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GAME INFORMATION
Game #17: Cornell at Brown
Tipoff: Friday, Jan. 31, at 7:00 p.m.
Site: Pizzitola  Center (2,800), Providence, R.I.
2014-15 Records: Cornell (11-5, 2-0 Ivy); Brown (6-10, 0-2 Ivy)
Series Record: Brown leads, 47-23
Last Meeting: Cornell won, 78-53, on Feb. 22, 2014 (Providence, R.I.)
 
Game #18: Cornell at Yale
Tipoff: Sunday, Feb. 1, at 1:00 p.m.
Site: Lee Amphitheater (2,532), New Haven, Conn.
2014-15 Records: Cornell (11-5, 2-0 Ivy)*; Yale (8-8, 2-0 Ivy) *
Series Record: Yale leads, 48-23
Last Meeting: Yale won, 60-52, on Feb. 21, 2014 (New Haven, Conn.)
 
CORNELL NOTES
THE MATCHUP: The Big Red women's basketball team will look to extend its current five-game winning streak when it travels for its first full Ivy League road weekend at Brown and Yale. Cornell (11-5, 2-0 Ivy) will take on the Bears on Friday, Jan. 31 at 7 p.m., before facing the Bulldogs on Sunday, Feb. 1 at 1 p.m. The game vs. Yale will be broadcast on the American Sports Network.
 
THE SERIES VS. BROWN: Cornell's rivalry with the Bears began in the 1974-75 season when Brown defeated the Big Red, 34-30. The Bears dominated the series during the first 20 years, with Cornell winning only three times prior to the 1994-95 season. Since that year, the series has been far more competitive, as it is tied at 20-20, though the Bears still hold the advantage in the all-time series with a record of 47-23. Cornell has won four of the last five meetings … Head Coach Dayna Smith is 11-13 all-time vs. the Bears.
               
LAST TIME VS. THE BEARS:  The Big Red jumped out to a 9-0 lead and never looked back, leading wire-to-wire to rout Brown 78-53, on Feb. 22, 2014 at the Pizzitola Center in Providence, R.I. With the win, Cornell improves to 13-11 overall and evens its Ivy League record at 5-5. Freshman forward Nia Marshall led four Big Red players in double-figures with a game-high 16 points on an 8-for10 performance from the floor. Senior forward Allyson DiMagno registered 14 points and a team-high seven rebounds, while Shelby Lyman (13) and Kerri Moran (12) both hit double-digits and handed out seven assists apiece. Brown (8-16, 2-8) was led by Sophie Bikofsky and Natalie Ball with 11 points each, while and Elise Sharpe finished with 10. KJ Veldman had a game-high eight rebounds. Cornell was outstanding on offense, assisting on 22-of-28 baskets and connecting on a blistering 55 percent from the field and 36 percent from 3-point range. Defensively, the Big Red held the Bears to just 23 percent overall and 18 percent from beyond the arc. Cornell also harassed Brown into 13 turnovers to hold a 17-4 advantage in points off of turnovers. The Big Red had just eight turnovers on offense. Both teams pulled down 33 rebounds. Brown was better on the offensive glass, with 15 to Cornell's seven, but managed to score just 11 second-chance points, while Cornell made the most of its offensive rebounds with eight points. 
 
THE SERIES VS. YALE: Cornell first faced the Bulldogs in the 1974-75 season, with Yale taking the 31-23 victory. Since 2000, the series has been split, (13-13), with the Big Red winning seven-straight from 2000 to 2003, and splitting the series in 2005-06 and 2006-07, before sweeping Yale from 2006-09. The Bulldogs had an eight-game winning streak snapped last year, when the Big Red earned the 65-56 victory in the first meeting of the 2013-14 campaign. Yale answered with a 60-52 win in New Haven to improve in the all-time series history, 48-23 … Head Coach Dayna Smith is 10-14 all-time vs. the Bulldogs.
               
LAST TIME VS. THE BULLDOGS:  After trailing by as many as 12 points midway through the second half, Cornell used an extended 18-9 run to make it a three-point contest, but couldn't come all the way back as Yale earned the 60-52 victory this evening in Lee Amphitheater. Senior forward Allyson DiMagno led the team with 16 points, surpassing Karen Force (2000-04) to move into fourth place in Cornell history with 1,258 career points. In addition to her 16 points, DiMagno filled out the stat line with five rebounds, four assists, one steal and one block. Freshman forward Nia Marshall, who sat the majority of the first half due to foul trouble, finished with 14 points, while senior guard Shelby Lyman chipped in eight points and five rebounds. Senior guard Stephanie Long grabbed a team-high six rebounds. Yale (11-12, 5-4 Ivy) was led by Sarah Halejian and Nyasha Sarju, who tallied 18 points apiece, while Emmy Allen came in off the bench and finished with 14 points on a 6-of-7 performance from the floor and grabbed a game-high eight rebounds. Meredith Boardman also finished with eight rebounds for the Bulldogs. The rims proved to be unkind to both teams throughout the game, with Cornell shooting just 34 percent overall, while the Bulldogs connected on just 36 percent from the field. The teams were a combined 0-10 from 3-point range in the first half, with the Big Red knocking down just 1-of-12 for the game, while Yale connected on 2-of-12. Yale held the edge in rebounds (47-40), but turned the ball over 19 times to Cornell's 16. Both teams registered eight steals, but the Big Red assisted on 12-of-21 baskets, while Yale assisted on just 5-of-21.
 
COACHING TENURE: Head coach Dayna Smith, in her 13^th season at the helm of the Big Red program, ranks third overall in Ivy League women's basketball history in years served as a head coach in the conference. Only one active coach, Harvard's Kathy Delaney-Smith (33^rd season), ranks ahead of Cornell's Smith.
 
PLAYER OF THE WEEK NOTES:
• Nicholle Aston earned her first Ivy League Player of the Week (POW)  honor on Jan. 26 following her 14-point, 10-rebound double-double at Columbia. She was also named the College Sports Madness Ivy League Player of the Week.
• Nia Marshall has been named Ivy POW three times this season, becoming the first Big Red women's basketball player to be named Ivy POW three times in a single season since Allyson DiMagno took home the honor four times during the 2012-13 campaign. 
• Marshall earned her first Ivy League Player of the Week of the season on Dec. 22 after becoming the first Big Red player to register 30+ points in a game since the 2001 season, finishing with 31 points and 10 rebounds vs. Robert Morris.
• She repeated as Ivy League Player of the Week on Dec. 29, becoming the first Big Red player to earn back-to-back honors since Allyson DiMagno during the 2012-13 season.
• In each of those three weeks that she earned the honor from the conference, she was also named the College Sports Madness Ivy League Player of the Week.
• Marshall was also named the Ivy League Player of the Week on Feb. 3, 2014, to become the first-ever Cornell player to take home the honor as a freshman. 
• Marshall's four career POW honors ranks third all-time in Cornell history, behind Allyson DiMagno and Mary LaMacchia who each took home the award six times.
• In addition to her four POW honors, Marshall was named the Ivy Rookie of the Week (ROW) five times last season, giving her nine total Ivy weekly awards to her credit. Only Jeomi Maduka was honored more by the conference with 10 accolades to her credit (seven ROW; 3 POW).
 
GOING STREAKING: The Big Red's current five-game winning streak is its longest since setting the school record with eight consecutive victories during the 2007-08 season.
 
FASTEST TO 10 WINS: With its 59-39 win vs. Columbia on Jan. 17, Cornell matched its best start in school history with a 10-5 record, previously set in in 1999-2000.
 
MAY I ASSIST YOU?: So far this season, Cornell has assisted on 258-of-379 baskets (68.1 percent) … As of Jan. 26, the team ranks second in the Ivy League and 33rd in the country in assists per game (16.1) … Three Cornell players – Megan Christine Kline (third), LeDuc (fifth), and Kerri Moran (seventh) – rank in the top 10 of the Ivy League in assists per game
 
HANDLE WITH CARE: As of Jan. 26, Cornell is second in the conference and 56th in the country in assist to turnover ratio (1.00) … The team is also first in the conference and 54th in the country in turnover margin (3.50).
 
I'LL TAKE THAT:
• As of Jan. 26, the Big Red is averaging 9.7 steals per game, ranking first in the Ivy League and 68th in the nation.
• In 2013-14, Cornell posted 253 steals (9.0 per game) to finish ranked first in the Ivy League and 69th in the nation for steals per game.
 
INDIVIDUAL EFFORT (as of Jan. 26):
• Christine Kline ranks 23rd in the nation in assist/turnover ratio (2.46), while Megan LeDuc (131st – 1.59) and Kerri Moran (212th – 1.24) also appear in the rankings.
• Christine Kline ranks 123rd in the country with 4.0 assists per game, while Megan LeDuc is 145th with 3.9 apg.
• Nicholle Aston currently ranks 44th in the nation with a .522 shooting percentage, while Nia Marshall sits at 100 overall (.480).
• Nia Marshall ranks 71st in the country in points per game (17.4) and 153rd in rebounds per contest (7.8).
• Nia Marshall ranks 50th in the nation with 2.5 steals per game, while Christine Kline sits 84th nationally with 2.31 steals per game.
 
IVY LEADERS: As of Jan. 26, several Big Red players are ranked among the Ivy League leaders this season, including:
*Nia Marshall – third in scoring (17.4ppg.)
*Nicholle Aston –14th in scoring (11.9 ppg.)
*Megan LeDuc – 19th in scoring (9.3 ppg.)
*Christine Kline – 19th in scoring (9.3 ppg.)
*Nia Marshall – sixth in rebounding (7.8 rpg.)
*Nicholle Aston – eighth in rebounding (7.0 rpg.)
*Nicholle Aston – second in field goal percentage (.522)
*Nia Marshall – sixth in field goal percentage (.480)
*Christine Kline – third in assists per game (4.0 apg.)
*Megan LeDuc – fifth in assists per game (3.9 apg.)
*Kerri Moran – seventh in assists per game (3.2 apg.)
*Nia Marshall – 13th in free throw percentage (.677)
*Christine Kline –14th in free throw percentage (.655)
*Nia Marshall – first in steals (2.5 spg.)
*Christine Kline – second in steals (2.3 spg.)
*Megan LeDuc – 10th in steals (1.4 spg.)
*Maddie Campbell – 14th in steals (1.4 spg.)
*Megan LeDuc – 13th in 3-point FG percentage (.300)
*Megan LeDuc – 10th in 3-point FGM (1.5 per game)
*Nia Marshall – 14th in blocked shots (0.6)
*Christine Kline – first in assist/turnover ratio (2.5)
*Megan LeDuc – sixth in assist/turnover ratio (1.6)
*Kerri Moran – seventh in assist/turnover ratio (1.2)
*Nicholle Aston – fourth in offensive rebs. (2.6 per game)
*Nia Marshall – eighth in offensive rebs. (2.0 per game)
*Nia Marshall – fifth in defensive rebs. (5.8 per game)
*Nicholle Aston – 12th in defensive rebs. (4.4 per game)
*Megan LeDuc – second in minutes played (36.3 per game)
*Nia Marshall – fifth in minutes played (34.3 per game
*Christine Kline – sixth in minutes played (33.8 per game)
 
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 135 career coaching wins.
 
TIGHT LOSSES: Four of the Big Red's five losses this season have come by nine or few points.
 
TOUGH D: Cornell has held 5-of-16 opponents this season to less than 50 points, a feat it accomplished just three times all of last season … As of Jan. 26, the Big Red ranks 66^th in the nation in scoring defense, allowing just 58.9 points per game.
 
LOW PERCENTAGE SHOTS: Since the beginning of the 2012-13 season, Cornell held 37 of its 72 opponents (51 percent) to below 40 percent shooting from the floor, including 9-of-16 opponents (56 percent) so far this season.
 
CLOSE CALLS: Since the beginning of the 2010-11 season, the Big Red has had 46-of-127 games (36 percent) decided by eight points or fewer. In those games, Cornell has posted a 24-22 record (.522).
 
STARTING STREAK: With the graduation of Allyson DiMagno, sophomore Nia Marshall has the longest starting streak on the team, standing at just 18 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 started four players – Megan LeDuc, Christine Kline, Maddie Campbell and Nicholle Aston – that had yet to start a game for Cornell previously. Since that time, Kerri Moran, who started 27-of-28 games a season ago, has returned to the starting line-up in place of Campbell.
 
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 33.8 minutes per game, while Aston has gone from 11.3 to 30.7 minutes per game, and LeDuc has gone from 11.5 to 36.3 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. No other team has as many underclassmen.
 
30-POINT PERFORMANCES:
• Nia Marshall has registered at least 30 points three times this season – 33 points vs. Howard on Jan. 7; 36 points vs. Vermont on Dec. 30; 31 points vs. Robert Morris on Dec. 20.
• With 33 points vs. Howard, Marshall became the first player in Cornell women's basketball history to score at least 30 points three times in the same season.
• Her career-high 36 points in Cornell's double overtime victory against Vermont on Dec. 30.
• Marshall's first career 30-point game, coming vs. Robert Morris on Dec. 20, made her the first Big Red player to reach the 30-point plateau since Do Stevens in 2001.
• Marshall is the only player in Coach Smith's tenure to score 30+ points in a game.
• Only three women's basketball players in Cornell history have had three 30 point games in their career, with Marshall joining Keri Farley and Karen Walker.
• Only once before has Cornell had two 30-point games in the same season, previously done by Karin Dwyer (Jan. 21, 1984 vs. Yale; Feb. 24, 1984).
 
SUB-40 PERFORMANCE: When Cornell def. Columbia, 59-39, on Jan. 17, it was the first time the Big Red held an opponent below 40 points since defeating Fordham, 40-39, on Jan. 2, 2012. It was the lowest point production by an Ivy League opponent since Cornell beat Brown, 70-37 on Feb. 1, 2008 and it was the lowest scoring output by the Lions in the series since a 60-39 Big Red decision on Jan. 24, 1998. In total, Cornell has held opponents to fewer than 40 points on 46 occasions, but just 14 times since the 1979-80 season.
 
STEALS RECORD: Sophomore guard Megan LeDuc matched the Cornell single-game record with eight steals vs. Columbia on Jan. 17. The record was originally set by Christine Houston vs. Rochester on Feb. 2, 1978. Houston tallied eight steals a second time on March 2, 1978 vs. Binghamton. Besides LeDuc, Karen Force is the only other Big Red player to register eight steals against a Division I opponent (Coppin State, Dec. 8, 2001). 
 
IVY OPENERS: Since Ivy League round robin play began in the 1982-83 season, Cornell has posted a 17-16 record in conference openers, thanks to its 59-39 victory over Columbia last weekend. Head Coach Dayna Smith's record is 6-7 in the first game of Ancient Eight play. Cornell has faced the Lions more than any other team, opening the season against Columbia 16 times.
 
WINNING NON-CONFERENCE SLATE: With its 9-5 non-conference, the Big Red earned a winning non-conference record for the third straight season, a feat that has never been accomplished in Cornell women's basketball history.
 
90-POINT PERFORMANCE: Cornell's 90-point output in its double overtime victory at Vermont ranks third all-time in Big Red history for points scored in a single game, tied with 90 points in a loss at Canisius in 1998. The school record for points scored stands at 99, which came in an overtime loss to Harvard (105-99) in 1995. Cornell has reached 90 points twice in Coach Smith's tenure with the Vermont performance coming in behind a 92-73 victory against Tennessee State on Nov. 21, 2009.
 
FIRST TIME THREE: Nia Marshall connected on her first-ever collegiate 3-point attempt on Dec. 30 when she tied the game with Vermont at 80-80 by banking in a step-back trey with 2.2 seconds on the clock to send the game into a second overtime session.
 
PERFECT NIGHT: Earlier this season, Nicholle Aston set the school record for field goal percentage in a single game, going a perfect 8-for-8 from the field vs. Marshall on Nov. 26.
 
FIRST MINUTES: Through the first eight games of the season, just one freshman – Christine Ehland – had seen playing time, seeing action against Hartford, Fairfield, Marshall, Bucknell and Buffalo. Since that time, the four other healthy members of the class - Janée Dennis, Marisa Knox, Janelle Odionu, and Paige Samuelson – have seen their first minutes of the season.
 
STUDYING THE OPPONENTS: Since the 1980-81 season, the Big Red is 13-21 coming out of Cornell's two-week study break. However, Coach Smith's teams have fared much better, posting a record of 8-5 in the first game back from exams, a mark that was raised this season with Cornell's 70-59 overtime victory against Robert Morris on Dec. 20.
 
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 (24^th, 3.394). The University of Missouri-Kansas City led the way with a 3.628 grade point average.
 
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.
 
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.
 
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 wrap up a five-game road swing when it travels to Penn and Princeton on Friday, Feb. 6 and Saturday, Feb. 7, respectively. The game against the Quakers will tip-off at 7 p.m., while the game vs. the Tigers is slated to begin at 6 p.m.