Game Notes in PDF Format

GAME INFORMATION
GAME #5: Cornell vs. Eastern Michigan
TIP OFF: Friday, Nov. 25, at 7:00 p.m. (Ithaca, N.Y.)
SERIES RECORD: Eastern Michigan leads, 2-0
LAST MEETING: Eastern Michigan won, 66-41, on Nov. 26, 2010 (Ypsilanti, M.I.)
2011-12 RECORDS: Cornell (1-3), Eastern Michigan (3-1)
LIVE AUDIO: www.RLMsports.net
LIVE STATS: www.CornellBigRed.com
LIVE VIDEO: www.CornellBigRed.com

THE MATCHUP: The Big Red women's basketball team welcomes Eastern Michigan to Newman Arena on Friday, Nov. 25 at 7 p.m. Cornell dropped a heartbreaking buzzer-beater to UNH on Nov. 22 to fall to 1-3, while the Eagles are coming off a victory over Loyola Chicago as it improved to 3-1. Live stats and live video, with the addition of play-by-play by RLM Sports, will be available at www.CornellBigRed.com.  Additionally, admission for the game will be just $1.

THE SERIES VS. EASTERN MICHIGAN: The Eagles own a 2-0 record in the all-time series with Cornell. The Big Red fell to Eastern Michigan, 82-67, in the semifinal of the Holiday Inn Express Eagle Classic on Nov. 16, 2001, and dropped its second straight to EMU when it fell to the Eagles last season, 66-41.

SCOUTING THE EAGLES: EMU picked up a 63-55 victory over Loyola-Chicago on Nov. 20 to improve to 3-1 on the season.  The Eagles were picked to finish third in the West Division of the Mid-Atlantic Conference just one season after winning the first two postseason victories in program history, as EMU advanced to the third round of the 2011 Women's National Invitational Tournament (WNIT). Fourth-year head coach AnnMarie Gilbert benefits from the return of eight letter winners and two starters from a 2010-11 squad that finished with a 24-13 overall record and a 10-6 mark in MAC play. Senior guard Tavelyn James was selected to the Preseason All-MAC Team for the second consecutive year after leading EMU with 17.4 points, 3.0 rebounds and 1.9 steals per game a season ago. James recently participated in the 2011 Pan American Games, held Oct. 21-25, in Guadalajara, Mexico as a member of the USA women's basketball team. Through the first four games of the season, James is averaging 30.0 points per game, as she is hitting nearly half (.495) of her 3-point attempts (45-of-91). Also in double-digits for the Eagles is Desyree Thomas with 10.3 points per game, while Paige Redditt is nearly averaging a double-double with 9.8 points and a team-high 10.5 rebounds per game. 

LAST TIME VS. THE EMU: Eastern Michigan jumped out to an early lead and never looked back, defeating the Big Red, 66-41, on Nov. 26, 2010 at the Convocation Center in Ypsilanti, Mich. The duo of Clare Fitzpatrick and Allyson DiMagno led the Big Red with Fitzpatrick scoring a team-high 12 points, going 5-for-9 from the field, and grabbing six rebounds, while DiMagno finished with eight points and a game-high 10 rebounds. Spencer Lane, playing in her home state, finished with seven points and two assists. EMU saw three players score in double-figures, led by Paige Redditt's 16 points, while Sydney Huntley and Tavelyn James each finished with 12. Kristin Thomas and Olivia Fouty both tallied a team-high six rebounds and Cassie Schrock handed out nine assists.

CORNELL VS. MID-ATLANTIC CONFERENCE: Cornell is 4-12 all-time vs. the current members of the MAC. The Big Red holds a losing record vs. Buffalo (4-9), Bowling Green (0-1) and Eastern Michigan (0-2), but has never faced Akron, Ball State, Central Michigan, Kent State, Miami (OH), Northern Illinois, Ohio, Toledo or Western Michigan … Head Coach Dayna Smith is 0-4 against the MAC.

A CORNELL WIN WOULD:
• improve the Big Red's record to 2-3.
• be the Big Red's first victory in the series with Eastern Michigan.
• give Coach Smith her first victory over a MAC school (1-4).
• even Coach Smith's record to 1-1 against Eastern Michigan.

WHAT JUST HAPPENED?:
• Kelsey Hogan's desperation putback with no time on the clock stunned the Big Red and handed New Hampshire a 63-62 victory on Nov. 22 at Newman Arena. 
• Prior to Hogan's last second shot, Maka Anyanwu hit a 10-foot baseline jumper that gave Cornell a one-point lead with seven seconds to play in the contest.
• Cornell was led by Allyson DiMagno, who finished the game with 17 points, eight rebounds, five assists and three steals.
• Anyanwu and Shelby Lyman finished with 14 points apiece.
• Anyanwu went 7-for-8 from the field and also chipped in four rebounds and one steal.
• Lyman hit four of Cornell's five 3-pointers in the game, had three rebounds, two assists and two steals.
• Spencer Lane also had a solid game, scoring six points, handing out six assists, grabbing four rebounds and coming up with one steal.
• UNH had a pair of double-digit scorers as Denis Beliveau and Hogan finished with 18 and 15 points, respectively.
• Beliveau also finished with a game-high 10 rebounds to help the Wildcats to a 34-29 advantage on the boards.
• UNH hit 45.1 percent from the floor for the game (23-51) and 50 percent from beyond the arc (8-16).
• Cornell connected on 46 percent overall (23-50) and 50 percent from 3-point range (5-10).
• Defensively, the Big Red forced 18 Wildcat turnovers with 10 steals, leading to 29 points for Cornell off turnovers.

SHARP SHOOTERS: The Big Red hit 46 percent from the floor (23-50) against New Hampshire, its best shooting percentage since last season when it connected on 48.9 percent against Longwood on Jan. 9, 2011.

CAREER ASSISTS: A pair of Cornellians tallied a career-high in assists against New Hampshire with Spencer Lane handing out six helpers, while Allyson DiMagno registered five assists.

PRESSURE FREE THROWS – Cornell is shooting 67.1 percent from the foul line for the season, but that number is helped dramatically by the fact that the Big Red is perfect from the charity stripe at the end of close games. In the final five minutes of games decided by 10 or fewer points, Cornell has hit 100 percent (8-of-8) from the foul line and is a perfect 2-of-2 in the final two minutes of games decided by 10 or fewer points.

DOUBLE-DIGIT DIMAGNO: Sophomore Allyson DiMagno is the only Big Red player to register 10+ points in each game this season.

OFFENSIVE BOARDS: The Big Red has posted more offensive rebounds than its opponents this season (58-52), thanks in large part to its 22 offensive boards in its last game against Colgate. The 22 offensive boards were the most by Cornell since pulling down 21 vs. Columbia during the 2009-10 season. 

NO PLACE LIKE HOME: All of Cornell's victories since the beginning of the 2010-11 season have come at Newman Arena.

HOME OPENER VICTORY: Cornell's 59-56 win over Colgate on Nov. 15 gave the Big Red a victory in its home opener for the first time since beating Albany, 50-46, on Nov. 19, 2008.

FOR OPENERS: With its loss to William & Mary to start the season, the Big Red fell to 17-24 all-time in season openers. Coach Dayna Smith has posted a 1-9 record in season openers during her time with Cornell.

ALL GOOD THINGS MUST COME TO AN END: Sophomore Shelby Lyman saw her consecutive free throw streak come to an end in the season opener against William & Mary. Lyman hit all 14 of her free throw attempts last season but missed her first attempt against the Tribe to end the streak. 

FIRST MINUTES: Freshman Sarah Poland is the only rookie to see any playing time so far this season, averaging 5.3 minutes of action through the first four games.

COACHING HISTORY: With the victory over Ithaca on Jan. 1, 2011, 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.

CLOSE CALLS: The Big Red was in many close games during the 2010-11 season, with more than one-third of its contests being decided by eight points or less. In those games, Cornell posted a 5-5 record. So far this year the trend of close games has continued with the Big Red sporting a record of 1-2 in games decided by eight points or less.

BLOCKS A LOT: Senior Allie Munson is hovering just outside of Cornell's all-time blocks leader list with 39 in her career. She needs just one more to move into 10th place with Denise Hylton (40; 1987-91).

I'LL TAKE THAT: Last year, the Big Red averaged 6.3 steals per game. That was the best average since the 2007-08 team registered 6.8 steals per game. Through the first four games of the 2011-12 season, Cornell is averaging 7.8 steals per game.

HELPING HAND: Last season, the Big Red assisted on 339-of-524 baskets (64.6 percent). So far this season, Cornell has assists on 54-of-81 baskets (66.7 percent).

STARTING STREAK: Clare Fitzpatrick has started the last 45 games for the Big Red, dating back to Jan. 29, 2010. That is by far the longest current active streak on the team, with sophomore Allyson DiMagno's 27 straight starts ranking second.

100 THREES: For the fourth straight season, Cornell reached the century mark for 3-pointers, with 121 during the 2010-11 campaign. The Big Red has registered at least 100 3-pointers in all but one season under head coach Dayna Smith, with the 2006-07 squad coming up just short with 98 treys.

IVY OPENERS: Since Ivy League round robin play began in the 1982-83 season, Cornell has posted a 15-14 record in conference openers. The Big Red has lost its last three Ivy openers against Columbia, making coach Dayna Smith's record 4-5 in the first game of Ancient Eight play. Cornell has faced the Lions more than any other team, opening the season against Columbia 13 times.

UMPQUA COMMUNITY CONNECTION: Junior college transfer Maka Anyanwu came to the Big Red last year 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.

BASKETBALL PEDIGREE: Sophomore Stephanie Long isn't the only member of her family to play collegiate basketball. Her father Dennis played basketball for three seasons at UConn.

ALL IN THE FAMILY: Sophomore 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 plays football for the University of Wisconsin and her grandfather Wayne Long ran track and field in college.

NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK: The Big Red adds five players to the 2011-12 squad: Christine Kline (Staten Island, N.Y.), Tyler Kim (Los Angeles, Calif.), Sarah Poland (Valley View, Ohio), Marissa Rakestraw (Beaverton, Ore.) and Sarah Talamantes (Broomfield, Colo.). The class of five players comes from five different states and consists of two forwards and three guards.

HI, MY NAME IS: Cornell has two new faces on the bench for the 2011-12 season, as Kharmen Wingard and Katie Schlein join the women's basketball staff as an assistant coaches. Wingard comes to East Hill after four seasons as the assistant men's basketball coach at nearby Cortland, while Schlein spent the past season working as the assistant director of women's basketball operations at the University of Denver. While with the Red Dragons, Wingard helped Cortland to a 59-50 record overall (38-30 SUNYAC) and two consecutive SUNYAC semifinal games, as well as a trip to the ECAC finals in 2007-08. He played collegiately at Gannon University and Daemen College. While at Daemen, he earned first-team All-American Mideast Conference (AMC) honors as a sophomore and second team All-AMC honors as a junior and senior. He graduated seventh in career scoring and second in career three-point field goals and helped lead the Wildcats to an appearance in the NAIA Division II elite eight game during his sophomore season.  At Denver, Schlein's responsibilities included coordinating all the recruiting technology and film exchange, while also managing the operations of the Super Hoopers Kids Club. In her one season with Denver, the Pioneers finished with a 19-12 record overall and 11-5 mark in the Sun Belt Conference to finish second in the West Division and earned a bid to the WNIT, Denver's first post-season berth since 2000-01. Schlein lettered in basketball and softball at Claremont McKenna College, helping the Athenas' women's basketball team to a SCIAC tournament appearance during her senior season and helping the softball team to two consecutive NCAA tournament appearances and an SCIAC title.

TICKLE THE (ALL) IVY: Clare Fitzpatrick was named All-Ivy honorable mention following the 2010-11 season. She led Cornell and ranked 12th in the conference in scoring (11.4 ppg.) and was second overall on the team and 14th in the league in rebounding (5.2 rpg.). She also averaged 1.3 assists and 1.2 steals per game and finished with 17 blocks on the season. In 28 games, she scored in double-digits 20 times. She was the Big Red's leading scorer in 15 games and grabbed a team-high in rebounds in nine contests. Fitzpatrick was also the model of consistency as the only player on the team to start every game last season.

UP NEXT: The Big Red hits the road for a quick trip to the Buckeye state, where it will face Cleveland State on Sunday, Nov. 27 at 2 p.m.