ITHACA, N.Y. – In the end, it all came down to the video review.
 
With Cornell trailing Harford 48-46 with three seconds to play, sophomore forward Nia Marshall grabbed her 13th rebound of the night off a Hartford missed free throw and outletted the ball to senior guard Christine Kline, who streaked upcourt before heaving up a desperation 3-pointer. The ball didn't make it to the rim, but a whistle blew and for a few moments, it seemed that the Big Red would have a chance to win it at the free throw line.
 
Unfortunately for Cornell, the video replay showed that Kline, who is 17-for-22 all-time from the charity stripe, let go of the ball just after time expired and the Hawks escaped Newman Arena with the season-opening victory.
 
In a game that featured nine ties and four lead changes, with the largest lead coming from Cornell when the home team went up 35-28 with 13:37 to go in the game, it seemed only fitting that the contest was decided in the final moments.
 
After Harford knotted the game at 25-25 on its first possession of the second half, the Big Red responded with a layup from Marshall and four consecutive points from Maddie Campbell to regain its control of the contest. Cornell eventually pushed its lead to a game-high seven points on a layup from Nicholle Aston but eight consecutive Hawk points gave the visitors its first lead of the second half, 36-35, with 9:01 to play.
 
Cornell regained its lead on its next possession off a jumper from Megan LeDuc but a trey by Shanise Bultron put Hartford back up by one. The Hawks pushed their lead to three points a layup from Deanna Mayza but an offensive putback by Taylor DePalma and a pair of made free throws from Marshall, sandwiched around a single made free throw from Cherelle Moore, tied the game for the ninth and final time at 44-44 with 1:11 to play.
 
A timely 3-pointer from Mayza returned the lead to Hartford. Cornell missed its next shot and was forced to foul, but a pair of missed free throws gave the ball back to the Big Red and Aston drove in for a layup to cut the lead to one-point with eight second to go.  Another Big Red foul with three seconds to play sent Mayza to the line, where she made the first but missed the second to set up the dramatic ending.
 
Cornell (0-1) was led by Marshall, who registered her fourth career double-double with 14 points and 13 rebounds, while Aston finished with a career-high 14 points and matched a career-best with eight rebounds.
 
Hartford (1-0) was led by Mayza's 15 points and seven assists, while Moore pulled down nine rebounds.
 
The Hawks shot 34 percent from the floor (18-53) and 25 percent from 3-point range (5-20), but were harassed into 24 turnovers on 10 Big Red steals.
 
Cornell connected on just 31.7 percent overall (19-60) and a mere 8.3 percent beyond the arc (1-12), but had just 15 turnovers.
 
The Big Red is back in action on Sunday, Nov. 16 when to travels to Drexel for a contest at 2 p.m.