Game Information
Daemen College (N.Y.) at Cornell
Tip Off: Sunday, Jan. 13, 2013; 1:00 p.m.
Location: Newman Arena (Ithaca, N.Y.)
Records: Cornell (7-6, 0-0 Ivy); Daemen (16-5, Independent)
Series Record: First Meeting
Last Meeting: First Meeting
Live Stats: www.CornellBigRed.com
Live Audio: www.rlmsports.net
Video Webcast: www.CornellBigRed.com

Game Notes (PDF)

THE MATCHUP: The Big Red will close out its non-conference slate this weekend as it welcomes Daemen College (N.Y.) to Newman Arena on Sunday, Jan. 13 at 1 p.m. Cornell improved to 7-6 on the season with a victory over Buffalo last Saturday, while the Wildcats slipped to 16-5 overall after a loss to Florida Memorial University on Jan. 2. A win over the Wildcats will give the Big Red its first non-conference winning record since the 2007-08 season.

ABOUT DAEMEN: The Wildcats are 16-5 on the season. Daemen College is currently a member of the United States Collegiate Athletic Association, but is in the process of reclassifying to NCAA Division II, where it will become a member of the East Coast Conference in 2013-14.  The Wildcats are led by a trio of double-digit scorers in Chelsea Andorka (13.2), Ellie Allen (12.3), and Monica Kosior (12.1). Kosior also leads the team with 8.6 rebounds per contest. The Wildcats are averaging 65 points per game and outscoring its opponents by an average of +7.1 ppg. The team is very efficient from the floor, connecting on 44 percent of its shots, but struggles from deep, connecting on just 29 percent from 3-point range. Daemen also owns a +5.6 rebound margin over its opponents, and averages 18.9 assists and 11.3 steals per contest.

THE SERIES VS. THE WILDCATS: The game between Cornell and Daemen will be the first in the series. 

ABOUT THE USCAA: The United States Collegiate Athletic Association (USCAA) is a national organization, like the NCAA, that exists to provide quality athletic competition for smaller institutions of higher learning. The association provides opportunities for small colleges to compete on an equal level of competition with schools of like size and athletic programs. The association conducts national championships and names All-Americans. The membership of the USCAA is made up of several types of nationally accredited higher education programs. Member institutions offer four year degrees, associates degrees, and trade opportunities. USCAA members typically have small enrollment figures that range between 500 and 2500.

A CORNELL WIN OVER DAEMEN WOULD:
• improve the Big Red to 8-6 on the season.
• give Cornell its first non-conference winning record since the 2007-08 season.
• give the Big Red a five-game winning streak at Newman Arena.
• give the Big Red a 5-2 record in home games in 2012-13.

COACHING CONNECTION: Cornell assistant coach Kharmen Wingard graduated from Daemen College in 2005 and played three seasons for the Wildcats. While at Daemen, he earned first-team All-American Mideast Conference (AMC) honors as a sophomore and second team All-AMC honors as a junior and senior. He graduated seventh in career scoring and second in career 3-point field goals and helped lead the Wildcats to an appearance in the NAIA Division II elite eight game during his sophomore season. He also served as an assistant coach with the Daemen men's basketball program from 2005-07.

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 four more starts to surpass the all-time leader Lauren Benson (97 starts from 2006-10). Fitzpatrick currently sits in third place with 94 career starts.

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 95 more points, 20 more field goals, 12 more rebounds and 183 more minutes. Taylor Flynn needs just eight more 3-pointers to crack the top 10, while Spencer Lane needs just seven more assists. Kristina Danielak needs just two more blocked shots and Allyson DiMagno needs 17 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. 6, Allyson DiMagno led the Ivy League and ranked 13th in the nation in rebounds per game (11.5).

IVY LEADERS: In addition to Allyson DiMagno leading the Ivy League in rebounding (11.1 rpg.), several Big Red players are ranked among the top 10 in various categories in the Ivy League, including:
*Allyson DiMagno – fifth in scoring (13.6 points per game)
*Allyson DiMagno – fourth in field goal percentage (.467)
*Clare Fitzpatrick – sixth in field goal percentage (.453)
* Spencer Lane – second in assists (3.3 assists per game)
* Stephanie Long – ninth in assists (2.3 assists per game)
*Allyson DiMagno – third in free throw percentage (.839)
*Clare Fitzpatrick – eighth in free throw percentage (.742)
*Allyson DiMagno – fourth in steals (1.9 steals per game)
*Shelby Lyman – sixth in 3-point field goals made (1.6 per game)
*Clare Fitzpatrick – 10th in blocked shots (0.6 per game)
* Spencer Lane – second in assist/turnover ratio (1.2 per game)
*Allyson DiMagno – first in offensive rebounds (3.8 per game)
*Allyson DiMagno – first in defensive rebounds (7.7 per game)
*Allyson DiMagno – second in minutes played (35.1 per game)
* Shelby Lyman – sixth in minutes played (30.5 per game)
* Spencer Lane – seventh in minutes played (30.2 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 104 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-68 games (40%) 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 7.9 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 179-of-260 baskets (68.8%), which is up significantly from last year when Cornell had assists on 366-of-576 baskets (64%).

STARTING STREAK: Junior Allyson DiMagno has a 64-game starting streak, which is by far the longest current active streak on the team. Senior Spencer Lane's 43-game streak ranks second.

LOW PERCENTAGE SHOTS: So far this season, Cornell has held nine of its 13 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. 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.

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 opens Ivy League play with its first conference game of the season next weekend as it welcomes Columbia to Newman Arena on Saturday, Jan. 19 at noon. The game will be part of a double-header with the Cornell men's basketball team tipping off against the Lions at 3 p.m.