* Game Notes in PDF
* Sarah Poland's story important for Big Red in supporting cancer research efforts

GAME DETAILS
Cornell vs. Penn
Tip Off: Friday, Feb. 17, 2012; 7:00 p.m.
Location: Newman Arena (Ithaca, N.Y.)
Records: Penn (9-12, 2-5 Ivy); Cornell (9-12, 3-4 Ivy)
Series Record: Penn leads, 48-18
Last Meeting: Cornell, 67-53 (1/29/12)
Live Stats: CornellBigRed.com
Video Webcast: CornellBigRed.com

Cornell vs. Princeton
Tip Off: Saturday, Feb. 18, 2012; 7:00 p.m.
Location: Newman Arena (Ithaca, N.Y.)
Records: Princeton (17-4; 7-0 Ivy); Cornell (9-12, 3-4 Ivy)
Series Record: Princeton leads, 42-20
Last Meeting: Princeton, 64-35 (1/13/12)
Live Stats: CornellBigRed.com
Video Webcast: CornellBigRed.com

THE MATCHUP: The Cornell women's basketball team returns home for a big weekend set when the Big Red welcomes Penn and Princeton to Newman Arena this weekend. The Big Red will face Penn on Friday, Feb. 17, and Princeton will be in town the following night. Both games will tip at 7 p.m. The Big Red has already surpassed last season's overall win total and will be attempting to surpass last season's win total in Ivy League play. Saturday's contest against Princeton on Saturday will be the annual Pink Zone contest, with proceeds to benefit the Cancer Resource Center of the Finger Lakes. Live stats and live video will be available and links can be found at www.CornellBigRed.com.

PINK ZONE GAME ON SATURDAY: Saturday's game against Princeton has been designated the Pink Zone game with proceeds to benefit the Cancer Resource Center of the Finger Lakes. There will be no admission, though donations will be accepted. There will be commemorative shirts and wristbands for sale at the game, as well as raffle tickets for sale with great prizes to area restaurants and attractions. Radio station Z95.5 will be at Newman Arena broadcasting live from 5-7 p.m., while Trumansburg Mini-Golf Kids Zone will be open pregame and throughout the contest with a bounce house, mini golf, other games and facepainting. All activities are free.
 
COACHING TREE: Cornell head women's basketball coach Dayna Smith is plenty familiar with the Palestra and the Penn women's basketball program after serving as an assistant coach at Penn for three seasons (1999-2002). Smith helped the Quakers to the 2000-01 league crown and a trip to the NCAA tournament, as well as a pair of regular season runner-up finishes. In her three seasons at Penn, the Quakers posted a 52-31 overall record and a 31-11 Ivy League record, including an undefeated 14-0 conference slate in 2000-01. She was instrumental in recruiting one first-team All-Ivy and two all-rookie players in her short tenure and assisted in the development of two-time Ivy Player of the Year Diana Caramanico, the conference's all-time leading scorer (2,415 points). She also played a role in increasing community support for women's games, initiating the “Penn Pals” program.
 
THE SERIES VS. PENN: Cornell's rivalry with Penn began during the 1974-75 season and the two teams have met every year since, excluding the 1977-78 and 1978-79 seasons. The Quakers hold the all-time series record, 48-18, but the Big Red has won nine of the last 13 meetings. Coach Smith, who was an assistant coach for Penn from 1999-2002, holds a 9-10 record vs. her old squad.
 
SCOUTING THE QUAKERS: Penn enters Friday's contest with a 9-12 overall mark and a 2-5 Ivy League mark. Injuries have limited All-Ivy performer Jess Knapp  after the Quakers got off to an impressive 7-2  start. Penn is just 2-10 since and has averaged just 50.7 points in its last 13 games and been held under 50 points seven times during that stretch. Alyssa Baron leads the way averaging 16.0 points and 5.5 rebounds in 21 contests, and also has Jess Knapp (5.4 ppg., 5.9 rpg.) and Kara Bonenberger (9.1 ppg., 6.2 rpg.). The Quakers have limited opponents to 37 percent shooting, but have made just 34 percent of their own shots. Third-year head coach Mike McLaughlin was the fastest coach in the history of women's college basketball to reach 400 victories and entered his second season with the highest winning percentage of any head coach in college basketball — men or women, and any level.
 
THE SERIES VS. PRINCETON: The Cornell and Princeton series has been one of the more competitive Ivy League matchups in recent years, with the Tigers holding the slim 13-10 lead since the 2000-01 season. The series began in 1974-75 with a 51-33 Princeton victory, but the teams wouldn't meet again until the 1979-80 season. The schools have met every year since 1979-80, and the Tigers hold the edge in the all-time series, 43-20. Coach Dayna Smith is 7-12 vs. Princeton.
 
SCOUTING THE TIGERS: Two-time defending Ivy League champion Princeton has made a statement in jumping out to a 7-0 record in conference action. The Tigers, who are 34-1 in conference play over the last three seasons and 67-12 overall entering Friday's contest at Columbia, feature junior forward Niveen Rasheed (17.0 ppg., 8.8 rpg., 2.8 apg., 2.3 spg.) and senior guard Lauren Edwards (10.6 ppg., 4.9 rpg.,1.8 spg.). Additionally, senior Devona Allgood (9.4 ppg., 6.1 rpg.) is closing in on double figures. The Tigers are 9-2 away from Jadwin Gymnasium in large part due to its dominance on the backboards (+10.8). Head coach Courtney Banghart's team was picked to finish first again in the Ancient Eight preseason media poll.
 
WHAT JUST HAPPENED?:
• Cornell had tough luck on the road, dropping contests to Yale (86-73) and Brown (60-49) and losing several players to the flu bug.
• Spencer Lane scored a career-high 18 points for Cornell to lead four double figure scorers, but Yale made 16 3-pointers, including 10 in the first half, to cruise to the victory on Friday evening.
 • Yale connected early and often from downtown, hitting on 16-of-30 shots from beyond the arc to take a 16-point lead into halftime, then held off a 48-point second half Cornell outburst to earn the victory.
• Against Brown, the Bears closed the game on a 20-9 run over the final 4:17 to break a tie and go on for the win.
• Taylor Flynn scored 16 points, Allyson DiMagno had 12 points and 11 rebounds (including six offensive boards) and Clare Fitzpatrick netted 12 points with three steals, but the rest of the lineup could muster just nine points in the loss.
• The Big Red played without regular starters Maka Anyanwu and Shelby Lyman, as well as reserve Sarah Poland.
• Cornell shot under 30 percent from the floor (.296), but the team did hit on 11-of-12 from the charity stripe, good for 92 percent.
 
BIG SHOT: Sophomore Allyson DiMagno hit the game-winning shot with three seconds to play against Fordham, handing the Big Red the 40-39 victory.
 
BIG BOARDS: Clare Fitzpatrick grabbed 15 rebounds against Fordham on Jan. 2, becoming the first Big Red player to pull down 15 boards since Jeomi Maduka did so against Binghamton on Jan. 7, 2008, a span of 107 games.
 
SMALL WIN: The Big Red defeated Fordham, 40-39, on Jan. 2. The 40 points are the lowest scored by Cornell in a victory under head coach Dayna Smith. The previous mark was set during a 41-36 victory over Brown on Feb. 24, 2007 … The last time the Big Red won a game despite scoring 40 or fewer points came in a 36-20 victory over Radcliff during the 1974-75 season.
 
BIG WINS: So far this season, the Big Red has defeated three opponents – Cleveland State, Bucknell and Ithaca – by 20 points. The last time Cornell beat at least three opponents by 20 points came during the 2007-08 season when the Big Red won five games by at least 20 points.
 
PRESSURE FREE THROWS: Cornell is shooting 69.5 percent from the foul line for the season, but that number is helped dramatically by the fact that the Big Red is stronger from the charity stripe at the end of close games. In the final five minutes of games decided by 10 or fewer points, Cornell has hit 71.4 percent (15-of-21) from the foul line and 8-of-12 (66.7) in the final two minutes of games decided by 10 or fewer points.
 
CLOSE CALLS: The Big Red was in many close games during the 2010-11 season, with more than one-third of its contests being decided by eight points or less. In those games, Cornell posted a 5-5 record. So far this year the trend of close games has continued with the Big Red seeing 6-of-19 games decided by eight points or less and sporting a record of 3-3 in those games.
 
BLOCKS A LOT: With her block against Eastern Michigan on Nov. 27, senior Allie Munson moved into Cornell's all-time blocks leader list with 41 for her career. She has since slipped out as junior Kristina Danielak surpassed Munson with her two blocks at Columbia, while Clare Fitzpatrick is hovering just outside the top 10 with 41.
 
I'LL TAKE THAT: Last year, the Big Red averaged 6.3 steals per game. That was the best average since the 2007-08 team registered 6.8 steals per game. So far this season, Cornell is averaging an even more impressive 8.7 steals per game.
 
HELPING HAND: So far this season, Cornell has assists on 278-of-433 baskets (64.2 percent).
 
STARTING STREAK: Clare Fitzpatrick has started the last 62 games for the Big Red, dating back to Jan. 29, 2010. That is by far the longest current active streak on the team, with sophomore Allyson DiMagno's 44 straight starts ranking second.
 
IVY HONORS: After one of its most impressive wins of the season against Bucknell, a pair of Big Red players were honored with freshman Marissa Rakestraw earning Co-Ivy League Rookie of the Week honors by the conference office, while Clare Fitzpatrick was named the College Sports Madness Ivy Player of the Week.
 
STUDYING THE OPPONENTS: Since the 1980-81 season, the Big Red is 12-19 coming out of Cornell's two-week study break. However, Coach Smith's teams have fared much better, posting a record of 7-3 in the first game back from exams.
 
NOTING THE CLEVELAND STATE GAME: Cornell's 79-59 victory over Cleveland State was significant for the Big Red offense. It was the first time Cornell has scored at least 70 points since defeating Tennessee State on Nov. 21, 2009. It was also the first time the Big Red has shot 50 percent from the floor, or registered 50 points in a half since that game against Tennessee State. Finally, it was the first time Cornell defeated a team by 20 points since beating Ithaca College on Nov. 15, 2009. 
 
FITZPATRICK JOINS 700/400 CLUB: With her 19 points against Cleveland State, Clare Fitzpatrick surpassed the 600-point plateau for her career. In the game prior to that, against Eastern Michigan, the junior forward pulled down her 300th career rebound. She becomes the 26th player in Cornell history, and the 11th under Head Coach Dayna Smith, to record at least 600 points and 300 rebounds. Since then, Fitzpatrick has moved into the 700/400 club with her 783 points and 425 rebounds.
 
LYMAN STEAL STREAK: Shelby Lyman had registered a steal in each of the Big Red's first seven games of the season. That is the longest streak by any Cornell player since Lyman came up with at least one steal in seven consecutive games last year from Jan. 6 through Feb. 4. Prior to Lyman, Allie Fedorowicz '10 registered a steal in eight straight games from Dec. 29, 2009 to Feb. 5, 2010.
 
LAST POSSESSION: From Nov. 15 to Nov. 25, Cornell played in three games that came down to the final possession of the game, with the Big Red defeating Colgate (59-56) before falling to New Hampshire (62-63) and Eastern Michigan (52-54). The last time Cornell played three games in a row that were decided by the final possession was during the 1996-97 season when the Big Red lost to Brown (63-65) before closing out the season with victories against Penn (65-63) and Princeton (58-57).
 
DOUBLE-DIGIT STREAK: Sophomore Allyson DiMagno registered double-digit points in the Big Red's first five games this season, extending her streak to seven games, dating back to the final two games of the 2010-11 season, before scoring just seven points in Cornell's victory over Cleveland State. Prior to DiMagno, Clare Fitzpatrick was the last Cornell player to score 10+ points in seven consecutive games, doing so during her rookie year in 2009-10.
 
SHARP SHOOTERS: The Big Red hit 46 percent from the floor (23-50) against New Hampshire, its best shooting percentage since last season when it connected on 48.9 percent against Longwood on Jan. 9, 2011. Cornell followed that up with a 53.7 performance (29-54) from the floor at Cleveland State, as well as a mark of 54.5 (6-11) from 3-point range against the Vikings. Cornell did those games even better at Penn, hitting 57.1 percent(24-42) from the floor in the 67-53 victory.
 
LOW PERCENTAGE SHOTS: Cornell's opponents have shot 40 percent or below from the floor in eight of the last 11 games and 13 times in 21 contests this season. Big Red opponents are shooting just 39 percent from the floor for the season.
 
HOME SWEET HOME: The game vs. Cleveland State was a homecoming for rookie Sarah Poland, who is a native of Valley View, Ohio, a suburb of Cleveland. She played seven minutes, blocked one shot and handed out one assist.
 
CAREER ASSISTS: A pair of Cornellians tallied a career-high in assists against New Hampshire with Spencer Lane handing out six helpers, while Allyson DiMagno registered five assists.  DiMagno bettered that mark with six assists at Columbia, while Lane had 10 assists in the win over Ithaca College.
 
MORE ASSISTS: Cornell has recorded double figures in team assists in 16 of the team's 21 games. The Big Red has 17 or more assists in four of its last 10 games.
 
IVY OPENERS: Since Ivy League round robin play began in the 1982-83 season, Cornell has posted a 15-15 record in conference openers. The Big Red has lost its last three Ivy openers against Columbia and this year's to Princeton, making coach Dayna Smith's record 4-6 in the first game of Ancient Eight play. Cornell has faced the Lions more than any other team, opening the season against Columbia 14 times.
 
FIRST MINUTES: Freshman Sarah Poland has seen action in 12-of-21 games this season, averaging 6.2  minutes of action. Sarah Talamantes saw her first collegiate playing time at Cleveland State on Nov. 27, while Marissa Rackstraw and Tyler Kim both saw the first minutes of their careers vs. Bucknell.
 
NO PLACE LIKE HOME: All but four of Cornell's victories since the beginning of the 2010-11 season have come at Newman Arena.
 
HOME OPENER VICTORY: Cornell's 59-56 win over Colgate on Nov. 15 gave the Big Red a victory in its home opener for the first time since beating Albany, 50-46, on Nov. 19, 2008.
 
FOR OPENERS: With its loss to William & Mary to start the season, the Big Red fell to 17-24 all-time in season openers. Coach Dayna Smith has posted a 1-9 record in season openers during her time with Cornell.
 
ALL GOOD THINGS MUST COME TO AN END: Sophomore Shelby Lyman saw her consecutive free throw streak come to an end in the season opener against William & Mary. Lyman hit all 14 of her free throw attempts last season but missed her first attempt against the Tribe to end the streak. 
 
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 94 victories.
 
100 THREES: For the fourth straight season, Cornell reached the century mark for 3-pointers, with 121 during the 2010-11 campaign. 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.
 
UMPQUA COMMUNITY CONNECTION: Junior college transfer Maka Anyanwu came to the Big Red last year 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.
 
BASKETBALL PEDIGREE: Sophomore Stephanie Long isn't the only member of her family to play collegiate basketball. Her father Dennis played basketball for three seasons at UConn.
 
ALL IN THE FAMILY: Sophomore 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.
 
HI, MY NAME IS: Cornell has two new faces on the bench for the 2011-12 season, as Kharmen Wingard and Katie Schlein join the women's basketball staff as an assistant coaches. Wingard comes to East Hill after four seasons as the assistant men's basketball coach at nearby Cortland, while Schlein spent the past season working as the assistant director of women's basketball operations at the University of Denver.
 
TICKLE THE (ALL) IVY: Clare Fitzpatrick was named All-Ivy honorable mention following the 2010-11 season. She led Cornell and ranked 12th in the conference in scoring (11.4 ppg.) and was second overall on the team and 14th in the league in rebounding (5.2 rpg.). She also averaged 1.3 assists and 1.2 steals per game and finished with 17 blocks on the season. In 28 games, she scored in double-digits 20 times. She was the Big Red's leading scorer in 15 games and grabbed a team-high in rebounds in nine contests. Fitzpatrick was also the model of consistency as the only player on the team to start every game last season.
 
UP NEXT: The Big Red returns to close its conference home schedule when it welcomes Brown (Friday, Feb. 24 at 7 p.m.) and Yale (Saturday, Feb. 25 at 7 p.m.) at Newman Arena.