Box Score * Box Score (PDF)
* Postgame interviews with Coach Dayna Smith and senior Clare Fitzpatrick

ITHACA, N.Y. -- The Cornell women's basketball team closed the fall semester with its third win in the last four games after a 77-73 victory over Morgan State on Saturday afternoon at Bartels Hall. With the win, the Big Red improved to 5-3, while the Bears fell to 3-5.

Clare Fitzpatrick scored a season high 20 and Allyson DiMagno narrowly missed her fourth double-double in the last five games with 19 points and nine rebounds. Shelby Lyman connected for a season-high 14 points, including four timely 3-pointers, the Big Red's only treys of the contest. Cornell shot 42 percent from the floor, but hit on 27-of-32 free throws on the day (84 percent) to claim the win.

Morgan State had a pair of 20-point scorers, as Bianca Jarrett scored 26 points and added seven rebounds and four assists, but was hounded into six turnovers thanks to the defense of Spencer Lane and Aspen Chandler. Tracey Carrington added 21 points and also turned it over six times. All told, the Bears turned it over 21 times to cancel out its 47 percent shooting.

Lane had six assists and three steals for the Big Red to go along with nine points, while Stephanie Long had a soild floor game with seven points, three rebounds, three assists and three steals. The Big Red had 16 team assists and held its own on the backboards against an athletic Morgan State squad (35-32)

The first half was a back-and-forth affair featuring seven ties and six lead changes that fittingly went into the break tied at 34-34. Jarrett kept the visitors in the game with 16 first half points, including four 3-pointers, while Fitzpatrick set the tone for Cornell with 10 points and DiMagno had seven points and six rebounds. The Big Red led by as many as six early (21-15) before Morgan State quickly knotted the game at 25-25. Seven straight Cornell points by Fitzpatrick and a late basket by DiMagno on a feed from Lane sent the game into the break tied.

The second half saw Cornell take control of the pace, scoring the first five points after the break. Though the game would be tied five more times, Morgan State would only lead for 18 seconds total and never again in the final 16 minutes of the contest. Cornell went on a 7-0 spurt after the Bears tied the contest at 50-50 and led much of the rest of the way with a two possession lead, going up as many as 10 with a minute and a half to play. Morgan State scored at buzzer to get back within four, the closest it had been in more than nine minutes.

Cornell will take a 17-day break for final exams before getting back on the hardwood on Tuesday, Dec. 18 at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.