Game Information
Columbia at Cornell
Tip Off: Saturday, Jan. 19, 2013; Noon
Location: Newman Arena (Ithaca, N.Y.)
Records: Cornell (8-6, 0-0 Ivy); Columbia (2-12, 0-0 Ivy)
Series Record: Cornell leads, 39-23
Last Meeting: Cornell won, 77-52 (March 6, 2012; Newman Arena)
Live Stats: www.CornellBigRed.com
Live Audio: www.rlmsports.net
Video Webcast: www.CornellBigRed.com

Game Notes (PDF)

THE MATCHUP: The Big Red will open its conference slate this weekend as it welcomes Columbia to Newman Arena on Saturday, Jan. 19 at noon. Cornell closed non-conference play with a winning record for the first time since the 2007-08 season as it improved to 8-6 with a victory over Daemen College last Sunday. The Big Red will look to win its sixth consecutive home game on Saturday against a Lions team that is riding a four-game losing streak and comest to Newman Arena with a record of 2-12.

ABOUT COLUMBIA: The Lions concluded non-conference play with a 2-12 record after dropping a 49-47 decision to Lafayette on Jan. 9.  Columbia is averaging 48 points per game and is shooting just 31 percent overall and a mere 24 percent from 3-point range. Ten different Lions have started at least one contest, with only Tyler Simpson and Courtney Bradford starting all 14 games. Simpson is leading the team with 9.8 points per game and Bradford has a team best 6.0 rebounds per contest. While the Lions have had their share of struggles on offense, their defense has kept them in many contests as they are forcing 20.2 turnovers per game with 10.1 steals per contest. Columbia's opponents are averaging just 58.7 points per game and shooting 38 percent from the floor and 32 percent from beyond the arc.

THE SERIES VS. THE LIONS: Cornell's rivalry with Columbia began in the 1975-76 season when the team represented Barnard College (the Columbia-Barnard Athletic Consortium was organized in 1984-85, at which time the team began playing under the name Columbia). The Big Red had a five-game winning streak vs. the Lions snapped during the 2007-08 season at Levien Gym and Columbia has won five of the last nine meetings since. Despite the current turn, Cornell still holds a 39-23 record in the all-time series, thanks largely to the fact that it dominated the series throughout the `90s. The teams met 20 times from 1990-91 to 1999-2000, with the Cornell winning 17 of those meetings, including 12 straight from 1993 to 2000. Since the 2000-01 season, Columbia holds the slight edge in the series at 14-11, but the Big Red swept the Lions last season.

LAST TIME VS. COLUMBIA (March 6, 2012):
• Seniors Allie Munson and Maka Anyanwu provided a great lift and the Cornell underclassmen responded, running away in the second half for a 77-52 victory over Columbia at Newman Arena.
• Munson brought the crowd to its feet several times in her 17 energetic minutes, scoring 10 points, grabbing six rebounds, stealing three passes and blocking two shots. Anyanwu scored eight points with five rebounds and two steals. The duo was recognized in a pregame ceremony.
•Cornell went on a 17-0 run to open the second half, a run that extended to 20-0 after scoring the last three of the first half.
• The Big Red turned a five-point halftime lead into a 22-point edge. The Lions never got within 19 points the rest of the way.
•Allyson DiMagno led Cornell with 17 points and eight rebounds, while Clare Fitzpatrick netted 15 points and five rebounds off the bench in just 21 minutes.
• Spencer Lane chipped in eight points and five assists and Taylor Flynn hit a pair of 3-pointers.
• Cornell played excellent basketball throughout, assisting on 19 baskets, allowing just 35 percent shooting defensively and controlling the backboard with a 39-30 edge.
• The Big Red had 12 team steals and used a dominant 31-4 scoring edge off the bench to wear down the Lions.
• Columbia, who ended their season at 3-25 (1-13 Ivy) were led by Taylor Ward's 16 points. Both Tyler Simpson and Courtney Bradford scored 10 points apiece.

A CORNELL WIN OVER THE LIONS WOULD:
• improve the Big Red to 9-6 on the season and 1-0 in Ivy League play.
• snap a four-game losing skid in Ivy League openers.
• make Cornell 40-23 all-time against Columbia.
• give the Big Red a six-game winning streak at Newman Arena.
• give the Big Red a 6-2 record in home games in 2012-13.

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 four Ivy openers, with three coming against Columbia before last year's loss 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.

HELPING HAND: Cornell assisted on 24-of-30 shots vs. Daemen College. The 24 assists were the most in a game for the Big Red since recording 20 assists against Dartmouth on Jan. 28, 2011.

HITTING 1,000/500: With her 15 points vs. Buffalo on Jan. 5, senior Clare Fitzpatrick became the 12th player in Cornell history to score 1,000 career points. She is also 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 hit the 500-rebound plateau with 12 boards against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Dec. 18. 

RECORD WATCH: Senior Clare Fitzpatrick is on pace to set the school record for games started in a career, needing just three more starts to surpass the all-time leader Lauren Benson (97 starts from 2006-10). Fitzpatrick currently sits in second place with 95 career starts.

TOP TEN ASSISTS: With her seven assists vs. Daemen College (N.Y.) on Jan. 13, Spencer Lane jumped into the top 10 in Corenll history for career assists. She currently has 219 assists and needs 35 more to surpass Mary LaMacchia (1992-96) who sits in ninth place.

MORE MILESTONES: Several Big Red players are on the verge of jumping into the top 10 in various Cornell career statistical categories. To move into the top 10, Clare Fitzpatrick needs just 80 more points, 13 more field goals, five more rebounds and 160 more minutes. Taylor Flynn needs just five more 3-pointers to crack the top 10, while Kristina Danielak needs just two more blocked shots and Allyson DiMagno needs 13 rebounds.

FIRST ACTION: Freshman Jen Wahleithner became the first member of the rookie class to see action this season, playing one minute in the Big Red's first game at Colgate. Since then, both other members of the class of 2016 – Allison Bockrath and Molly Meriggioli – have seen the court for the Big Red with Bockrath getting her first playing action vs. Syracuse, while Meriggioli saw her first minutes vs. Buffalo. 

BEST BOARDS: As of the national rankings on Jan. 13, Allyson DiMagno led the Ivy League and ranked 17th in the nation in rebounds per game (11.0).

IVY LEADERS: In addition to Allyson DiMagno leading the Ivy League in rebounding (11.0 rpg.), several Big Red players are ranked among the top 10 in various categories in the Ivy League, including:
*Allyson DiMagno – fourth in scoring (13.9 points per game)
*Clare Fitzpatrick – ninth in scoring (11.9 points per game)
*Allyson DiMagno – third in field goal percentage (.489)
*Clare Fitzpatrick – fifth in field goal percentage (.476)
* Spencer Lane – first in assists (3.6 assists per game)
* Stephanie Long – ninth in assists (2.6 assists per game)
*Allyson DiMagno – third in free throw percentage (.846)
*Clare Fitzpatrick – seventh in free throw percentage (.746)
*Allyson DiMagno – fifth in steals (1.8 steals per game)
* Spencer Lane – eighth in steals (1.5 steals per game)
*Shelby Lyman – sixth in 3-point field goals made (1.6 per game)
* Spencer Lane – first in assist/turnover ratio (1.4 per game)
*Allyson DiMagno – first in offensive rebounds (3.8 per game)
*Allyson DiMagno – first in defensive rebounds (7.2 per game)
*Allyson DiMagno – second in minutes played (34.7 per game)
* Shelby Lyman – sixth in minutes played (30.4 per game)
* Spencer Lane – eighth in minutes played (30.1 per game)

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 105 career coaching wins.

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.

CLOSE CALLS: Since the beginning of the 2010-11 season, the Big Red has had 27-of-69 games (39%) decided by eight points or fewer. In those games, Cornell has posted a 14-13 record.

BLOCKS A LOT: Senior Clare Fitzpatrick currently sits in ninth place in Cornell history for career blocks (56), 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 8.5 steals per game, up 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 203-of-290 baskets (70%), which is up significantly from last year when Cornell had assists on 366-of-576 baskets (64%).

STARTING STREAK: Junior Allyson DiMagno has a 65-game starting streak, which is by far the longest current active streak on the team. Senior Spencer Lane's 44-game streak ranks second.

LOW PERCENTAGE SHOTS: So far this season, Cornell has held nine of its 14 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, and is on pace to extend that streak this year. With an average of 4.9 3-pointers made per game, the Big Red should reach 136 by season's end. Cornell 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.

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.

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 will wrap up its home-and-home series with Columbia next weekend when it travels to New York city to take on the Lions at Levien Gymnasium on Saturday, Jan. 26 at 4:30 p.m.