Game Notes (PDF)

GAME 12: Cornell at Binghamton
TIP OFF: Monday, Jan. 3, at 7:00 p.m. (Binghamton, N.Y.)
SERIES RECORD: Binghamton leads, 6-4
LAST MEETING: Binghamton won, 74-42 on Jan. 4, 2010 (Binghamton, N.Y.)
2010-11 RECORDS: Cornell (2-9, 0-0 Ivy), Binghamton (6-6, 0-0 America East)
LIVE AUDIO: BinghamtonBearcats.com
LIVE STATS: http://bubearcats.com/sports/wbask/live/xlive.htm
LIVE VIDEO: BinghamtonBearcats.com

THE MATCHUP – The Big Red women's basketball team will look to win its first road game of the season when it travels down I-81 to take on Binghamton on Monday, Jan. 3 at 7 p.m. Cornell is coming off a 58-55 victory over Ithaca to improve to 2-9 on the season, while the Bearcats have lost their last two, evening their record at 6-6.

THE SERIES VS. BINGHAMTON – Cornell and Binghamton have met 10 times in women's basketball history with the Bearcats winning the last two outings to take the 6-4 advantage in the series. The Big Red won the first two meetings, which occurred in the late 1970's, when the Binghamton squad played on the Division III level. Cornell renewed its rivalry with the Bearcats during the 2001-02 campaign, the same season that Binghamton transitioned to Division I status. The Bearcats won that meeting, 66-61, and defeated the Big Red again the following season, 66-48, but Cornell reclaimed the edge in the series history with a 50-43 victory during the 2004-05 season. Binghamton took the temporary lead in the series with two straight victories during the 2005-06 and 2006-07 seasons, before Cornell evened the series at 4-4 during the 2007-08 campaign.

SCOUTING THE BEARCATS – Binghamton has dropped its last two outings to even its record at 6-6 on the season. The Bearcats have four players averaging double-digits – junior guard Andrea Holmes (13.2), junior forward Viive Rebane (11.3), freshman guard Jasbriell Swain (11.1) and sophomore forward Kara Elofson (10.0). That same four also lead the team in rebounding with Elofson (7.5), Swain (7.3) and Rebane (7.2) averaging better than seven rebounds apiece.

CORNELL VS. THE AMERICAN EAST – Cornell slipped to 15-17 all-time vs. the current members of the America East Conference, after falling to Albany and Binghamton last season. The Big Red holds a winning record vs. the Great Danes (5-1) and UMBC (2-0), while its series record with Stony Brook (1-1) is tied. Cornell holds a losing mark vs. Binghamton (4-6), Maine (0-1), New Hampshire (0-2) and Vermont (3-6), but has never faced Boston University or Hartford ... Coach Smith is 4-7 all-time vs. the America East.

A CORNELL WIN WOULD —
• give the Big Red its first road win of the season.
• cut Binghamton's lead in the series to 6-5.
• improve Coach Smith's record at 5-7 vs. the America East.
• improve Cornell's record to 16-17 all-time vs. the current members of the America East.

LAST TIME OUT –
• Sophomore Kristina Danielak registered her first-ever double-double with career highs of 14 points and 13 rebounds to lead the Big Red women's basketball team to a 58-55 victory over cross-town rival Ithaca College on Jan. 1.
• With the victory, head coach Dayna Smith became the winningest coach in Big Red women's basketball program history.
• Freshman Stephanie Long also registered a career-high with 18 points to lead all scorers.
• Sophomore Clare Fitzpatrick chipped in 11 points, five rebounds and two assists.
• Freshman guard Allyson DiMagno pulled down seven rebounds, while sophomore Taylor Flynn handed out a team-high four assists.
• The Big Red trailed by two at the intermission and the Bombers took a nine-point lead with 11:00 to play before Cornell closed the game on a 20-8 run for the victory.

COACHING HISTORY — With the victory over Ithaca, head coach Dayna Smith became the all-time winningest head coach in Cornell women's basketball history with her 81st career win. Smith surpassed Marnie Dacko (1995-2002) to take the record.

DANIELAK DOUBLE-DOUBLE – Kristina Danielak had a career day against Ithaca College, registering a career-high 14 points and 13 rebounds to lead the Big Red to a 58-55 victory.

RING IN THE NEW YEAR – The win over Ithaca on Jan. 1 gave the Big Red a victory to ring in the New Year for the first time in three seasons.

A LONG SHOT – Stephanie Long is leading the Big Red in 3-pointers made (1.4 per game) and is also the team's most consistent threat from beyond the arc, connecting on .366 percent of her attempts.

DANIELAK RISING – Through the first seven games of the season, Kristina Danielak was averaging just 7.6 minutes per game and ranked 10th on the team with 1.0 points per game, while registering 1.4 rebounds per game. Since moving into the starting lineup after the study break, she has averaged 27.3 minutes per game and ranks third on the team in points (8.5) and first overall in rebounds (6.3) per game.

SUDDEN IMPACT – Three of the Big Red's top five scorers so far this season are freshmen. Rookie Stephanie Long ranks second on the team with 7.9 points per game, while Allyson DiMagno (6.6) and Shelby Lyman (4.5) third and fifth, respectively.

I'LL TAKE THAT – The Big Red is averaging 7.1 steals per game. That is the best average since the 2006-07 team registered 8.0 steals per game.

HELPING HAND – So far this season, the Big Red has assisted on 145-of-208 baskets (69.7 percent). That is just up from last season when Cornell assisted on 67.7 percent of its made shots (364-of-537), which is the best percentage during Coach Smith's tenure.

STARTING STREAK – Clare Fitzpatrick has started the last 23 games for the Big Red, dating back to Jan. 29, 2010. That is by far the longest current active streak on the team, surpassing freshman Allyson DiMagno's six-straight starts.

BLOCK PARTY – The Big Red is averaging 2.5 blocks per game, putting the squad on pace to finish in the top-10 in program history for blocks in a single season. Leading the charge is sophomore Clare Fitzpatrick, who has already doubled her block total from a season ago with seven. Of the 12 players on the roster, eight have registered at least one block, with six tallying three or more.

FITZPATRICK LEADING THE WAY – Sophomore forward Clare Fitzpatrick has led the Big Red in scoring in 6-of-11 games this season. Over the course of 27 games last season, Fitzpatrick led the team in scoring just three times.

OFFENSIVE SHIFT – Last season, Cornell had only five games in which a forward led the team in scoring, with Clare Fitzpatrick doing it three times and Allie Munson leading the team twice. So far this season, forwards have led the team in scoring six times.

FRESH START – A pair of guards, sophomore Spencer Lane and freshman Shelby Lyman, made their first career starts for the Big Red vs. Cleveland State … Junior college transfer Maka Anyanwu and freshman Stephanie Long earned their first starts of the season vs. Winston-Salem ... Freshman Allyson DiMagno made her first career start at Oakland … Sophomore Kristina Danielak started the first game of her career against Canisius.

YOUTH WILL BE SERVED – With just one senior and two juniors, the Big Red squad boasts nine sophomores and freshmen, meaning that underclassmen comprise 75% of the roster. That makes Cornell the youngest team in the Ivy League by percentage with Brown (73%) and Columbia (70%) slightly trailing. The average age of the Big Red is 19 years, four months. Senior Susie Doyle is the oldest member of the team at 21 years, eight months, while freshman Stephanie Long is the youngest, at 18 years, three months. Long is just 12 days younger than fellow freshman Allyson DiMagno.

40-MINUTE WOMAN – Freshman Shelby Lyman played a full 40 minutes vs. Cleveland State, becoming the only player in Coach Smith's tenure to play a full game in their first collegiate start.

CLEAR THE BENCH – In 5-of-11 games this season, Coach Smith has used all seven members of the Big Red bench.

WELCOME BACK – After suffering a season-ending injury prior to the start of last season, senior Susie Doyle made her return to the court vs. Cleveland State.

OH CAPTAIN, MY CAPTAIN – Senior Susie Doyle and junior Allie Munson will serve as team captains for the 2010-11 season.

FOR OPENERS – With its loss to Cleveland State, the Big Red fell to 17-23 all-time in season openers. Coach Dayna Smith has posted a 1-8 record in season openers during her time with Cornell.

NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK – The Big Red added six players to the 2010-11 squad: Maka Anyanwu (Oakland, Calif.), Aspen Chandler (Dallas, Texas), Joelle Davidson (Hyattsville, Md.), Allyson DiMagno (Fairport, N.Y.), Stephanie Long (Norwich, Conn.) and Shelby Lyman (Snohomish, Wash.). The class of six players come from six different states and consists of four guards, one forward and one player that could see action at guard or forward.

UMPQUA COMMUNITY CONNECTION – Junior college transfer Maka Anyanwu comes to the Big Red after a successful season at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, Ore. Fans of the Big Red should know UCC, as it was the two-year home of former Cornell standout Moina Snyder '07.

ALL IN THE FAMILY – Freshman Aspen Chandler comes from a long line of athletes. Her father, Brian Hopgood, had a successful professional basketball career playing in the various domestic and overseas leagues. Collegiately, he played at University of Louisville and Oklahoma City University. While at OCU, he led his team to the NAIA national championship and was a two-time All-American. Her cousin Shelton Johnson currently plays football for the University of Wisconsin and her grandfather Wayne Long ran track and field in college.

IRISH NATIONAL – Senior 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.

WELCOME BACK – Former Cornell women's basketball standout Gretchen Gregg '08 has returned to East Hill to join head coach Dayna Smith's staff for the upcoming 2010-11 season. Gregg brings two years of coaching experience, as well as an unparalleled passion for Cornell, with her to her new position. Gregg comes to Cornell following two very successful seasons with the Lehigh women's basketball program, where she served as a graduate assistant. During her time in Bethlehem, the Mountain Hawks won back-to-back Patriot League championships, advanced to two straight NCAA tournaments, and set a new school and Patriot League record for wins (29) during the 2009-10 season. As a player at Cornell, Gregg capped a successful career by helping the Big Red to its first-ever Ivy League Championship and the program's first berth to the NCAA Tournament.

HI, MY NAME IS – Cornell had a new face on the bench for the 2010-11 season, as Ryan Woerner joined the women's basketball staff as an assistant coach. Despite having just graduated from nearby Ithaca College this past May, Woerner brings with him significant coaching experience. In addition to interning with the Cornell men's program last spring, he has served as an assistant coach at Xavier high school, as well as coaching at the Boston College Elite Camp and the West Point Basketball Camp. He was also a coach for the Five Star Basketball Camp and The Hoop Group. Additionally, Woerner served as the assistant basketball camp director at Molloy College.

SMARTY PANTS – For the second straight season, the Big Red has been named to the Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) Academic Top 25 Team Honor Roll. Cornell was the only Ivy League institutions on the list, ranking 25th overall with a team GPA of 3.308.

TICKLE THE (ALL) IVY – Two members of the Big Red earned All-Ivy honors following the 2009-10 season, highlighted by Lauren Benson's second-team selection. Joining Benson was All-Rookie team pick Claire Fitzpatrick.

REVIEWING THE 2009-10 SEASON – Cornell wrapped up the 2009-10 season with a 7-20 record overall and a mark of 2-12 in the Ivy League, good for seventh in the conference.

UP NEXT – The Big Red closes non-conference play with a pair of home games at the end of the week as it welcomes South Dakota and Longwood to Newman Arena. Cornell plays host to the Coyotes on Thursday, Jan. 6 at 7 p.m., before taking on the Lancers on Sunday, Jan. 9 at 2 p.m.