Game Information
William & Mary at Cornell
Tip Off: Sunday, Dec. 30, 2012; 1:00 p.m.
Location: Newman Arena (Ithaca, N.Y.)
Records: Cornell (5-5, 0-0 Ivy); William & Mary (2-7, 0-0 CAA)
Series Record: William & Mary leads, 1-0
Last Meeting: William & Mary won 85-54 (11/11/11)
Live Stats: www.CornellBigRed.com
Live Audio: www.RLMSports.net
Video Webcast: www.CornellBigRed.com

Game Notes (PDF)

THE MATCHUP: After a 10-day holiday break, the Cornell women's basketball team will play host to William & Mary at Newman Arena on Sunday, Dec. 30 at 1 p.m. The Big Red is looking to snap a two-game skid, while the Tribe has lost four consecutive contests dating back to an 88-76 victory over Austin Peay on Nov. 24.

ABOUT WILLIAM & MARY: William & Mary is currently 2-7 on the season with four of its losses coming by seven points or less. A trio of Tribe players – Emily Correal, Janine Aldridge and Taylor Hilton – are averaging more than 10 points per game, with Correal posting a team-high 19.3 points per game to go along with 8.2 rebounds per contest.

THE SERIES VS. THE TRIBE: William & Mary has won the only previous meeting between the teams, topping Cornell 85-54 in the 2011-12 season opener.

CORNELL VS. CAA: Cornell has a 2-11 all-time record against the current members of the Colonial Athletic Association with its only victories coming against Hofstra (1-3) and James Madison (1-1).The Big Red has also faced Drexel (0-4), Northeastern (0-2) and William & Mary (0-1), but has never played Delaware, George Mason, Georgia State, UNC-Wilmington, Old Dominion or Towson in women's basketball ...  Coach Smith is 1-4 all-time against CCA with the lone victory coming against JMU.

A CORNELL WIN OVER WILLIAM & MARY WOULD:
• snap a two-game losing streak.
• improve the Big Red's record to 6-5 on the season.
• give the Big Red a 3-2 home record in 2012-13.
• be Cornell's third consecutive victory at Newman Arena.
• even the all-time series against the Tribe at 1-1.
• improve Coach Smith to 2-4 all-time vs. the current members of the CAA.

LAST TIME VS. THE TRIBE:
• After a strong first half of play, the Big Red could not keep pace with William and Mary, falling to the Tribe in both teams' 2011-12 season opener, 85-54.
• The Big Red was led by Shelby Lyman and Allyson DiMagno with 13 and 12 points, respectively.
• Lyman hit 4-of-6 from 3-point range, while DiMagno converted 7-of-8 free throws.
• DiMagno also chipped in five rebounds, three assists and two steals.
• Clare Fitzpatrick had seven rebounds and handed out four assists to go along with two blocks and one steal.
• W&M was led by a pair of 20-point performers with Janine Aldridge (24) and Jaclyn McKenna (20) hitting a combined 16-20 shots overall and 7-of-8 from 3-point range.
• Emily Correal finished the night with 16 points and a team-high seven rebounds, while Katherine DeHenzel handed out a game-high six assists. 
• Despite the Tribes' significant height advantage, the Big Red held the slight edge in rebounds (35-34), but suffered from 26 turnovers.

100 WINS AND COUNTING: Head Coach Dayna Smith is already the winningest coach in Cornell history, and she reached the 100-win mark for her career with the team's victory over Manhattan. She has since added to that and has 102 career coaching wins.

STUDYING THE OPPONENTS: Since the 1980-81 season, the Big Red is 12-20 coming out of Cornell's two-week study break. However, Coach Smith's teams have fared much better, posting a record of 7-4 in the first game back from exams … This season, the Big Red was edged by Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, 52-49 in its first game following the break.

PLAYER OF THE WEEK: On Dec. 3, Allyson DiMagno earned Ivy League co-Player of the Week after helping the Big Red to a pair of victories against St. Francis (N.Y.) and Morgan State. Over the course of the two games, DiMagno averaged 18.5 points and 11.5 rebounds. She posted her fourth double-double of the season with 18 points and 14 rebounds against the Terriers and finished one rebound shy of her fifth double-double with 19 points and nine boards vs. the Lady Bears.. DiMagno is Cornell's first Player of the Week since Lauren Benson shared the award with Harvard's Emily Tay on Feb. 2, 2009.

BEST BOARDS: As of the national rankings on Dec. 16, Allyson DiMagno led the Ivy League and ranked fifth in the nation in rebounds per game.

IVY LEADERS: In addition to Allyson DiMagno leading the Ivy League in rebounding, several Big Red players are ranked among the top 10 in several categories in the Ivy League, including:
*Allyson DiMagno – fifth in scoring (13.8 points per game)
*Clare Fitzpatrick – ninth in scoring (11.3 points per game)
*Clare Fitzpatrick – seventh in field goal percentage (.470)
*Allyson DiMagno – ninth in field goal percentage (.444)
* Spencer Lane – fourth in assists (3.1 assists per game)
*Allyson DiMagno – fourth in free throw percentage (.837)
*Clare Fitzpatrick – eighth in free throw percentage (.745)
*Allyson DiMagno – fifth in steals (2.1 steals per game)
*Shelby Lyman – seventh in 3-point field goals made (1.5 per game)
*Clare Fitzpatrick – ninth in blocked shots (0.7 per game)
* Spencer Lane – second in assist/turnover ratio (1.0 per game)
*Allyson DiMagno – first in offensive rebounds (4.0 per game)
*Allyson DiMagno – first in defensive rebounds (7.5 per game)
*Allyson DiMagno – first in minutes played (36.4 per game)
*Stephanie Long – eighth in minutes played (31.1 per game)
* Shelby Lyman – ninth in minutes played (30.9 per game)

NO PLACE LIKE HOME: All but eight 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 26-of-65 games (40.0%) decided by eight points or fewer. In those games, Cornell has posted a 13-13 record.

BLOCKS A LOT: Senior Clare Fitzpatrick currently sits in ninth place in Cornell history for career blocks (55), having surpassed classmate Kristina Danielak, who is now sitting in 11th place with 52 blocks.

I'LL TAKE THAT: So far this season, Cornell has averaged 7.6 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 133-of-199 baskets (66.8%), which is slightly up from last year when Cornell had assists on 366-of-576 baskets (64%).

STARTING STREAK: Junior Allyson DiMagno has a 61-game starting streak, which is by far the longest current active streak on the team. Senior Spencer Lane's 40-game streak ranks second.

HITTING 1,000/500: With her 12 rebounds against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Dec. 18, senior Clare Fitzpatrick became 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.

LOW PERCENTAGE SHOTS: So far this season, Cornell has held seven of its 10 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.

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.

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.

BASKETBALL PEDIGREE: Junior Stephanie Long isn't the only member of her family to play collegiate basketball. Her father Dennis played basketball for three seasons at UConn.

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

ALL IN THE FAMILY: Junior 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.

PRESEASON HONORS: Clare Fitzpatrick and Allyson DiMagno were both named to the College Sports Madness Preseason All-Ivy team, with Fitzpatrick earning first-team honors and DiMagno snagging a place on the second-team.

TICKLE THE (ALL) IVY: Forward Clare Fitzpatrick and guard Allyson DiMagno were each named honorable mention All-Ivy League following the 2011-12 season. Fitzpatrick ranked 12th in the Ancient Eight in scoring (10.8 ppg.) and was fourth in rebounding (6.9 rpg.). She also ranked third in the circuit in blocked shots and registered five double-doubles. Her basket with less than four seconds to play helped down Brown. DiMagno was 13th in scoring (10.7 ppg.) and second in rebounding (7.3 rpg.), leading all guards with her work on the backboards. She also ranked 10th in the Ivy in assists (10th) and steals (seventh) and was just outside the top 10 in blocked shots. Her basket with three seconds left pushed the Big Red over Fordham.

HI, MY NAME IS: Cornell has a new face on the bench for the 2012-13 season, as Daan de Heus joins the women's basketball staff as an assistant coach. A native of Eindhoven, The Netherlands, de Heus played for the Dutch national youth basketball teams before going on to serve as an assistant coach for the Netherlands at the 2009 high school basketball world championships, held in Istanbul, Turkey. He was also the head basketball coach of a variety of youth and senior basketball teams at Almonte, from 2005-2011, wining two championships at the U16 and U18 level.

NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK: The Big Red adds three players to the 2012-13 squad: Allison Bockrath (Dayton, Ohio), Molly Meriggioli (Waunakee, Wisc.) and Jen Wahleithner (Highlands Ranch, Colo). The class of three come from three different states and consists of two guards and one forward.

UP NEXT: Cornell has a busy week ahead as it travels to Lewisburg, Pa., on Wednesday, Jan. 2 to take on Bucknell at 7 p.m., before returning home to face Buffalo on Saturday, Jan. 5 at 1 p.m.