Game Information
Cornell vs. Manhattan
Tip Off: Tuesday, Nov. 20, 2012; 7:00 p.m.
Location: Newman Arena (Ithaca, N.Y.)
Records: Cornell (2-2, 0-0 Ivy); Manhattan (1-1, 0-0 MAAC)
Series Record: Manhattan, 2-1
Last Meeting: Manhattan won 73-49 (12/20/11)
Live Stats: CornellBigRed.com
Live Audio: RLMSports.net
Video Webcast: CornellBigRed.com

Game Notes (PDF)

THE MATCHUP: The Big Red women's basketball team will look for its first home victory of the season and head coach Dayna Smith will seek her 100th career win when they welcomes Manhattan College to Newman Arena on Tuesday, Nov. 20 at 7 p.m. Cornell split a pair of games last week to keep its record even at 2-2 and the Lady Jaspers' record is also even at 1-1. Live video of the game (pay-per-view) will be available on RedCast, while live audio is available at RLMSports.net and live stats can be viewed at CornellBigRed.com.

THE SERIES VS. MANHATTAN: Cornell and the Lady Jaspers have met just three times 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 the past two years to Manhattan.

SCOUTING THE LADY JASPERS: Manhattan (1-1) was tabbed to finish ninth in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) this season in the poll of the conference's 10 head coaches. The Lady Jaspers finished the 2011-12 season with a record of 18-16 and advanced to the semifinals of the Women's Basketball Invitational (WBI) for the second straight year. Manhattan returns two starters from that team, including junior guard Monica Roeder, who was named to the preseason All-MAAC second team and has led the Lady Jaspers in scoring in both of their games so far this season.

CORNELL VS. THE MAAC: Cornell fell to 12-33 all-time vs. the current members of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference after falling to Canisius last season. The Big Red holds a winning record vs. Iona (1-0) but has a losing record vs. Canisius (1-7), 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 3-9.

A CORNELL WIN OVER MANHATTAN WOULD:
• give head coach Dayna Smith her 100th career victory.
• improve the Big Red's record to 3-2.
• be the first home victory for the Big Red this season.
• snap a two game skid against the Lady Jaspers.
• even the all-time series at 2-2.
• snap a five game skid against MAAC opponents.
• improve Coach Smith to 4-9 against the MAAC.

LAST TIME VS. THE LADY JASPERS:
• 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 at Draddy Gymnasium in Riverdale, N.Y.
• 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 and  Maka Anyanwu had a game-high 12 rebounds, helping the Big Red to a 36-30 advantage on the boards.
• Lindsey Loutsenhizer 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.
• Cornell found its offensive rhythm in the second half, hitting 43 percent overall and 40 percent from 3-point range over the final 20 minutes, but the Lady Jaspers kept up its hot shooting to finish the game at 46 percent overall and 48 percent from beyond the arc.
• Manhattan also used some tenacious defense to force 25 Big Red turnovers with 15 steals.

SEEKING 100 WINS: Head Coach Dayna Smith is already the winningest coach in Cornell history, but she is seeking another milestone, as her next win will be her 100th victory as a head coach.

BEATING THE BEARCATS: Cornell snapped a four-game skid to Binghamton on Nov. 14 when it defeated the Bearcats, 60-56. The game was a thrilling one with the Big Red building a big lead early on, losing that lead late in the contest, and then coming back with three minutes to play to earn the win.

PRESSURE FREE THROWS: Cornell has struggled a bit from the free throw line, connecting on just 66.1 percent of its chances, but the Big Red has seen that percentage improve significantly at the end of close games. In the final five minutes of games decided by 10 or fewer points, Cornell is shooting 73.3 percent (11-of-15) from the foul line.

NO PLACE LIKE HOME: All but seven of Cornell's victories since the beginning of the 2010-11 season have come at Newman Arena.

CLOSE CALLS: Since the beginning of the 2010-11 season, the Big Red has had 23-of-60 games (38.3%) decided by eight points or fewer. In those games, Cornell has posted a 12-11 record.

BLOCKS A LOT: Senior Clare Fitzpatrick currently sits in 10th place in Cornell history for career blocks (53), having surpassed classmate Kristina Danielak, who is now sitting in 11th place with 50 blocks.

I'LL TAKE THAT: So far this season, Cornell has averaged 7.5 steals per game, down slightly from last year when the Big Red averaged 8.4 steals per game. Last season's total was the best team average since the 2001-02 team finished the year with 11.0 steals per game.

HELPING HAND: So far this season, the Big Red has assisted on 50-of-79 baskets (63.3%), which is slightly down from last year when Cornell had assists on 366-of-576 baskets (64%).

STARTING STREAK: Junior Allyson DiMagno has a 55-game starting streak, which is by far the longest current active streak on the team, nearly doubling senior Spencer Lane's 34-game streak.

RACE TO 1,000/500: Senior Clare Fitzpatrick is aiming to become the seventh player in Cornell history and second ever under head coach Dayna Smith to register at least 1,000 points and 500 rebounds for her career. She currently has 904 points and 483 rebounds.

LOW PERCENTAGE SHOTS: So far this season, Cornell has held three of its four opponents to below 40 percent shooting from the floor. The Big Red closed the 2011-12 season by holding its opponents to 40 percent or below from the floor in 12 of its final 18 games.

FOR OPENERS: The Big Red is 18-24 all-time in season openers. Coach Dayna Smith improved her record to 2-9 in season openers after defeating Colgate, 69-65 on Nov. 11, 2012. It was the first season-opening victory since the 2004-05 campaign.

WHAT WAS LOST: The Big Red graduated two players from the 2011-12 squad – Maka Anyanwu and Allie Munson. A junior college transfer, Anyanwu earned two varsity letters and finished her senior season with 211 points (7.8 ppg.) and 118 rebounds (4.4 rpg.). Munson was a four-year letter winner for the Big Red and played in 93 career games (13.3 mpg.). She averaged 3.2 points and 3.8 rebounds per game for her career and ranks 12th all-time in Cornell history for career blocked shots (42). 

WHAT REMAINS: Cornell returns four starters and nine letter winners from last season's squad. The Big Red returns 84% of its scoring (1,298-of-1,554 points) and 83% of its rebounding (813-of-975) from a year ago.

HOME SWEET HOME: The games against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and the University of Texas will serve as a home coming for Lone Star State natives Kristina Danielak (Georgetown, Texas) and Aspen Chandler (Dallas, Texas).

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. She has since upped that total to 98 victories.

100 THREES: For the past five seasons, Cornell has hit at least 100 3-pointers as a team. 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.

UP NEXT: Cornell will enjoy a short break for the Thanksgiving holiday before returning to action at the University of New Hampshire on Sunday, Nov. 25 at 1 p.m.