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BRONX, N.Y. – Allyson DiMagno's layup with three seconds to play capped a wild finish as the Big Red women's basketball team won a defensive battle, beating Fordham, 40-39, at Rose Hill Gymnasium this evening in the Bronx. With the victory, Cornell snapped a two-game skid, improved to 4-7 on the season, and gave head coach Dayna Smith, who played (1992-96) and served as interim head coach (1999) at A-10 member Rhode Island, her first victory over an A-10 opponent.

The contest was a game of runs and long scoreless droughts for both teams, so when Fordham scored six consecutive points to take a 39-38 lead with 2:53 to play it set up a wild finish. Neither team managed to score down the stretch and with 33 seconds remaining, Clare Fitzpatrick grabbed a rebound off a Becky Peters' miss and was fouled but missed the front end of a one-and-one, just her second missed free throw of the night (5-of-7).

DiMagno forced a turnover after Peters grabbed the rebound, but some physical play by the Rams led to a turnover by the Big Red. Cornell began fouling to put Fordham in the one-and-one and eventually sent Peters to the charity stripe with 19 seconds to play. She missed her shot, grabbed her own rebound and was fouled again but once again, she missed the front end of a one-and-one and Fitzpatrick grabbed the rebound with 10 seconds to play to set up DiMagno's heroics.

Fitzpatrick led Cornell with her second double-double of the season with 11 points and 15 rebounds, while DiMagno also finished with 11 points and eight boards. Maka Anyanwu also had a solid game with five points, six rebounds, one block and one steal.

Fordham (8-6) was led by Charlotte Stoddart's 11 points and six rebounds, while Christina Gaskin chipped in nine points. Peters finished the game with a team-high eight rebounds, seven points and four assists.

Cornell shot 34 percent from the floor and a solid 43 percent from 3-point range, while holding the Rams to 32 percent overall and just 13 percent from beyond the arc. Fordham held the slim edge in rebounds (37-36) and had just 16 turnovers, while forcing 20 Big Red miscues with 10 steals.

The teams traded baskets through the first five minutes of the contest before the home team capitalized on back-to-back steals to spark a 6-2 run and go up, 15-10 at the 12:49 mark. Cornell closed the lead to three points on a pair of made free throws by Fitzpatrick, but a circus shot by Peters as the shot clock expired put Fordham back up by five points, 17-12, with just under 12 minutes remaining in the half.

A trey by DiMagno sparked a 7-2 run, which included consecutive layups from Marissa Rakestraw and Fitzpatrick, to knot the game at 19-19 but a baseline jumper by Gaskin returned the two-point lead to the Rams.

The Big Red tied the score again when Rakestraw fought through a triple-team and hit a three-foot jumper in the paint. Moments later Taylor Flynn gave Cornell its first lead since the opening moments of the contest when she forced a steal and then hit a 10-foot baseline jumper to make it a 23-21 contest at the 6:45 mark.

From that point, both teams buckled down on defense and Cornell took the 23-21 lead into intermission.

Peters hit a trey to open up the second half and snap an 8:16 scoring drought by both teams. The bucket opened up a 7-0 run and pushed Fordham's lead back to five points, 28-23, at 16:46.

A single made free throw by Fitzpatrick ended the Rams' run and gave Cornell its first points of the second half with 14:02 to play and just under two minutes later, DiMagno hit a 3-pointer to bring the Big Red back within one-point, 28-27.

Five consecutive points by Stoddard gave Fordham its largest lead of the game, 33-27, with just under 12 minutes to play, but Cornell fought back with an 11-0 run of its own to take a five point lead, 38-33, at the 5:55 mark. During the Big Red run, the visitors got a pair of free throws from Anyanwu, a lauyup from Flynn, a nice turnaround jumper in the lane by Fitzpatrick as the shot clock expired, a traditional three-point play by DiMagno and another layup from Anyanwu.

Fordham wasn't done, however, as the Rams scored the next six points to take the one-point lead and set up the wild finish.

The Big Red plays its final non-conference road games of the season next week as it travels to the Midwest for a pair of games against the University of Nebraska at Omaha and the University of South Dakota. Cornell takes on the Mavericks on Saturday, Jan. 7 at 1 p.m. CST, before facing the Coyotes on Monday, Jan. 9 at 7 p.m. CST.