FAIRFIELD, Conn. – Cornell built an early 11-4 lead over Fairfield and never looked back en-route to a 58-47 victory this evening. With the win, its second in a row, the Big Red evens its record at 2-2, while the Stags fall to 1-4.
 
The Big Red had a trio of players in double-figures, led by Christine Kline's career-high 16 points. Kline connected on 5-of-8 from the floor and 6-of-8 from the charity stripe. After a slow start due to foul trouble, Nia Marshall kept Cornell in the game in the second half, finishing with 14 points and nine rebounds. Sophomore guard Megan LeDuc tallied 11 points and handed out five assists. Kerri Moran was also solid off the bench, finishing with nine pints and two assists in just 28 minutes.
 
Fairfield was led by Kristine Schatzlein with 15 points, while Samantha Cooper and Helena Orts added 10 rebounds apiece. Orts also chipped in eight points.
 
After an impressive first half of shooting by both teams, both slowed down in the second half, with Cornell connecting on 38.5 percent for the game (20-52) and just 30 percent from 3-point range (3-10), while the Stags shot 37.8 percent overall (17-45) and 35.7 percent from beyond the arc (5-14).
 
Fairfield held the slim advantage in rebounds (35-33), despite having a significant height advantage, but Cornell forced the home team into 22 turnovers with 11 steals. The Big Red had just 14 turnovers.
 
Cornell used some pressure defense to force the Stags into eight turnovers in the first six minutes of the contest as it built an 11-4 lead at the 14:22 mark. During the run, Cornell got a pair of baskets from Kline, as well as jumpers from LeDuc and Marshall, to go along with a trey from Maddie Campbell.  
 
Samantha Cooper ended the Big Red run with a layup off an offensive rebound but LeDuc and Moran answered with back-to-back treys to push Cornell's lead to 17-6.
 
The teams traded baskets before five straight points by Schatzlein cut the visitor's lead 21-13, but a hard-fought layup from Nicholle Aston started a small run that put Cornell back up by double-digits, 29-18, when LeDuc knocked down a pair of free throws with 3:48 to go in the first half.
 
Schatzlein answered with a big 3-pointer but once again LeDuc answered at the charity strip to make it a 10-point game. Neither team managed much offense down the stretch, and Cornell took the 33-24 lead into the intermission.
 
Both teams shot well in the first half, with Cornell connecting on 39.3 percent overall (11-28) and 42.9 percent from long range (3-7), while the Stags hit 42.9 percent from the floor (9-21) and 66.7 percent from 3-point range (2-3).
 
Kline opened the second half with a tremendous steal that she took the distance for the easy layup. The senior guard was everywhere in the opening moments with a pair of steals and a drawn charge, answering a trey from Cooper to keep it a 10-point advantage, 37-27, with 17:09 to play.
 
A steal from Campbell led to a fastbreak layup from Marshall, and a drive to the basket from LeDuc pushed the lead to 41-27.
 
Consecutive baskets from Kristine Miller and Casey Smith ended the 6-0 Cornell run, but Marshall answered with back-to-back buckets, one a tough layup in the post and the other a deep jumper from the top of the key, to make it a 45-31 contest.
 
Four straight points from Miller made it a 10-point contest but some tough defense by LeDuc, drawing a charge before blocking a shot, killed some of Fairfield's momentum. Then a steal and fast-break layup by Marshall returned Cornell's lead to double-digits, 49-38.
 
A jumper by Orts off an inbounds play as the shot clock expired got the Stags within single-digits, but Marshall responded with another tough layup.
 
Felicia DaCruz hit a pair of free throws to make it an eight-point lead once again, and after Moran answered with a pair of free throws, Schatzlein got it to 54-47 with a big 3-pointer.
 
That was as good as it would get for the home team as Cornell made 4-of-6 free throws down the stretch to account for the 58-47 final.   
 
Cornell is back in action on Wednesday, Nov. 29 when it welcomes Marshall to Newman Arena for a contest at 5 p.m. The game is part of a double-header as the men's basketball team will take on Canisius in the nightcap at 7 p.m.