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GAME INFORMATION
Game #9: Cornell vs. Robert Morris
Tipoff: Saturday, Dec. 20, at 2:00 p.m.
Site: Newman Arena (4,473), Ithaca, N.Y.
2014-15 Records: Cornell (4-4, 0-0 Ivy); Robert Morris (2-7, 0-0 NEC)
Series Record: Cornell leads, 2-1
Last Meeting: Robert Morris won, 76-63 (12/21/13; Moon Township, Pa.)
 
Game #10: Cornell at Loyola
Tipoff: Monday, Dec. 22, at 2:00 p.m.
Site: Reitz Arena (2,100), Baltimore, Md.
2014-15 Records: Cornell (4-4, 0-0 Ivy)*; Loyola (1-7, 0-0 Patriot)*
Series Record: Loyola leads, 2-1
Last Meeting: Cornell won, 57-53 (11/26/13; Ithaca, N.Y.)
  *records prior to Dec. 20
 
THE MATCHUP: The Big Red women's basketball team will return from a 13-day study break to play host to Robert Morris on Saturday, Dec. 20 at 2 p.m., before travelling to Loyola for a contest on Monday, Dec. 22 at 2 p.m. The Big Red will enter Saturday's contest with a 4-4 record, while the Colonials (2-7) and the Greyhounds (1-7) both enter the weekend with losing records.
 
THE SERIES VS. ROBERT MORRIS: Cornell was a perfect 2-0 in the series with the Colonials, winning in both 1997 and 1999, but RMU earned the 76-63 victory a year ago.
 
SCOUTING THE COLONIALS: Robert Morris saw its current losing streak extend to five games when it fell to Youngstown State, 73-65, on Wednesday night. Sophomore guard Anna Niki Stamolamprou leads the Colonials in both points (17.6) and rebounds (6.3) per game, while junior guard Ashley Ravelli is chipping in 9.3 points per game and sophomore center Judith Sole is adding 5.1 rebounds per contest.
 
LAST TIME VS. ROBERT MORRIS: The Big Red ended RMU senior Artemis Spanou's streak of 33 consecutive double-doubles, but three other Colonials finished in double-digits, to lead the home team to a 76-63 victory on Dec. 21, 2013 at the Sewall Center in Moon Township, Pa. The 33 consecutive double-doubles was the second longest streak in NCAA history, but Spanou, who averages 17.3 ppg., and 14.1 rpg., finished the game with just eight points and six rebounds. Cornell was led by Allyson DiMagno's 19 points and seven rebounds, while Nia Marshall tallied 14 points and four boards. Freshman guard Kerri Moran was the only other Big Red player in double-digits (11), while Stephanie Long, Shelby Lyman and Aspen Chandler registered five points apiece. Moran also handed out a team-high three assists and had three rebounds. RMU's Kelly Hartwell finished with 18 points, while Ashley Ravelli and Lou Mataly had 12 and 10, respectively. Three other Colonials finished with at least eight points as RMU's bench outscored Cornell's 36-9. Cornell shot a blistering 50 percent (9-18) in the first half, but the Colonials were equally hot, knocking down 40 percent (12-30) and taking advantage of 10 offensive boards for nine second-chance points to build a 34-29 first half lead. RMU was even better in the second half, hitting 55.2 percent of its shots (16-29) as it eventually pulled away for good. The Big Red hit 45.5 percent (10-22) in the second half to finish at 47.5 percent for the game. The Colonials held the 32-26 edge in rebounds and assisted on 22-of-29 baskets. They also turned the ball over just 15 times, with Cornell registering only four steals to end a three game streak of double-digit steals.
 
CORNELL VS. THE NORTHEAST CONFERENCE: Cornell is 23-8 all-time vs. the current members of the Northeast Athletic Conference. The Big Red is tied in the all-time series with Central Connecticut State (1-1), but holds a winning record vs. every other member, including Bryant (2-0), Farleigh Dickenson (2-0), Long Island (3-1), Mt. St. Mary (1-0), Robert Morris (2-1), Sacred Heart (1-0), St. Francis (N.Y.) (6-2), St. Francis (Pa.) (3-2) and Wagner (2-1) ... Coach Smith is 9-5 all-time vs. the NEC after Cornell's victory over Bryant on Dec. 6.
 
THE SERIES VS. LOYOLA: Cornell and Loyola have faced off just three times in women's basketball, with the Greyhounds winning each of the  first two meetings before the Big Red took the 57-53 victory a year ago. The first meeting came during the 1982-83 season, a 61-53 decision at Loyola. The Greyhounds won again in 1991 (89-81) in the consolation game of the UNC-Greensboro Sheraton Tournament … Head coach Dayna Smith is 1-0 vs. Loyola.
 
SCOUTING THE GREYHOUNDS: Loyola takes a 1-7 record into its contest with St. Peter's on Saturday, Dec. 20, with its only win coming in a 56-49 decision vs. Mount St. Mary's on Dec. 6. The Greyhounds are struggling on offense, averaging just 50.1 points per game while shooting just 30 percent both overall and beyond 3-point range. The team is led by Colleen Marshall as the only Loyola player to average double-digits (13.6), while Jeneh Perry is pulling down a team-high 8.3 rebounds per contest. 
 
LAST TIME VS. LOYOLA: Senior Allyson DiMagno had 12 points, 12 rebounds and seven assists and recorded her 1,000th career point as part of Cornell's 57-53 win over Loyola (MD) on Nov. 26, 2013 at Newman Arena. DiMagno tallied her 22nd career double-double in an efficient effort that saw Cornell place three in double figures. Shelby Lyman added 11 points and Nia Marshall had 10 points and nine rebounds. The Big Red limited Loyola to 40 percent shooting for the game, forced 19 turnovers and outrebounded the visitors 34-30 to snap a two-game skid. Both Nicholle Aston and Stephanie Long scored seven points, with Long adding three rebounds, three steals and two assists for the Big Red. Kara Marshall had 12 points to lead Loyola, who rallied from a 13-point deficit in the first half to knot the game at 39-39 before Stephanie Long answered immediately with a 3-pointer on the other end to give the home team the lead for good with just over seven minutes to play in the contest. The second half saw Cornell answer a number of runs with big baskets to never allow the Greyhounds to regain the lead. Loyola shot 56 percent in the final 20 minutes and connected on 5-of-12 from beyond the arc to get back in it after connecting on just 23 percent from the floor in the first half. Lyman scored all nine of her points after the break, several at critical junctures, and Long added seven after the break. Cornell hit on 48 percent of its shots in the second half and assisted on 10-of-11 baskets.
 
CORNELL VS. THE PATRIOT LEAGUE: Cornell is 42-57 all-time vs. the current members of the Patriot League. The Big Red owns the advantage in the series with Lafayette (8-7) and Colgate (20-15) but holds a losing mark against American (1-2), Army (5-6), Bucknell (5-19), Lehigh (2-4), Loyola (Md.) (1-2) and Navy (0-2). Boston University and Holy Cross are the only members of the Patriot League that Cornell has never faced in women's basketball ... Coach Smith's record vs. the conference stands at 17-16 after defeating Colgate and falling to Bucknell earlier this season.
 
STUDYING THE OPPONENTS: Since the 1980-81 season, the Big Red is 12-21 coming out of Cornell's two-week study break. However, Coach Smith's teams have fared much better, posting a record of 7-5 in the first game back from exams.
 
TIGHT LOSSES: All four of the Big Red's losses this season have come by nine or few points.
 
TOUGH D: Cornell has held three of its eight opponents this season to less than 50 points, a feat it accomplished just three times all of last season.
 
STARTING STREAK: With the graduation of Allyson DiMagno, sophomore Nia Marshall has the longest starting streak on the team, standing at just 10 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 eight 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 35.6 minutes per game, while Aston has gone from 11.3 to 30.0 minutes per game, and LeDuc has gone from 11.5 to 33.6 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 33 of its 64 opponents (52 percent) to below 40 percent shooting from the floor, including 5-of-8 opponents (62.5 percent) so far this season.
 
MAY I ASSIST YOU?: So far this season, Cornell has assisted on 117-of-175 baskets (66.8 percent).
 
RULE FOLLOWERS: As of Dec. 17, the Big Red ranked third in the Ivy League and 75th in the nation in fouls per game (16.5).
 
HANDLE WITH CARE: As of Dec. 17, Cornell ranks third in the Ivy League and 98^th in the nation in assist/turnover ratio (0.90).
 
DE-FENSE, DE-FENSE: As of Dec. 17, the Big Red ranked third in the Ivy League and 63rd in the nation in scoring defense, allowing opponents an average of 57.5 points per game.
 
IVY LEADERS: As of Dec. 17, several Big Red players are ranked among the Ivy League leaders this season, including:
*Nia Marshall – eighth in scoring (13.6 ppg.)
*Nicholle Aston –14th in scoring (10.9 ppg.)
*Nicholle Aston – ninth in rebounding (7.0 rpg.)
*Nia Marshall – 11th in rebounding (6.9 rpg.)
*Nicholle Aston – second in field goal percentage (.542)
*Nia Marshall – 12th in field goal percentage (.423)
*Christine Kline –14th in field goal percentage (.385)
*Christine Kline – fourth in assists per game (3.8 apg.)
*Megan LeDuc – fifth in assists per game (3.6 apg.)
*Kerri Moran – seventh in assists per game (3.0 apg.)
*Christine Kline –12th in free throw percentage (.677)
*Nia Marshall – 14th in free throw percentage (.643)
*Christine Kline – first in steals (2.6 spg.)
*Nia Marshall – fourth in steals (1.9 spg.)
*Maddie Campbell – seventh in steals (1.8 spg.)
*Megan LeDuc – 14th in 3-point FG percentage (.268)
*Megan LeDuc – 12th in 3-point FGM (1.4 per game)
*Christine Kline – fourth in assist/turnover ratio (1.9)
*Megan LeDuc – fifth in assist/turnover ratio (1.8)
*Kerri Moran – seventh in assist/turnover ratio (1.1)
*Nicholle Aston – seventh in offensive rebs. (215 per game)
*Nia Marshall – sixth in defensive rebs. (5.4 per game)
*Nicholle Aston – 11th in defensive rebs. (4.9 per game)
*Christine Kline – fourth in minutes played (35.6 per game)
*Megan LeDuc – seventh in minutes played (33.6 per game
*Nia Marshall – eighth in minutes played (33.4 per game)
 
CLOSE CALLS: Since the beginning of the 2010-11 season, the Big Red has had 44-of-119 games (37 percent) decided by eight points or fewer. In those games, Cornell has posted a 22-22 record (.500).
 
FIRST MINUTES: So far this season, just one freshman – Christine Ehland – has seen playing time, seeing action against Hartford, Fairfield, Marshall, Bucknell and Buffalo.
 
I'LL TAKE THAT:
• So far this season, the Big Red is averaging 8.4 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 128 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.
 
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.
 
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 will close the 2014 portion of its season with a pair of road games, travelling to Syracuse on Sunday, Dec. 28, before heading to Vermont on Tuesday, Dec. 30.