BALTIMORE – The Big Red women's basketball team closed the first and opened the second half with a decisive 25-6 run to blow open what had been a back-and-fourth game, earning the 79-61 victory at Loyola (Md.) this afternoon at Reitz Arena. With its second win in a row, Cornell improves to 6-4 on the season, while the Greyhounds fall to 2-8.
 
Nia Marshall and Nicholle Aston finished with 24 and 21 points, respectively, the first time Cornell has had a pair of 20+ point scorers in the same game since Allison Abt (20) and Virginia McMunigal (20) did so against Yale on Feb. 20, 2009. The forward duo combined to knock down 18-of-27 shots, including an impressive 11-for-12 performance in the second half as the Big Red salted the game away.
 
Christine Kline finished with seven points and seven assists, while both Megan LeDuc and Kerri Moran chipped in seven points and five assists apiece, as the Big Red assisted on 22-of-29 baskets.
 
Moran also had a team-high six rebounds, followed by Marshall with five, as Cornell held the slim 30-28 advantage on the boards.
 
Loyola was led by Jeneh Perry's 16 points, while Colleen Marshall (14) and Bri Betz-White (10) also finished in double digits.  
 
Cornell shot 49.2 percent from the floor, thanks in large part to an impressive 58.6 percent shooting performance in the second half. The Greyhounds also shot well above their season average, connecting on 44.9 percent overall, but the home team was harassed into 23 turnovers, as Cornell finished with 13 steals. The Big Red turned the ball over just 12 times.
 
The Big Red got off to a slow start, hitting just one of its first seven shots, but rebounded to finish the first half at 40 percent from the floor. Cornell's shooting was aided by some tough defense that led to easy finishes in transition, as the Big Red forced 11 turnovers with eight steals to rack up 12 points off turnovers.
 
Loyola got out to a quick 4-0 lead, scoring on its first two possessions with driving layups, but four consecutive points by Aston knotted the game at the 18:25 mark. A trey from Carly Monzo returned the lead to the home team and Loyola eventually built an 11-4 advantage before a jumper in transition from LeDuc stopped the Greyhound run with just under 15 minutes to play.
 
LeDuc went on to knock down a trey, then drew a charge, and forced a Loyola turnover on the home team's next possession to get Cornell within four points (13-9).
 
A Greyhound shot-clock violation led to a Marshall layup off an offensive board and on the next Loyola possession, Marshall stole the ball at the top of the key and went the distance to knot the game at 13-13. Another Greyhound turnover led to another bucket in transition from Marshall, off an outstanding pass from LeDuc, to give the Big Red its first lead of the contest, 15-13, with 10:43 on the clock.
 
The teams traded baskets and neither squad managed to go up by more than one-point before a pair of made free throws from Sarah Poland and an offensive putback from Marshall gave Cornell the 24-21 lead with just over seven minutes to go in the half.
 
Brown answered with a 3-pointer on Loyola's next trip down the court to tie the game at 24-24 and the back-and-fourth action continued on the next two trips up and down the floor before the Big Red went on a 13-2 run to close the first half and take the 39-28 lead into the intermission.
 
During the start of the decisive run, Cornell got four straight free throws from Marshall and consecutive steals that led to great finishes from Maddie Campbell and Moran, but it was Aston who dominated, scoring the Big Red's first 10 points of the second half.
 
Betz-White scored the first field goal of the second half, but four consecutive buckets from Aston pushed Cornell's lead to 47-30 with 15:50 to play.
 
Steph Smith ended the run with a layup, but on the next trip down the floor, Aston scored her 10th straight point before Kline converted a tough layup to put the Big Red up, 51-32, with under 15 minutes to play.
 
The Greyhounds went on a small 5-0 run with a layup from Perry, followed by a traditional three-point play from Brown, but a lyup from Marshall and a baseline jumper from Aston pushed Cornell's lead back to 18 points (55-37).
 
The Big Red eventually went up by as many as 21 points, leading 70-49, with 5:39 to play in the game and rolled to the 79-61 victory.
 
Cornell 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.