NEW YORK CITY – The Big Red women's basketball team erased a first half deficit to go into the intermission down by one, and then closed the game on a 14-5 run to steal a 46-42 victory this afternoon at Levien Gymnasium. With the win, Cornell sweeps the Lions for the first time since 2013, and gives Cornell its fifth sweep in the series under head coach Dayna Smith.
 
Cornell (11-5, 2-0 Ivy) was led by Nicholle Aston, who registered her third career double-double, with 14 points and 10 rebounds. Megan LeDuc added 12 points, thanks to a 3-of-6 performance from 3-point range, while Kerri Moran chipped in 10 points, two blocks, and one steal.
 
Columbia (4-9, 0-2 Ivy) was led by Tori Oliver (13) and Alexa Giuliano (12). Guiliano also had a team-high seven rebounds, while Olvier had a team-best three assists.
 
Both teams struggled to score, with the Big Red shooting just 32.6 percent from the floor (15-46), while Columbia hit just 30 percent overall (15-50). Cornell had the better performance from beyond the arc, knocking down 42.9 percent (3-7), while the Lions hit 33.3 percent (5-15).
 
Both teams finished with 35 rebounds but the home team finished with two more turnovers than Cornell (20-18).
 
The Big Red trailed for the majority of the game but managed to keep the contest close and after a layup by Sara Mead put the Lions up, 37-32 with 9:09 to play the visitors embarked on an 11-0 run to take its first lead since the opening moments of the game.
 
Christine Kline started the run when she connected on 1-of-2 free throws. After the under-eight media timeout, Cornell forced a Lions' shot-clock violation and Aston hit a four-footer on the other end. Aston then tied the game at 37-37 with a tough layup off a great feed from Nia Marshall.
 
The Big Red took the lead after a great defensive rebound by LeDuc, who threw a full-court pass to a streaking Kline, who finished, putting Cornell up, 39-37 with 5:13 to play. Marshall and Kline then each hit 1-of-2 free throws, and Aston chipped in a layup to push the lead to 43-37 with 2:22 to play.
 
A tough layup from Roeper with 1:06 to play ended the Columbia drought and a Big Red turnover led to a Guliano trey to make it a 43-42 contest with 25 seconds to play.
 
The Lions fouled on Cornell's next possession and LeDuc made 1-of-2 to put Cornell up, 44-42, with 17 seconds to play. Columbia had a chance to send the game to overtime, but Zimmerman's shot was off and Marshall came down with the tough rebound and was fouled with .5 to play. Marshall then hit both free throws to account for the 46-42 final.
 
The second half comeback was the second of the day for the Big Red, who were held without a field goal for over 11 minutes late in the first half, but Cornell still managed to trail by just one-point at the half, thanks to an 8-2 run in the waning moments of the first stanza.
 
Cornell forced turnovers on Columbia's first three possessions but couldn't find its shooting touch early, with just a trey by LeDuc to show for its efforts. The Lions finally managed to get its offense going and scored on back-to-back possessions to go up, 5-3. Another 3-pointer from LeDuc returned the lead to the visitors and a jumper from Kerri Moran pushed the Cornell lead to 8-5 with 14:59 on the clock.
 
Alexa Guliano tied the game at 8-8 with a trey and the teams traded baskets with a layup from Sara Mead answered by a layup from Nicholle Aston.
 
A deep trey by Guliano and a layup from Mead gave the Lions a 15-10 lead before a baseline jumper from LeDuc ended the run. Neither team managed to score again for over five minutes until a pair of made free throws from Mead and Tori Oliver increased the home team's lead to seven points (19-12) with 6:39 remaining in the half.
 
A pair of Aston free throws were answered by a layup from Devon Roeper, but the Big Red would close the half on an 8-2 run to go into the intermission trailing, 23-22. During the run, Cornell got four made free throws Kerri Moran, a baseline jumper from Sarah Poland, and an elbow jumper from Aston. The bucket by Poland with 1:31 to play was the Big Red's first field goal since LeDuc's jumper at the 12:42 mark.   
 
The Lions got out to a quick start in the second half, with a 10-2 run, including five points from Oliver to go up, 33-25 with 16:32 to play.  Cornell ended the run when Kline blocked a Guliano shot and Aston came down with the rebound and found Moran for a fast break bucket. Moments later, LeDuc nailed a 3-pointer from the corner to make it a one-possession game (33-30) with 13:53 to play.
 
Oliver answered with a pair free throws and after several tough defensive possessions by both teams, Moran hit a corner trey to make it a 35-32 game.
 
A steal and a fastbreak layup by Mead returned a five-point lead to the Lions but Cornell went on
 
The Big Red will play its first full Ivy League road weekend when it travels to Brown and Yale on Friday, Jan. 30 and Sunday, Feb. 1, respectively. The game against the Bears will tip-off at 7 p.m., while the game vs. the Bulldogs is slated to begin at 1 p.m.