deficit late in the second half to even its Ivy League record at 5-5. Lauren Benson scored 14 points, handed out a game-high eight assists and grabbed six rebounds, while Allison Abt tallied eight points and had a game-high eight rebounds. Brown was led by three players in double-digits, Courtney Lee (13) , Shea Fitzpatrick (12) and Sarah Delk (12). 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. Cornell 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.

ROOKIE OF THE WEEK – Freshman forward Clare Fitzpatrick has been 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.

MOVING ON UP – With her six 3-pointers vs. Albany, senior Allie Fedorowicz jumped from sixth to third place in Cornell history for career 3-pointers with 112 treys. Fedorowicz currently has 126 career 3-pointers and needs just four more to surpass Karen Force, who sits in second place with 129. Classmates Virginia McMunigal and Lauren Benson have also moved into the top-10 list for career 3-pointers, ranking ninth with 103 and 10th with 102, respectively.

HELPING HAND – With her five assists at Binghamton, Lauren Benson surpassed Patty Mills and moved into second place in Cornell history with 430 career assists. Benson, who set the school record for assists in a single-season (156) in 2007-08, needed just five more to become the Big Red's all-time leader in career assists.

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 27-16 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 15-7 against the Ancient Eight.

NATIONAL RANKINGS – Cornell is making its mark in the national rankings. As of the rankings on Sunday, Jan. 31, Virginia McMunigal ranked 26th in the nation in 3-point field goal percentage (43.5 percent), while senior point guard Lauren Benson was 27th in the country in assists per game (5.4).

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.

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.

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

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.

COME BACK KIDS – When Cornell beat Manhattan, 71-67, it marked the first and only time this season that the Big Red has come back to defeat an opponent after trailing at the half.

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.

SHARE AND SHARE ALIKE – So far this season, the Big Red has assisted on 67.6 percent of its made shots (228-of-337). 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 12-of-43 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.

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 has 77 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 assists in a single game with 12 vs. Tennessee State on Nov. 21, breaking a record that had been held by her and five other former Cornell players. Benson already owns the single season assist record (156 in 2007-08) and is just five helpers away from the Big Red career record.

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.

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 returns home for the first time in nearly a month as it welcomes Penn and Princeton to Newman Arena on Friday, Feb. 12 and Saturday, Feb. 13, respectively. Both games are slated to tip-off at 7:00 p.m.