Game Information
Cornell at Buffalo
Tip Off: Saturday, Nov. 16, 2013; 12:30 p.m.
Location: Alumni Arena (Buffalo, N.Y.)
Records: Cornell (1-0, 0-0 Ivy); Buffalo (1-0, 0-0 MAC)*
Series Record: Buffalo leads, 9-5
Last Meeting: Cornell won 70-43 (1/5/13)
Live Stats: BuffaloBulls.com
Video Webcast: BuffaloBulls.com

* record prior to contest on Nov. 13

GAME NOTES (PDF)

THE MATCHUP: After winning its season-opener against Colgate at Newman Arena on Nov. 8, the Big Red women's basketball team will hit the road for the first time this season to face Buffalo on Saturday, Nov. 16 at Alumni Arena at 12:30 p.m. Cornell will look to earn back-to-back victories over the Bulls for the first time since winning three straight from 1972-73 to 1974-75, while also starting a season at 2-0 for the first time since the 1995-96 campaign.

THE SERIES VS. BUFFALO: The Cornell women's basketball series with Buffalo began in the 1972-73 season, as the Big Red rattled off victories in each of the first three meetings (1972-73, 1973-74, 1974-75), but since that time, the Bulls have taken a 9-5 lead. Cornell snapped a six-game losing streak to Buffalo last season to earn its first victory over the Bulls since the 1992-93 campaign.

SCOUTING THE BULLS (courtesy www.BuffaloBulls.com): Buffalo was picked to finish third in the Mid-American Conference's East Division, and sophomore Mackenzie Loesing was named to the preseason all-MAC East team. After making a run to the conference quarterfinals in coach Felisha Legette-Jack's first season at the helm, the Bulls return eight letter winners and add in six talented newcomers to the team. After a slow start in the non-conference season, the team won eight conference games in the regular season and then won a pair of tournament games - including an upset of Miami (OH) in the second round to face Akron in the quarterfinals. Loesing earns preseason All-MAC honors after being an honorable mention All-MAC and All-Freshman team member in her first season with the Bulls. A year ago, she led the team in scoring, field goals, free throws, and steals. Loesing's 11.6 points per game were the most by a freshman at UB since the 1988-89 season, and she scored in double figures in eight of the final nine games of the season. On defense, she was credited with 66 steals, which was among the conference's best.

LAST TIME VS. BUFFALO: Clare Fitzpatrick finished with a game-high 15 points, hitting the 1,000-career point plateau in the process, and Allyson DiMagno registered her sixth double-double of the season to lead the Big Red to a 70-43 victory over Buffalo on Jan. 5 2013 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.

CORNELL VS. MID-ATLANTIC CONFERENCE: Cornell is 5-13 all-time vs. the current members of the MAC. The Big Red holds a losing record vs. Buffalo (5-9), Bowling Green (0-1) and Eastern Michigan (0-3), but has never faced Akron, Ball State, Central Michigan, Kent State, Miami (OH), Ohio, Toledo or Western Michigan … Head Coach Dayna Smith is 1-5 against the MAC with the lone win coming against Buffalo.

FOR OPENERS: The Big Red is 19-24 all-time in season openers. After defeating Colgate in each of the past two season openers, Coach Dayna Smith's record has improved to 3-9 in the first game of the season. Cornell has now registered back-to-back season opening victories for the first time since winning three straight from 1998-99 to 2000-01.

A CORNELL WIN WOULD:
• make the Big Red 2-0 to start a season for the first time since the 1995-96 campaign, and just the fifth time in program history.
• be the second in a row over the Bulls.
• close the gap in the series to 9-6.
• even head coach Dayna Smith's record against Buffalo at 2-2.
• improve Cornell to 6-13 against the current members of the MAC, while improving Coach Smith's record to 2-5. .

PLAYER OF THE WEEK: After setting the Cornell school record with four Ivy League Player of the Week selections a year ago, Allyson DiMagno picked up the Ancient Eight's first weekly award of the 2013-14 season after helping Cornell to its second-straight season-opening victory over Colgate (76-62) on Nov. 8. She led Cornell with 20 points, nine rebounds and five assists. With her nine rebounds, she became just the fourth player in Big Red history to reach the 700-rebound plateau.

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 on Nov. 20, 2012. She has since added to that and has 111 career coaching wins.

1,000/700: Senior Allyson DiMagno is just 40 points shy of becoming the fourth player in Cornell history, and first ever under head coach Dayna Smith, to register at least 1,000 points and 700 rebounds for her career. If she accomplishes that feat, she will be the first Cornell player to do so since Patti Froehlich ended her career with 1,194 points and 931 rebounds in 1989 – three years before DiMagno was born.

FIRST NIGHT: Four members of the freshmen class saw action in the team's season-opening victory over Colgate. Kerri Moran and Nia Marshall earned the start, while both Megan LeDuc and Nicholle Aston saw significant action off the bench. The quartet played a total of 75 minutes and contributed 26 points, 11 rebounds, seven steals, five blocks, and three assists. They also hit 53 percent of their shots from the field, 67 percent from beyond the arc and 75 percent from the free throw line.

TOP TEN REBOUNDS: Allyson DiMagno currently ranks fourth overall in Cornell history for career rebounds (704) and needs just 19 more to surpass Karin Dwyer (1982-86) for third place … She already holds the school record for career defensive rebounds (446) and career offensive rebounds (258).

IVY LEADERS: While it's still early in the season, several Big Red players are ranked among the top 10 in various categories in the Ivy League, including:
*Allyson DiMagno – second in scoring (20.0 points per game)
*Shelby Lyman – fifth in scoring (16.0 points per game)
*Allyson DiMagno – third in rebounding (9.0 rebounds per game)
*Megan LeDuc – third in field goal percentage (.750)
*Allyson DiMagno – eighth in field goal percentage (.636)
*Allyson DiMagno – third in assists (5.0 per game)
*Stephanie Long – 10th in assists (3.0 per game)
*Allyson DiMagno – first in free throw percentage (1.000)
*Aspen Chandler – first in free throw percentage (1.000)
*Shelby Lyman – first in free throw percentage (1.000)
*Nicholle Aston – first in free throw percentage (1.000)
*Nia Marshall – first in steals (5.0 steals per game)
*Aspen Chandler – sixth in steals (2.0 steals per game)
*Sarah Poland – sixth in steals (2.0 steals per game)
*Megan LeDuc – first in 3-point field goal percentage (1.000)
*Megan LeDuc – seventh in 3-point field goals made (2.0 per game)
*Shelby Lyman – seventh in 3-point field goals made (2.0 per game)
*Nia Marshall – first in blocked shots (5.0 blocks per game)
*Allison Bockrath – fourth in blocked shots (1.0 blocks per game)
*Allyson DiMagno – second in assist/turnover ratio (5.0 per game)
*Stephanie Long – fourth in assist/turnover ratio (3.0 per game)
*Allyson DiMagno – second in defensive rebounds (8.0 per game)
*Keri Moran – seventh in defensive rebounds (6.0 per game)
*Allyson DiMagno – sixth in minutes played (32.0 per game)
*Shelby Lyman – ninth in minutes played (30.0 per game)

DIMAGNO'S GOT CLASS: Allyson DiMagno has been selected as one of 30 candidates for the 2013-14 Senior CLASS Award in women's collegiate basketball. An acronym for Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School, the Senior CLASS Award honors the attributes of NCAA Division I senior student-athletes in four areas: community, classroom, character and competition. A captain for the 2013-14 season, DiMagno is an accomplished and well-rounded student with a 3.77 grade-point average in biological sciences (biochemistry emphasis) with a minor in business. She was an Academic All-Ivy selection in 2012-13, and she was also the first-ever Capital One/CoSIDA Academic All-District first-team selection in the history of the Cornell women's basketball program. On the court, DiMagno was an All-Ivy selection a year ago after setting the school record for rebounds in a single season (321). In the community she has volunteered at special events, including the Special Olympics, the Make-A-Wish-Make-A-Swish event, and a Be The Match bone marrow drive. She is also involved in numerous volunteer projects each semester as a member of SAAC, and Quill and Dagger. The list of 30 candidates will be narrowed to 10 finalists midway through the regular season, and those 10 names will be placed on the official ballot. The Senior CLASS Award winner will be announced during the 2014 NCAA Women's Final Four.

100 THREES: The Big Red has connected on at least 100 3-pointers in each of the last six seasons. 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.

I'LL TAKE THAT: Cornell posted 14 steals in its first game of the season against Colgate, that is up significantly from last season when the Big Red registered 8.1 steals per game.

MAY I ASSIST YOU?: The Big Red assisted on 17-of-26 baskets (65 percent) in its season-opening victory over Colgate. That is on pace with last season, as the Big Red assisted on 66 percent of its baskets (378-of-573).

STARTING STREAK: Senior Allyson DiMagno has an 80-game starting streak, which is by far the longest active streak on the team, with four others – Stephanie Long, Shelby Lyman, Kerri Moran and Nia Marshall – tied for second at one-game apiece.

CLOSE CALLS: Since the beginning of the 2010-11 season, the Big Red has had 33-of-82 games (40 percent) decided by eight points or fewer. In those games, Cornell has posted an 18-15 record (.545).

EVERYBODY'S (ACADEMIC) ALL-AMERICAN: Allyson DiMagno was named a 2012-13 Capital One/CoSIDA Academic All-District first-team selection during her junior season. A biological sciences major with a 3.7 grade-point average, she is just the second Academic All-District selection in the history of the Big Red women's basketball program, joining Virginia McMunigal '10, who was a second-team selection during her senior season.

LOW PERCENTAGE SHOTS: Since the beginning of the 2012-13 season, Cornell held 18 of its 29 opponents (62 percent) to below 40 percent shooting from the floor.

HOME SWEET HOME: The Big Red will play in the Seattle University Delta Dental Thanksgiving Tournament at the end of the month. The trip will serve as a homecoming for senior Shelby Lyman, who hails from Snohomish, which sits approximately 45 miles from the Redhawk's campus.

ALL IN THE FAMILY: Senior 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 played football for the University of Wisconsin and her grandfather Wayne Long ran track and field in college.

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

HI, MY NAME IS: Cornell has a new face on the bench for the 2013-14 season – volunteer assistant Jim Sheehan – who spent the past two seasons serving as a volunteer assistant to Cornell's video coordinator. Sheehan is a 2010 graduate of Cortland with a bachelor of science degree in sports management.

NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK: The Big Red has added five players to this year's squad, as Nicholle Aston (Woodland Hills, Calif.), Taylor DePalma (Ithaca, N.Y.), Megan LeDuc (Vienna, Va.), Nia Marshall (Macedonia, Ohio) and Kerri Moran (Fair Hills, N.J.) have joined the team for the 2013-14 season. The class of five comes from five different states and consists of three guards and two forwards.

RECORD BREAKER: Last year, Allyson DiMagno set the Cornell single-season record for rebounds (321), defensive rebounds (196) and offensive rebounds (125) in a single season. She also set the school record for Ivy League Player of the Week selections in a season with four and set the Cornell mark for minutes played in a single game when she stayed on the court the full 50 minutes of the Big Red's double-overtime victory over Columbia

2012-13 SEASON RECAP: The 2012-13 season was one of steady improvement and individual accomplishments as a four-member senior class and a talented junior made their way up the Big Red record books. Led by Allyson DiMagno, who earned second-team All-Ivy honors following the season, the team posted a 13-15 record overall and a mark of 5-9 in the Ivy League to finish fifth overall in the conference standings. DiMagno, who moved from guard to forward prior to the season, went on to set the Cornell record for rebounds in a season. The team's seniors also left their mark on the program, beginning with Clare Fitzpatrick '13, who left Cornell ranking seventh in Big Red history in points (1,201), sixth in rebounds (609), fourth in free throws made (328), and fifth in blocked shots (68). She also became the first-ever player under Smith to reach 1,200 career points and 600 career rebounds. Spencer Lane '13, who led the Ivy League during her senior season in assists per game and assist/turnover ratio, finished her career ranking eighth all-time in Cornell history in assists (284) and 14th overall in career steals (113). Taylor Flynn '13, ended her career ranking eighth all-time in 3-pointers made (110), while forward Kristina Danielak '13 left Cornell ranking fourth all-time in career field goal percentage (.497) and 10th all-time in Cornell history with 55 career blocks.

TICKLE THE ALL-IVY: Last season, Allyson DiMagno was named second-team All Ivy after leading the Big Red in both points and rebounds, averaging a double-double for the season with 14.7 points and 11.5 rebounds per game. She finished the season with 16 double-doubles, the most by any member of the Ancient Eight since former Ivy League Player of the Year Judie Lomax of Columbia posted 21 during the 2009-10 season. DiMagno also ranked third overall in the Ivy League with 14.7 points per game, but was even better against conference foes, ranking second overall with 15.5 point per game in Ivy League contests.

WHAT WAS LOST: The Big Red graduated four players from the 2012-13 squad – Kristina Danielak, Clare Fitzpatrick, Taylor Flynn and Spencer Lane – and lost three other non-letter winners. The seven players accounted for an average of 28.2 points and 11.5 rebounds per game.

WHAT REMAINS: Cornell returns three starters and five letter winners from last season's squad. The Big Red returns 51% of its scoring (811-of-1,601 points) and 67% of its rebounding (645-of-968) from a year ago.

PRESEASON HONORS: Allyson DiMagno was named a College Sports Madness Preseason All-Ivy second-team selection.

UP NEXT: The Big Red will have a quick turnaround as hit travels up I-81 to face in-state rival Syracuse on Monday, Nov. 18 at 4:30 p.m.