* Game Notes (PDF)
GAME 13: Cornell vs. South Dakota
TIP OFF: Thursday, Jan. 6, at 7:00 p.m. (Ithaca, N.Y.)
SERIES RECORD: First Meeting
LAST MEETING: First Meeting
2010-11 RECORDS: Cornell (2-10, 0-0 Ivy), South Dakota (8-7, 0-0 Great West)
LIVE AUDIO: None
LIVE STATS: CornellBigRed.com
LIVE VIDEO: CornellBigRed.com
GAME 14: Cornell vs. Longwood
TIP OFF: Sunday, Jan. 9, at 2:00 p.m. (Ithaca, N.Y.)
SERIES RECORD: First Meeting
LAST MEETING: First Meeting
2010-11 RECORDS: Cornell (2-10, 0-0 Ivy), Longwood (3-10, Independent)
LIVE AUDIO: None
LIVE STATS: CornellBigRed.com
LIVE VIDEO: CornellBigRed.com
THE MATCHUPS – The Big Red women's basketball team returns home for its final two non-conference games of the season as it welcomes South Dakota and Longwood to Newman Arena. Cornell, which fell to Binghamton on Monday evening, will take on the Coyotes on Thursday, Jan. 6 at 7:00 p.m., before facing the Lancers on Sunday, Jan 9 at 2:00 p.m. South Dakota brings an 8-7 record to Newman Arena after losing its last two outings, while Longwood dropped a nail biter to Morehead State on Jan. 2 to fall to 3-10 on the year.
THE SERIES VS. SOUTH DAKOTA – Thursday's game will be the first meeting between the Cornell and South Dakota women's basketball programs.
SCOUTING THE COYOTES – South Dakota (8-7) is riding a two-game losing streak after falling to Colorado State and No. 21 Wisconsin-Green Bay in its final two games of 2010. Junior forward Amber Hegge leads the team with 17.1 points per game and ranks second overall with 6.0 rebounds per contest. Junior guard Annie Roche and sophomore guard Alexis Yackley are the team's main 3-point threats with the duo accounting for more than half of the squads made treys (40-of-77). Roche is second on the team in scoring (9.7 per game), while junior forward Jodie Boss leads USD in rebounding (7.5 per game).
CORNELL VS. THE GREAT WEST – Cornell is 2-0 all-time vs. the current members of the Great West, with both wins coming against NJIT. The Big has never faced Chicago State, Houston Baptist, North Dakota, South Dakota, Texas Pan-American or Utah Valley in women's basketball ... Coach Smith's record vs. the conference fell is 2-0.
THE SERIES VS. LONGWOOD – Sunday's game will be the first meeting between the Cornell and Longwood women's basketball programs.
SCOUTING THE LANCERS – Longwood dropped a heartbreaking 82-79 decision to Morehead State on Jan. 2 to fall to 3-10 on the season. The Lancers are led by Brittanni Billups, who is averaging 12.6 points and 7.3 rebounds per game. Chelsea Coward is also scoring in double-digits (10.8), thanks to a .311 shooting percentage from 3-point range (14-of-45). Mina Jovanovic does a little bit of everything for Longwood, averaging 7.8 points and 5.4 rebounds per game. Javanovic also leads the team in assists (34) along with Erin Neal.
CORNELL VS. INDEPENDENT TEAMS – Cornell is 0-1 all-time vs. the current women's basketball programs that play an independent schedule with the single loss coming to the University of New Orleans. The Big Red has never faced Cal-State Bakersfield, Longwood or Savannah State.
LAST TIME OUT –
• The Binghamton women's basketball team used a 15-3 run to close the first half and open the second half of play, blowing open what had been a two-point game, as it rallied for a 65-55 victory over the Big Red on Monday evening at the Events Center in Binghamton, N.Y.
• Sophomore Clare Fitzpatrick and freshman Allyson DiMagno both scored season highs with 18 and 13 points, respectively.
• Fitzpatrick tallied a team-high six rebounds to go along with two steals and one block
• Freshman Stephanie Long also had a solid game with five points, five rebounds, three assists, three steals and one blocked shot.
• Cornell took care of the ball with a season-low 11 turnovers
• The Bearcats held the slight edge in points in the paint (28-26) and second chance points (13-11), but the Big Red registered more points off turnovers (13-12) and got more points from its bench (12-4).
OFFENSIVE BOARDS – Freshman guard Allyson DiMagno has a knack for coming up with offensive boards, with an impressive 40 percent of her rebounds (23-of-58) coming on the offensive glass.
TURNOVER TURN AROUND – Through the first six games of the season, the Big Red had turned the ball over more than 20 times in 5-of-6 games and averaged 23.3 turnovers per game. Since, Cornell has had more than 20 turnovers in just 1-of-6 games and has averaged 17.5 turnovers per game.
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.
A LONG SHOT – Stephanie Long is leading the Big Red in 3-pointers made (1.3 per game) and is also the team's most consistent threat from beyond the arc, connecting on .356 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 28.2 minutes per game and ranks third on the team in points (7.6) and first overall in rebounds (5.6) 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 7.7 points per game, while Allyson DiMagno (7.2) and Shelby Lyman (4.4) third and fifth, respectively.
I'LL TAKE THAT – The Big Red is averaging 7.0 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 155-of-228 baskets (68.0 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 24 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 seven-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 eight. 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 7-of-12 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 in 7-of-12 games.
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 percent of the roster. That makes Cornell the youngest team in the Ivy League by percentage with Brown (73 percent) and Columbia (70 percent) 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.
CLEAR THE BENCH – In 6-of-12 games this season, Coach Smith has used all seven members of the Big Red bench.
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.
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.
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 opens Ivy League play next weekend as it travels to New York City to face Columbia on Saturday, Jan. 15 at 4:30 p.m.
