Game Notes in PDF Format

GAME INFORMATION
GAME #9: Cornell at Manhattan
TIP OFF: Tuesday, Dec. 20, at 7:00 p.m. (Riverdale, N.Y.)
SERIES RECORD: Series Tied, 1-1
LAST MEETING: Manhattan won, 73-45, on Dec. 21, 2010 (Ithaca, N.Y.)
2011-12 RECORDS: Cornell (3-5), Manhattan (3-6)
LIVE AUDIO: None
LIVE STATS:  www.GoJaspers.com
LIVE VIDEO: www.GoJaspers.com

THE MATCHUP: The Big Red women's basketball team will play its first of six consecutive road games tomorrow, Tuesday, Dec. 20, as it travels to Manhattan College to take on the Lady Jaspers at Draddy Gymnasium at 7 p.m. Live stats and live video will be available at www.GoJaspers.com. 

THE SERIES VS. MANHATTAN: Cornell and the Lady Jaspers have met just twice on the hardwood, as the series began during the 2009-10 season. The Big Red took the victory in the first meeting, 71-67, before falling last season, 73-45. Neither team has won on its home floor with Cornell's win coming at Draddy Gym, while the Jaspers earned the victory last season at Newman Arena.

SCOUTING THE JASPERS: Manhattan ended a three-game skid with a 71-59 overtime victory against Monmouth on Saturday evening to improve to 3-6 on the season. Lindsey Loutsenhizer and Monica Roeder lead the Lady Jaspers with 12.3 and 12.1 points per game, respectively.  Loutsenhizer also averages a team-high 6.6 rebounds per game, while Nadia Peters (5.8) and Schyanne Halfkenny (5.3) contribute more than five rebounds per contest.

LAST TIME VS. THE MANHATTAN: A hot-shooting Manhattan team jumped out to a commanding first half lead and never looked back as it defeated the Big Red, 73-45, on Dec. 21 at Newman Arena. Cornell turned up the defensive pressure and found some offensive rhythm in the second half but could not come all the way back in its final game before the holiday break. Clare Fitzpatrick led the Big Red with a season-high 17 points to go along with five rebounds and one blocked shot, while Kristina Danielak, Allyson DiMagno and Taylor Flynn all chipped in seven points apiece. Danielak also had four rebounds and two blocked shots. Manhattan was led by Abby Wentworth's 22 points, while Alyssa Herrington finished with 13. Lindsey Loutsenhizer pulled down a game-high seven rebounds and both Wentworth and Nadia Peters tallied four assists. The Big Red held the slight edge in rebounds (27-25), but Manhattan forced 27 Cornell turnovers with 12 steals while turning the ball over just 13 times. The Lady Jaspers also shot 47.1 percent overall for the game and a blistering 57.1 percent from beyond the arc, while holding the Big Red to 43.2 percent from the floor and just 15.4 percent from 3-point range.

CORNELL VS. THE MAAC: Cornell fell to 12-31 all-time vs. the current members of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference after falling to three MAAC teams last season. The Big Red holds a winning record vs. Iona (1-0) and is tied with Manhattan (1-1), but has a losing record vs. Canisius (1-6), Fairfield (1-2), Loyola (0-2), Marist (2-7), Niagara (6-10) and Siena (0-3). Cornell has never faced Rider or St. Peter's in women's basketball ... Coach Smith's record against teams in the MAAC is 3-7.

A CORNELL WIN WOULD:
• improve the Big Red's record to 4-5.
• make Cornell 2-1 all-time against Manhattan.
• snap a three game skid against MAAC opponents.
• improve Coach Smith's record to 4-7 against the MAAC.

WHAT JUST HAPPENED?:
• The Big Red returned from its 18-day study break by leading wire-to-wire as it defeated Bucknell, 65-45, on Sunday at Newman Arena.
• With the win, Cornell improved to 7-3 under head coach Dayna Smith in the first game back from the study break.
• Clare Fitzpatrick registered the Big Red's first double-double of the season, posting 18 points and 11 rebounds against the Bison.
• Marissa Rakestraw saw her most productive minutes of the season and finished with a career-high 12 points. 
• Allyson DiMagno finished with seven rebounds, six points and five assists.
• Bucknell was led by Rachel Voss' 13 points and five rebounds, while Shelby Romine finished with nine points and six boards.
• Cornell finished the game shooting 46 percent overall, 42 percent from 3-point range and held the 43-33 advantage on the boards.
• Bucknell shot just 33 percent overall and 38 percent from beyond the arc.
•The Bison also had one more turnover than Cornell (15-14).

BIG WINS – So far this season, the Big Red has defeated a pair of opponents – Cleveland State and Bucknell – by 20 points. The last time Cornell beat at least two opponents by 20 points came during the 2007-08 season when the Big Red won five games by at least 20 points.

IVY HONORS – After one of its most impressive wins of the season against Bucknell, a pair of Big Red players were honored with freshman Marissa Rakestraw earning Co-Ivy League Rookie of the Week honors by the conference office, while Clare Fitzpatrick was named the College Sports Madness Ivy Player of the Week.

STUDYING THE OPPONENTS – Since the 1980-81 season, the Big Red is 12-19 coming out of Cornell's two-week study break. However, Coach Smith's teams have fared much better, posting a record of 7-3 in the first game back from exams.

WHAT A DIFFERENCE A YEAR MAKES: Six of Cornell's eight games so far this season have come against teams that the Big Red faced last year – Colgate, Longwood, Eastern Michigan, Cleveland State, Binghamton and Bucknell. In addition to going 3-3 against those opponents this year, as opposed to the 1-5 record it posted last year, the Big Red also increased its points per game (60.7/52.0), scoring margin (+3.5/-11.3), shooting percentage (.395/.356), 3-point shooting percentage (.272/,235), free throw percentage (.735/.673), rebounds (41.0/35.0), assists (13.7/12.7) and blocks (3.5/3.2). Cornell also dramatically reduced its turnovers (16.2/20.8) while significantly cutting opponents' scoring (57.2/63.3), field goal percentage (.358/.402) and 3-point field goal percentage (.292/.330).  

NOTING THE CLEVELAND STATE GAME: Cornell's 79-59 victory over Cleveland State was significant for the Big Red offense. It was the first time Cornell has scored at least 70 points since defeating Tennessee State on Nov. 21, 2009. It was also the first time the Big Red has shot 50 percent from the floor, or registered 50 points in a half since that game against Tennessee State. Finally, it was the first time Cornell defeated a team by 20 points since beating Ithaca College on Nov. 15, 2009. 

FITZPATRICK JOINS 600/300 CLUB: With her 19 points against Cleveland State, Clare Fitzpatrick surpassed the 600-point plateau for her career. In the game prior to that, against Eastern Michigan, the junior forward pulled down her 300th career rebound. She becomes the 26th player in Cornell history, and the 11th under Head Coach Dayna Smith, to record at least 600 points and 300 rebounds.

LYMAN STEAL STREAK: Shelby Lyman had registered a steal in each of the Big Red's first seven games of the season. That is the longest streak by any Cornell player since Lyman came up with at least one steal in seven consecutive games last year from Jan. 6 through Feb. 4. Prior to Lyman, Allie Fedorowicz '10 registered a steal in eight straight games from Dec. 29, 2009 to Feb. 5, 2010.

LAST POSSESSION: From Nov. 15 to Nov. 25, Cornell played in three games that came down to the final possession of the game, with the Big Red defeating Colgate (59-56) before falling to New Hampshire (62-63) and Eastern Michigan (52-54). The last time Cornell played three games in a row that were decided by the final possession was during the 1996-97 season when the Big Red lost to Brown (63-65) before closing out the season with victories against Penn (65-63) and Princeton (58-57).

DOUBLE-DIGIT STREAK: Sophomore Allyson DiMagno registered double-digit points in the Big Red's first five games this season, extending her streak to seven games, dating back to the final two games of the 2010-11 season, before scoring just seven points in Cornell's victory over Cleveland State. Prior to DiMagno, Clare Fitzpatrick was the last Cornell player to score 10+ points in seven consecutive games, doing so during her rookie year in 2009-10.

SELECTIVE SHOOTER: Junior Kristina Danielak hasn't taken many shots this year, but she's made the ones she's taken count, going 12-of-18 for a team high 68 percentage. Senior Maka Anyanwu has also shown great decision making, shooting an Ivy League best 52.6% on the season (30-57).

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. Cornell followed that up with a 53.7 performance (29-54) from the floor at Cleveland State, as well as a mark of 54.5 (6-11) from 3-point range against the Vikings.

HOME SWEET HOME: The game vs. Cleveland State was a homecoming for rookie Sarah Poland, who is a native of Valley View, Ohio, a suburb of Cleveland. She played seven minutes, blocked one shot and handed out one assist.

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 71.0 percent from the foul line for the season, but that number is helped dramatically by the fact that the Big Red is nearly 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 88.8 percent (8-of-9) from the foul line and is a perfect 2-of-2 in the final two minutes of games decided by 10 or fewer points.

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 seeing 4-of-8 games decided by eight points or less and sporting a record of 1-3 in those games.

BLOCKS A LOT: With her block against Eastern Michigan on Nov. 27, senior Allie Munson moved into Cornell's all-time blocks leader list with 40 for her career … Junior Kristina Danielak is hovering just outside the top 10 with 37 blocks during her career.

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. So far this season, Cornell is averaging 7.3 steals per game.

HELPING HAND: So far this season, Cornell has assists on 110-of-174 baskets (63.2 percent).

STARTING STREAK: Clare Fitzpatrick has started the last 49 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 31 straight starts ranking second.

FIRST MINUTES: Freshman Sarah Poland has seen action in six-of-eight games this season, averaging 5.2 minutes of action. Sarah Talamantes saw her first collegiate playing time at Cleveland State on Nov. 27, while Marissa Rackstraw and Tyler Kim both saw the first minutes of their careers vs. Bucknell.

NO PLACE LIKE HOME: All but one 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. 

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.

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.

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 will enjoy a short holiday break before traveling to Canisius College to take on the Golden Griffins on Wednesday, Jan. 28 at 5 p.m.