Box Score Coach Smith Postgame Interview

ITHACA, N.Y. – Cornell senior Clare Fitzpatrick finished with a game-high 15 points, hitting the 1,000-career point plateau in the process, and junior Allyson DiMagno registered her sixth double-double of the season to lead the Big Red to a 70-43 victory over Buffalo this afternoon at Newman Arena.

Fitzpatrick connected on 5-of-8 from the field and 5-of-6 from the free throw line for her 15 points, and tacked on four rebounds, three assists, two steals and one block to fill out the stat line. DiMagno used a gutty performance to score 10 points and pull down 16 rebounds, and Spencer Lane had an outstanding game, finishing with 13 points, four rebounds and four assists.

Cornell (7-6) was on fire all game long, shooting an identical 54.2 percent from the field in each half of play, while using a smothering defense to hold Buffalo to just 19 percent shooting in the first half and 23 percent overall for the game.

Buffalo (2-11) was led by Kristen Sharkey's 13 points and nine rebounds. Sharkey shot just 2-of-7 from the field, but made 8-of-9 free throw attempts to lead her team. Cherridy Thornton finished with nine points, but no other Bulls' player scored more than five points in the contest.  

The Big Red held the 38-32 edge in rebounds and forced 21 turnovers with 12 steals, which helped Cornell rack up a 24-12 scoring advantage in points off of turnovers.

The Bulls scored the first bucket of the game at the 18:48 mark, and that was as good as it would get for the visitors in the first half, as Cornell went on a 24-1 run over the next eight minutes to completely blow open the contest. During that span, Fitzpatrick registered her historic point with a hard-fought layup off a pass from DiMagno at the 13:42 mark. The senior forward becomes the 12th player in Cornell history to reach 1,000 points.

Cornell eventually took the 38-15 lead into the intermission and despite Coach Smith using her bench liberally throughout the second half, Buffalo never got within 20 points of the home team.

The Big Red will look to stay on a roll as it plays its final non-conference game of the season next weekend, welcoming NAIA opponent Daemen College (N.Y.) to Newman Arena on Sunday, Jan. 13 at 1 p.m.