* Game Notes (PDF)

GAME 27: Cornell at Brown
TIP OFF: Friday, March 4, at 7:00 p.m. (Providence, R.I.)
SERIES RECORD: Brown leads, 44-19
LAST MEETING: Brown won, 66-53 (Feb. 5, 2011)
2010-11 RECORDS: Cornell (6-20, 3-9 Ivy), Brown (8-18, 4-8)
LIVE AUDIO: None
LIVE STATS: http://livestats.prestosports.com/brown/
LIVE VIDEO: http://www.b2livetv.com/partner_members.asp?id=1

GAME 28: Cornell at Yale
TIP OFF: Saturday, March 5, at 7:00 p.m. (New Haven, Conn.)
SERIES RECORD: Yale leads, 42-22
LAST MEETING: Yale won, 57-49 (Feb. 4, 2011)
2010-11 RECORDS: Cornell (6-20, 3-9 Ivy), Yale (13-13, 9-3)*
LIVE AUDIO: None
LIVE STATS: http://livestats.prestosports.com/yale/
LIVE VIDEO: http://client.stretchinternet.com/client/yale.portal#

* records prior to Friday night's contests

THE MATCHUPS – The Big Red will play its final games of the 2010-11 season, as it travels to Brown and Yale on Friday, Feb. 25 and Saturday, Feb. 26, respectively. Both games are slated to tip-off at 7 p.m. Cornell snapped an eight-game losing streak last weekend as it defeated Penn to improve to 6-20 on the year and 3-9 in the Ivy League. Brown (8-18, 4-8) also split a pair of games last weekend, falling to Harvard before defeating Dartmouth, while Yale (13-13, 9-3) beat both the Crimson and the Big Green to move into second place in the Ivy League standings.

THE SERIES VS. BROWN – Cornell's rivalry with the Bears began in the 1974-75 season when Brown defeated the Big Red, 34-30. The Bears dominated the series during the first 20 years, with Cornell winning only three times prior to the 1994-95 season. Since that year, the series has been far more competitive with Brown holding a slight 17-16 lead, though the Bears still holds the advantage in the all-time series with a record of 44-19. Cornell had a six-game winning streak against the Bears ended last season as the Bears have won the last three outings.

SCOUTING THE BEARS – Brown (8-18, 4-8) snapped a three-game losing streak with a win over Dartmouth last Saturday. Only Shelia Dixon is averaging more than 10 points per game (10.9), but both Lauren Clarke and Hannah Passafuime are on the doorstep of double-digits, averaging 9.3 and 9.2 points per game, respectively. Dixon also leads the team in rebounds (6.3) and assists (3.3).

LAST TIME VS. BROWN – A slow start doomed the Big Red as Brown lead wire-to-wire to take the 66-53 victory at Newman Arena. Clare Fitzpatrick led all scorers with 23 points and finished with seven rebounds, three steals, one block and one assist. Kristina Danielak, Stephanie Long, Taylor Flynn and Allie Munson all scored six points, while Allyson DiMagno pulled down a game-high nine rebounds. For Brown, Hannah Passafuime finished with 15 points, while Lauren Clarke and Lindsay Nickel had 13 and 12 points, respectively. Passafuime also had a team-high eight rebounds. Cornell held the edge in rebounds, 40-34, but turned the ball over 20 times which resulted in 22 points for Brown. The Bears were forced into 14 turnovers with seven steals by the Big Red. Cornell suffered from poor shooting early on, but finished at 37.5 percent for the game. Brown shot well above its season average, connecting on 43.5 percent overall and 35 percent from beyond the arc.

THE SERIES VS. YALE – Cornell first faced the Bulldogs in the 1974-75 season, with Yale taking the 31-23 victory. Cornell has held the significant lead in the series since 2000 (leading 13-8), winning seven-straight from 2000 to 2003, and splitting the series in 2005-06 and 2006-07, before sweeping Yale from 2006-09. However, the Bulldogs have won the last three meetings to improve its lead in the all-time series history to 42-22.

SCOUTING THE BULLDOGS – Yale (13-13, 9-3) has won its last three games, including an impressive win over Harvard last weekend, to move into second place in the Ivy League standings. The team is led by Megan Vasquez and Mady Gobrecht with 14.1 and 12.0 points per game, respectively. Gobrecht is also second on the team with 6.5 rebounds per game, behind Michelle Cashen, who leads the squad with 6.8 boards per contest. Freshman forward Janna Graf has also been a solid contributor for the team and has been named the Ivy League Rookie of the Week four times, while earning Player of the Week accolades once.

LAST TIME VS. YALE – Cornell used tough defense to hold Yale below its season-average for points and shooting percentage, but was doomed by a four-minute scoreless streak late in the second half, as the Bulldogs opened up a tied game and went on to a 57-49 victory. A late push by the Big Red, including a tough three-point play by Allyson DiMagno with 4:20 to play, got the home team back in the game, but Cornell couldn't come all the way back. DiMagno finished with a team-high 10 points, going along with nine rebounds and three assists. Taylor Flynn also finished with 10 points and four rebounds. Clare Fitzpatrick saw limited action due to foul trouble but finished with eight points, five rebounds and two steals, while Stephanie Long handed out five assists. Yale was led by Mady Gobrecht with 18 points and six rebounds, while Janna Graf and Megan Vasquez chipped in 14 points apiece. Cornell held the edge in rebounds (37-28) and shot an impressive 40 percent (19-47) from the field, while holding the Bulldogs to just 29.8 percent (14-47) overall. In the end, however, the tightly officiated game came down to foul shots, as Yale earned 23 points from the line (23-of-29), while the Big Red scored just nine points from the charity stripe (9-for-14).

ROOKIE OF THE WEEK – Stephanie Long was named the Ivy League Rookie of the Week on Feb. 28, earning the first conference honor of the season for the Big Red. After a slow start to the weekend against league-leading Princeton, Long came back to lead Cornell to a 57-51 victory over Penn on Feb. 26. The freshman guard scored a team-high 15 points on a near perfect performance from the floor, going 5-for-7 overall, a perfect 3-for-3 from 3-point range and 2-for-2 from the charity stripe. Her two free throws with 29 seconds to play gave Cornell a four-point lead, essentially sealing the victory.

SENIOR DAY SALUTE – This weekend marks the final games for Cornell senior Susie Doyle. A native of Dublin, Ireland, Doyle is a co-captain of the 2010-11 squad. Despite missing her entire junior season with an injury, she enters the weekend having seen action in 56 career games with 18 starts. For her career, she has averaged 1.4 points and 2.4 rebounds per game. She also has 43 career assists and 18 career steals.

100 THREES – For the fourth straight season, Cornell has reached the century mark for 3-pointers, with 110 on the year. 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.

BLOCKS A LOT – Junior 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).

20 POINT PERFORMANCE – Cornell has had a player score 20 points or more in four Ivy League games this season. Freshman Stephanie Long became the first Big Red player this season to rack up 20 points with a career-high against Columbia on Jan. 15. In the weeks since, freshman Allyson DiMagno has posted a season-high 20 points against Dartmouth on Jan. 28, sophomore Clare Fitzpatrick scored a team season-high 23 points against Brown on Feb. 5 and Maka Anyanwu had a career-best 21 points vs. Dartmouth on Feb. 19.

FRESHMAN THREES – Four members of Cornell's freshmen class – Stephanie Long, Shelby Lyman, Allyson DiMagno and Aspen Chandler – account for 83 percent of the Big Red's 3-pointers. The quartet have made 91 of the Big Red's 110 3-pointers on the season, while sophomores Taylor Flynn (18) and Clare Fitzpatrick (1) are the only Big Red upperclassmen to hit a shot from beyond the arc this season.

CLOSE CALLS – The Big Red has been in many close games this season, with eight contests being decided by eight points or less. In those games, Cornell has posted a 5-3 record.

BLOCK PARTY – The Big Red is averaging 2.6 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 are sophomores Kristina Danielak and Clare Fitzpatrick, with 19 and 14 blocks, respectively. Of the 12 players on the roster, 10 have registered at least one block, with seven tallying three or more.

PRESSURE FREE THROWS – Cornell has seen its free throw percentage improve significantly at the end of close games. Overall on the season, the Big Red is connecting on just 68 percent of its free throws. However, in the final five minutes of games decided by 10 or fewer points, Cornell has shot 75 percent (36-of-48) from the foul line. Even more impressive is that in the final two minutes of games decided by 10 or fewer points, the Big Red has shot 79 percent (27-of-34) from the charity stripe.

STARTING STABILITY – With so many new players on the roster, the Cornell starting line-up saw some fluctuation early on, resulting in four different sets of starters in the first seven games. In the 19 games since, the Big Red has started the same line-up in all but one contest.

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 7-of-20 games and has averaged 17.2 turnovers per game.

OFFENSIVE BOARDS – Freshman guard Allyson DiMagno has a knack for coming up with offensive boards, with an impressive 41 percent of her rebounds (61-of-149) coming on the offensive glass.

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 24.3 minutes per game and ranks fourth on the team in points (5.7) and third overall in rebounds (4.3) per game.

SUDDEN IMPACT – Three of the Big Red's top four scorers so far this season are freshmen. Rookie Allyson DiMagno ranks second on the team with 7.9 points per game, while Stephanie Long (7.6) and Shelby Lyman (5.6) rank third and fourth, respectively.

I'LL TAKE THAT – The Big Red is averaging 6.4 steals per game. That is the best average since the 2006-07 team registered 8.0 steals per game. Clare Fitzpatrick (31) and Shelby Lyman (27) lead the team.

HELPING HAND – So far this season, the Big Red has assisted on 311-of-487 baskets (63.8 percent). That is just down 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 39 games for the Big Red, dating back to Jan. 29, 2010. That is by far the longest current active streak on the team, with freshman Allyson DiMagno's 21-straight starts ranking second.

FITZPATRICK LEADING THE WAY – Sophomore forward Clare Fitzpatrick has led the Big Red in scoring in half (13-of-26) of its 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 14-of-26 games.

BACK-TO-BACK Ws – With victories against Columbia on Jan. 22 and Dartmouth on Jan. 28, the Big Red posted back-to-back wins for the first time since beating Colgate and Manhattan last season. It was Cornell's first consecutive Ivy wins since beating Brown and Dartmouth in 2008-09.

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.

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.

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 … On Dec. 19 against Canisius, freshman Stephanie Long also played a full 40 minutes.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.