Game Notes in PDF Format

GAME #1: Cornell at William & Mary
TIP OFF: Friday, Nov. 11, at 7:00 p.m. (Williamsburg, Va.)
SERIES RECORD: First Meeting
LAST MEETING: First Meeting
2011-12 RECORDS: Cornell (0-0, 0-0 Ivy), William & Mary (0-0, 0-0 CAA)
LIVE AUDIO: None
LIVE STATS: www.TribeAthletics.com
LIVE VIDEO: www.TribeAthletics.com

GAME #2: Cornell at Longwood
TIP OFF: Sunday, Nov. 13, at 2:00 p.m. (Farmville, Va.)
SERIES RECORD: Cornell leads, 1-0
LAST MEETING: Cornell won, 69-65, on Jan. 9, 2011
2011-12 RECORDS: Cornell (0-0, 0-0 Ivy), Longwood (0-0) *
LIVE AUDIO: None
LIVE STATS: www.LongwoodLancers.com
LIVE VIDEO: www.LongwoodLancers.com

* Records prior to Nov. 11

THE MATCHUP: The Big Red women's basketball team opens its 41st season of play this weekend as it travels to the Old Dominion State to face William & Mary on Friday, Nov. 11 at 7 p.m., before taking on Longwood on Sunday, Nov. 13 at 2 p.m.  The game on Friday will also be the Tribe's season opener and live stats and live video will be available at: www.tribeathletics.com. The Lancers, who open their season on Friday at No. 11 Georgetown, will provide live stats and live video on Sunday at: www.LongwoodLancers.com.

SCOUTING THE TRIBE: After enduring through an injury-riddled 2010-11 season that saw William and Mary finish with a 3-26 record overall and a mark of 2-16 in the CAA, W&M looks poised to make a big turnaround in 2011-12.  Returning all five of its starters from a year ago, along with a heralded recruiting class, Tribe head coach Debbie Taylor has one of the deepest and most talented teams in her 13 seasons at the helm of the W&M program. Highlighting the Tribe's returnees this season are two All-CAA performers from a year ago - senior guard Taysha Pye and sophomore forward Kaitlyn Mathieu. Pye is a three-time all-conference honoree who led the Tribe last year with 16.7 points per game, while grabbing 5.8 rebounds per game. Mathieu had a breakout year, earning CAA All-Rookie honors after averaging 9.3 points and 5.0 rebounds per game. Overall, the team returns 93.4 percent of its scoring (1701 of 1821), 91.3 percent of its rebounding (961 of 1052), 78.4 percent of its assists (287 of 366) and 81.9 percent of its made three-pointers (104 of 127) from last season.

THE SERIES VS. WILLIAM & MARY: This season's contest with the Tribe will be the first women's basketball game between the Big Red and William & Mary.

CORNELL VS. THE COLONIAL ATHLETIC ASSOCIATIONI: Cornell is 2-10 all-time against the current members of the Colonial Athletic Association. The Big Red has a 1-1 record against James Madison and a 1-3 record against Hofstra, but is winless against Drexel (0-4), and Northeastern (0-2). Cornell has never faced Delaware, George Mason, Georgia State, Old Dominion, Towson, UNC-Wilmington, Virginia Commonwealth or William & Mary.

SCOUTING THE LANCERS: Longwood returns four starters among seven letter winners from last year's squad that posted a 7-23 record, including a 6-7 mark at home in Willett Hall. Returning starters for the Lancers include seniors Brittanni Billups and Mina Jovanovic, and juniors Chelsea Coward and Erin Neal. Billups, a 6-1 forward, led the Lancers last season with 9.4 points and 6.7 rebounds per game, while Jovanovic led last year's squad with 68 assists and 41 steals while chipping in 6.1 points and 4.9 rebounds per game. Coward was also a solid contributor at the forward position, averaging 8.6 points per game.

THE SERIES VS. LONGWOOD: The Big Red won the first ever meeting against the Lancers, 69-65, last year at Newman Arena to take the 1-0 lead in the series with Longwood.

LAST TIME VS. THE LANCERS: Freshman Alyson DiMagno scored 15 points and added nine rebounds, including a put-back bucket with eight seconds to play as Cornell closed out non-conference play with a 69-65 victory over Longwood on Jan. 9, 2011 at Newman Arena in Bartels Hall. DiMagno was one of four Big Red players in double figures as Cornell posted a season scoring high while shooting 49 percent from the floor. Cornell's top two post players, Kristina Danielak (13 points, seven rebounds) and Clare Fitzpatrick (14 points) combined to hit 11-of-13 shots from the floor in combining for 27 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists. Also in double figures was Stephanie Long with 10 to go along with five rebounds. Cornell held a decisive 37-28 advantage on the glass to help overcome 26 turnovers. The Lancers got 20 points from Krystal Garrison, their lone player in double figures, and added three of the team's 15 steals on the day. Brittany Jones and Emilee Dunton each had nine points in the loss. Longwood committed 21 turnovers. After leading for the majority of the contest, the Big Red gave up eight unanswered points, allowing Longwood to tie the game at 62-62 with 1:24 remaining in the contest. DiMagno hit a pair of free throws, followed by a single make from Fitzpatrick to restore the lead to the home team, but a deep trey from Garrison tied the game for the third and final time, 65-65, with 40 seconds showing on the clock. On Cornell's next possession DiMagno grabbed an offensive board and converted the putback, despite some tough defense from Brittanni Billups, to give the Big Red the lead with eight seconds to play. The Lancers inbounded the ball to Garrison, who drove the length of the court looking to tie the game, but ran into Fitzpatrick, who stood her ground and caused a crucial turnover. Long came up with the loose ball and was fouled. The freshman guard sunk both with .2 seconds to play to account for the 69-65 final.

CORNELL VS. INDEPENDENT TEAMS: Cornell is 1-1 all-time vs. the current women's basketball programs that play an independent schedule with a victory over Longwood and a single loss coming to the University of New Orleans. The Big Red has never faced Cal-State Bakersfield or Savannah State.

THE 2010-11 SEASON: At first glance, the numbers from the Cornell women's basketball team's 2010-11 season are a little hard to swallow. The team posted a 6-22 record overall and a mark of 3-11 in the Ivy League to finish seventh in the conference. But the old saying “numbers can be deceiving” seems very apropos when you look closer at what this young squad accomplished. For the majority of the 2010-11 season, the Big Red sported a starting line-up that consisted of three freshman and two sophomores. Additionally, three of its top four players off the bench were also freshmen and sophomores. The team struggled early with consistency as the coaches juggled the line-up and worked to put the players in the best possible spot to succeed, but those efforts paid off, as Cornell got significantly better as the season wore on. The greatest example of that is the improvement that can be seen during the second round of Ivy League action. In Cornell's second meetings with Ivy League opponents, the Big Red won more games and each of its offensive numbers (FG, 3FG, FG%, 3FG%, FT%, Rebounds, Points) went up. Just as importantly, Cornell's turnovers went down, as well as opponent's offensive rebounds, rebounds and blocks.

FOR OPENERS: With its loss to Cleveland State last season, 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.

EXHIBITION GAME:  The Big Red played one exhibition game during the preseason, defeating McGill University, 59-51, on Sunday, Nov. 6. Sophomore guard Allyson DiMagno led the team with 15 points and nine rebounds, while junior forward Clare Fitzpatrick and junior guard Spencer Lane chipped in 10 points apiece. Fitzpatrick also had six rebounds, while Lane came up with four steals on defense. Senior forward Maka Anyanwu also had a solid performance with eight points and seven rebounds. Cornell shot the ball well overall (32.9%) but had some uncharacteristic struggles from beyond the arc (5.9%).

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 come 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 this season.

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.

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.

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.

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 Denis Hylton (40; 1987-91).

FRESHMAN THREES: Four members of Cornell's 2010-11 freshmen class – Stephanie Long, Shelby Lyman, Allyson DiMagno and Aspen Chandler – account for 82 percent of the Big Red's 3-pointers. The quartet made 99 of the Big Red's 121 3-pointers on the season, while sophomores Taylor Flynn (19) and Clare Fitzpatrick (3) were the only other Big Red players to hit a shot from beyond the arc during the season.

BLOCK PARTY: The Big Red finished the 2010-11 season with 73 blocks, good for sixth all-time in program history for blocks in a single season. Leading the charge was Kristina Danielak and Clare Fitzpatrick, with 22 and 17 blocks, respectively. Of the 12 players on the 2010-11 roster, 10 registered at least one block, with seven tallying three or more.

OFFENSIVE BOARDS: Sophomore guard Allyson DiMagno had a knack for coming up with offensive boards last year, with an impressive 41 percent of her rebounds (70-of-169) coming on the offensive glass.

SUDDEN IMPACT: Three of the Big Red's top four scorers last season were freshmen. Allyson DiMagno ranked second on the team with 8.2 points per game, while Stephanie Long  (7.2) and Shelby Lyman (5.8) ranked third and fourth, respectively.

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. Clare Fitzpatrick (33) and Shelby Lyman (28) lead the team in steals.

HELPING HAND: Last season, the Big Red assisted on 339-of-524 baskets (64.6 percent).

STARTING STREAK: Clare Fitzpatrick has started the last 41 games for the Big Red, dating back to Jan. 29, 2010. That is by far the longest current active streak on the team, with sophmore Allyson DiMagno's 23-straight starts ranking second.

FITZPATRICK LEADING THE WAY: Junior forward Clare Fitzpatrick led the Big Red in scoring in half (14-of-28) of its games last season.

YOUTH WILL BE SERVED: With just one senior and two juniors, last season's Big Red squad boasted nine sophomores and freshmen, meaning that underclassmen comprised 75 percent of the roster. That made 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 at the start of the 2010-11 season was 19 years, four months. Senior Susie Doyle was the oldest member of the team at 21 years, eight months, while freshman Stephanie Long was the youngest, at 18 years, three months. Long is just 12 days younger than classmate Allyson DiMagno.

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.

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.

UP NEXT: The Big Red opens the home portion of its season with a mid-week matchup against instate rival Colgate on Tuesday, Nov. 15 at Newman Arena at 7 p.m.