Game Notes in PDF Format

GAME INFORMATION
GAME #10: Cornell at Canisius
TIP OFF: Wednesday, Dec. 28, at 5:15 p.m. (Buffalo, N.Y.)
SERIES RECORD: Canisius leads, 6-1
LAST MEETING: Canisius won, 66-58, on Dec. 19, 2010 (Ithaca, N.Y.)
2011-12 RECORDS: Cornell (3-6), Canisius (5-5)
LIVE AUDIO: www.GoGriffs.com
LIVE STATS: www.GoGriffs.com
LIVE VIDEO: www.GoGriffs.com

THE MATCHUP: The Big Red women's basketball team returns from its short holiday break as it travels to Canisius to take on the Golden Griffins on Wednesday, Dec. 28 at the Koessler Athletic Center at 5:15 p.m. Live stats, live audio and live video will be available at www.GoGriffs.com. 

THE SERIES VS. CANISIUS: Canisius holds the all-time advantage against the Big Red, 6-1, and has won the last three outings, including a 66-58 victory last season at Newman Arena. The series began in the 1988-89 season with the Golden Griffins winning the first three meetings before the Big Red took its lone win in the series during the 1999-2000 season.

SCOUTING THE GOLDEN GIFFINS: Canisius has won its last two outings to even its record at 5-5 on the season. Jamie Ruttle leads the Griffs with 10.2 points and 5.2 rebounds per game, while Jen Morabito is the team's biggest 3-point threat, shooting 40 percent from beyond the arc (25-of-62) and averaging 9.5 points per game.  Ashley Durham runs the offense, handing out 4.3 assists per game, but she has proven to have trouble with turnovers, averaging 4.4 per contest.

LAST TIME VS. THE CANISIUS: The Big Red took a two-point lead into halftime, but a late 9-0 scoring run by Canisius put the game out of reach as the Golden Griffins stole a 66-58 victory in Newman Arena. In its first game after a 17-day study break, Cornell had three players score in double-figures, led by Stephanie Long's career-high 17 points. Long played nearly the entire game and had an impressive night, connecting on 6-of-12 shots and handing out a team-best six assists. Joining her in double-figures was Clare Fitzpatrick with 15 points and Allyson DiMagno with 10. Fitzpatrick and DiMagno both finished with five rebounds. Canisius was led by Jen Morabito's career-high 24 points, while Jamie Ruttle finished with 14 and Melissa Gardner and Micayla Drysdale both chipped in 11 points. Steph MacDonald had a game-high eight rebounds. Cornell shot a respectable 37.5 percent from the floor and 39.1 percent from 3-point range, but the Griffs finished at 41.5 percent overall and 40 percent from beyond the arc. The Big Red had its lowest turnover total of the season with just 15 miscues, while forcing Canisius into 19 turnovers. In a game that saw nine lead changes and four ties, the contest was decided in the end by Canisius' commanding 44-31 edge in rebounds, which allowed the Griffs to outscore the Big Red, 17-6, in second-chance points.

CORNELL VS. THE MAAC: Cornell fell to 12-32 all-time vs. the current members of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference after falling to Manhattan on Dec. 22. The Big Red holds a winning record vs. Iona (1-0) but has a losing record vs. Canisius (1-6), Fairfield (1-2), Loyola (0-2), Manhattan (1-2), 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 3-8.

A CORNELL WIN WOULD:
• improve the Big Red's record to 4-6.
• narrow the gap to 6-2 all-time against Canisius.
• snap a Four game skid against MAAC opponents.
• improve Coach Smith's record to 4-8 against the MAAC.

WHAT JUST HAPPENED?:
• Manhattan used a 13-0 run over a five minute span midway through the first half to blow open what had been a close game and went on to defeat the Big Red, 73-49, on Dec. 22 in Draddy Gymnasium.
• The teams played an even second half, but Cornell was unable to overcome a 39-16 halftime deficit.
• Cornell was led by Allyson DiMagno, who had a solid game with 14 points, five rebounds and three assists.
• Clare Fitzpatrick finished with 13 points and eight rebounds, while Maka Anyanwu had a game-high 12 rebounds, helping the Big Red to a 36-30 advantage on the boards. 
• Lindsey Lutsenhizer led the Lady Jaspers with 18 points, while Monica Roeder and Schyanne Halfkenny added 15 points apiece.
• Loutsenhizer and Halfkenny also grabbed a team-high seven rebounds each.
• The Big Red struggled in the first half, shooting just 28 percent overall and 14 percent from beyond the arc, while Manhattan was on fire, connecting on 46 percent overall and hitting nine 3-pointers (60 percent) to build its significant halftime lead.
• Manhattan also used some tenacious defense to force 25 Big Red turnovers with 15 steals.

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: Seven of Cornell's nine games so far this season have come against teams that the Big Red faced last year – Colgate, Longwood, Eastern Michigan, Cleveland State, Binghamton, Bucknell and Manhattan. In addition to going 3-4 against those opponents this year, as opposed to the 1-6 record it posted last year, the Big Red also increased its points per game (59.0/51.0), scoring margin (-0.4/-13.7), shooting percentage (.392/.364), 3-point shooting percentage (.269/,224), free throw percentage (.718/.675), rebounds (40.3/33.9), assists (13.6/12.7) and blocks (3.6/3.3). Cornell also dramatically reduced its turnovers (17.4/21.7) while significantly cutting opponents' scoring (59.4/64.7), field goal percentage (.373/.410) and 3-point field goal percentage (.336/.368).  

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-19 for a team high 63 percentage. Senior Maka Anyanwu has also shown great decision making, shooting an Ivy League best 54% on the season (34-63).

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 69.4 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-9 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 7.1 steals per game.

HELPING HAND: So far this season, Cornell has assists on 123-of-191 baskets (64.4 percent).

STARTING STREAK: Clare Fitzpatrick has started the last 50 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 32 straight starts ranking second.

FIRST MINUTES: Freshman Sarah Poland has seen action in six-of-nine 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 is back in action in the New Year when it travels to Fordham to take on the Rams on Monday, Jan. 2 at 7 p.m.