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GAME INFORMATION
Game #5: Cornell vs. Marshall
Tip off: Wednesday, Nov. 26, at 5:00 p.m.
Site: Newman Arena (4,473), Ithaca, N.Y.
2014-15 Records: Cornell (2-2, 0-0 Ivy); Marshall (3-0, 0-0 C-USA)
Series Record: First Meeting
Last Meeting: First Meeting

THE MATCHUP: The Big Red women's basketball team will look to run its current winning streak to three games when it plays host to Marshall (3-0) on Wednesday, Nov. 26 at Newman Arena at 5 p.m. The game is part of a double-header with the men's basketball team taking on Canisius at 7 p.m. Cornell and the Herd will face off for the first time in the history of the school's women's basketball programs.
 
THE SERIES VS. MARSHALL — Wednesday's contest is the first game between the Cornell and Marshall women's basketball programs.  
 
SCOUTING THE HERD: Marshall is off to a 3-0 start with wins over Rhode Island, Fairfield and UMES. The Herd is averaging 67.7 points per game and has won its three contests by a scoring margin of +15.3. Senior guard Leah Scott leads the team with 20.0 points per game to go along with 5.7 rebounds, while junior guard Norrisha Victrum is chipping in 15.7 points and 3.3 rebound per contest. Senior center Chukwuka Ezeigbo is pulling down a team-high 10.7 rebounds per contest.
 
CORNELL VS. THE C-USA: Cornell is 0-4 all-time vs. Conference USA. The Big Red has a losing record against Rice (0-2), Florida Atlantic, and North Texas (0-1) but has never played FIU, Florida Atlantic, Louisiana Tech, Marshall, Middle Tennessee, Old Dominion, Southern Mississippi., UAB, UTEP, UTSA, or Western Kentucky ... Coach Smith is 0-2 all-time vs. C-USA with losses to North Texas and Rice.   
 
A CORNELL WIN WOULD:
• give the Big Red a winning record for the first time this season at 3-2.
• improve its current winning streak to three games.
• make Cornell 1-1 in home games this season.
• give the Big Red the 1-0 advantage in the series with Marshall.
• be the program's first win over the current members of Conference USA.
• improve head coach Dayna Smith to 1-0 against the Herd.
• make Coach Smith 1-2 all-time vs. C-USA.
 
LAST TIME OUT: The Big Red forced Fairfield turnovers in the first eight minutes of the contest, building an early 11-4 lead that it would not relinquish en-route to a 58-47 victory on Monday evening. Cornell (2-2) 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, while Kerri Moran was solid off the bench, finishing with nine pints and two assists in just 28 minutes. Fairfield (1-4) 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.
 
TOUGH D: Cornell has held two of its four opponents this season to less than 50 points, a feat it accomplished just three times all of last season.
 
SMARTY PANTS: Cornell led all Ivy League teams and ranked 20th nationally when the Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) announced its Academic Top 25 for the 2013-14 season. Head coach Dayna Smith's team posted a cumulative grade point average of 3.420 in 2013-14. Cornell was one of three Ivy League schools in the rankings, joining Yale (23rd, 3.397) and Brown (24th, 3.394). The University of Missouri-Kansas City led the way with a 3.628 grade point average.
 
STARTING STREAK: With the graduation of Allyson DiMagno, sophomore Nia Marshall has the longest starting streak on the team, standing at just six games. Both Marshall and Kerri Moran started every game in 2013-14, with the exception of the Big Red's Senior Day on March 1, 2014.
 
NEW STARTERS: In each of the first four games this season, the Big Red has started four players – Megan LeDuc, Christine Kline, Maddie Campbell and Nicholle Aston – that had yet to start a game for Cornell previously.
 
BIG MINUTES: Not only have Nicholle Aston, Christine Kline and Megan LeDuc earned the first starts of their collegiate careers this season, but the trio has each roughly tripled their playing time from a season ago. Kline has seen the greatest increase, going from 7.4 to 34.0 minutes per game, while Aston has gone from 11.3 to 32.0 minutes per game, and LeDuc has gone from 11.5 to 35.5 minutes per game. 
 
ON THE SMALL SIDE: Cornell's roster of 14 players is one of the smallest in the Ivy League, with only Dartmouth and Yale featuring fewer players at 13 apiece.
 
ON THE YOUNG SIDE: Of Cornell's 14 players, 11 are underclassmen with just two seniors and one junior. No other team in the Ivy League has fewer upperclassmen, with the next youngest group being Yale with one senior and four juniors. Only one other team in the Ancient Eight has 11 underclassmen, as Columbia is identical to the Big Red with five sophomores and six freshmen, but the Lions also feature the largest roster in the conference at 17 players, with four seniors and two juniors to balance the team out.
 
LOW PERCENTAGE SHOTS: Since the beginning of the 2012-13 season, Cornell held 31 of its 60 opponents (52percent) to below 40 percent shooting from the floor, including 3-of-4 opponents so far this season.
 
MAY I ASSIST YOU?: So far this season, Cornell has assisted on 55-of-85 baskets (64.7 percent).
 
IVY LEADERS: As of Nov. 25, several Big Red players are ranked among the Ivy League leaders this season, including:
*Nia Marshall – eighth in scoring (13.0 points per game)
*Megan LeDuc – 12th in scoring (11.0 points per game)
*Christine Kline – 19th in scoring (9.3 points per game)
*Nicholle Aston – eighth in rebounding (8.0 rebounds per game)
*Nia Marshall – 11th in rebounding (7.5 rebounds per game)
*Nicholle Aston – third in field goal percentage (.500)
*Nia Marshall – seventh in field goal percentage (.455)
*Megan LeDuc – second in assists per game (4.8 assists per game)
*Kerri Moran – ninth in assists per game (2.3 assists per game)
*Nia Marshall – fourth in steals (2.3 steals per game)
*Christine Kline – fifth in steals (2.0 steals per game)
*Maddie Campbell – fifth in steals (2.0 steals per game)
*Megan LeDuc – 13th in 3-point field goal percentage (.280)
*Megan LeDuc – sixth in 3-point field goals per game (1.8 per game)
*Nia Marshall – seventh in blocked shots (0.8 blocks per game)
*Megan LeDuc – first in assist/turnover ratio (3.8
*Nicholle Aston – 10th in offensive rebounds (2.3 per game)
*Nia Marshall – seventh in defensive rebounds (6.0 per game)
*Nicholle Aston – ninth in defensive rebounds (5.8 per game)
*Megan LeDuc – first in minutes played (35.5 per game)
*Christine Kline – fifth in minutes played (34.0 per game)
*Nia Marshall – eighth in minutes played (32.5 per game)
*Nicholle Aston – ninth in minutes played (32.0 per game)
 
CLOSE CALLS: Since the beginning of the 2010-11 season, the Big Red has had 42-of-115 games (37 percent) decided by eight points or fewer. In those games, Cornell has posted a 21-21 record (.500).
 
FIRST MINUTES: So far this season, just one freshman – Christine Ehland – has seen playing time, seeing action against Hartford and Fairfield.
 
I'LL TAKE THAT:
• So far this season, the Big Red is averaging 7.8 steals per game.
• In 2013-14, Cornell posted 253 steals (9.0 per game).
• A year ago, the Big Red finished the season ranked first in the Ivy League and 69th in the nation for steals per game.
• Last season, Cornell ranked second in the Ivy League and 69th in the nation in turnover margin (+2.29). 
 
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 126 career coaching wins.
 
FOR OPENERS: The Big Red is 19-25 all-time in season openers after its 48-46 heartbreaking loss to Hartford on Nov. 14. Coach Dayna Smith is now 3-10 in season openers.
 
RULE FOLLOWERS: Last season, the Big Red ranked second in the Ivy League and 20th in the nation in fouls per game (15.8).
 
FRESHMAN [FOUR]CE: With two starters and two others contributing significant minutes, four members of last season's freshman class – Kerri Moran, Nia Marshall, Nicholle Aston and Megan LeDuc – put their stamp on the 2013-14 season. All four averaged more than 11 minutes per game and as a group, they shot 42 percent (253-of-605) from the floor. The quartet also contributing an average of 24.1 points, 12.1 rebounds, 6.5 assists, 3.6 steals and 1.6 blocks per game.
 
100 THREES: The Big Red has amassed at least 100 3-pointers in each of the last seven 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.
 
ROOKIE OF THE WEEK NOTES
• In total, Nia Marshall was named Rookie of the Week  five times last season (Dec. 2, Dec. 9, Jan. 13, Feb. 3, Feb. 10) becoming the first Big Red player to earn five Rookie of the Week selections since Jeomi Maduka was chosen seven times during the 2005-06 season.
• Nia Marshall was named the Ivy League Rookie of the Week on Dec. 2 and Dec. 9, becoming the first Cornell women's basketball player to receive back-to-back Rookie of the Weeks awards since Jeomi Maduka in 2005-06.
• Nia Marshall was the first Cornell player to receive two Rookie of the Week awards in a single season since Lauren Benson in 2006-07.
 
WINNING NON-CONFERENCE SLATE: The Big Red finished the non-conference portion of its 2013-14 season with an 8-6 record for the second straight year, giving Cornell a winning non-conference record in consecutive seasons for the first time since 1999-2000/2000-01. It is just the third time in program history that the Big Red has had back-to-back winning non-conference records (1982-83/1983-84).
 
HI, MY NAME IS: Cornell has a pair of new faces on the bench for the 2014-15 season – assistant coaches Todd Goclowski and Brendan Burke. A coach with 15 years of experience, Goclowski came to East Hill after eight highly successful years Lebanon Valley College, where he was the winningest coach in the history of the program. Burke came to Cornell after three seasons at Boston University, where he served as the Director of Basketball Operations for two seasons.
 
NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK: The Big Red adds six players to the 2014-15 squad – Janée Dennis (Burlington, N.J.), Christine Ehland (Pittsburgh, Pa.), Jamie Hill (Montville, Conn.), Marisa Knox (Memphis, Tenn.), Janelle Odionu (Newmarket, Ala.) and Paige Samuelson (Rock Hill, S.C.). The class comes from six different states and consists of three forwards and three guards.
 
WHAT WAS LOST: The Big Red graduated five players from the 2013-14 squad – Aspen Chandler, Joelle Davidson, Allyson DiMagno, Stephanie Long, and Shelby Lyman – and lost one other non-letter winners. The six players accounted for an average of 37.7 points and 19.0 rebounds per game.

WHAT REMAINS: Cornell returns two starters and six letter winners from last season's squad. The Big Red returns 42% of its scoring (751-of-1,768 points) and 49% of its rebounding (488-of-988) from a year ago.
 
UP NEXT: The Big Red hits the road once again, travelling to Bucknell to take on the Bison on Saturday, Nov. 29 at 2 p.m.