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GAME INFORMATION
Game #14: Cornell vs. Howard
Tipoff: Wednesday, Jan. 7, at 7:00 p.m.
Site: Newman Arena (4,473), Ithaca, N.Y.
2014-15 Records: Cornell (8-5, 0-0 Ivy); Howard (1-13, 1-1 MEAC)
Series Record: Cornell leads, 1-0
Last Meeting: Cornell won, 70-58, on Jan. 8, 2013 (Washington, D.C.)
 
THE MATCHUP: The Big Red women's basketball team will attempt to stretch its home game winning streak to four consecutive victories when it closes non-conference play vs. Howard on Wednesday, January 7 at Newman Arena at 7 p.m.
 
THE SERIES VS. HOWARD: Cornell has played the Bison just once before in women's basketball, a 70-58 Big Red victory a year ago in Washington, D.C.
 
SCOUTING THE BISON: Howard enters the contest with a deceptive record of 1-13 overall and 1-1 in the MEAC. Of the Bison's 12 non-conference opponents, five sit in the top 100 of the latest RPI, while four others are in the top half of Division I. Howard has also played a disproportionate nine games on the road, posting an 0-9 record away from Washington, D.C. The team is led by Te'Shya Heslip, who ranks 35^th in the nation in assists per game (5.3) and leads the team in points (14.9) and rebounds (5.4) per game, to go along with a team-best .418 shooting percentage. Cheyenne Brown (12.0) and Sydni Johnson (10.4) also average double-digit points per game, while Victoria Gonzales and Johnson are chipping in 5.2 and 5.1 rebounds per game, respectively.
               
LAST TIME VS. HOWARD:  The Big Red erased a 10-point deficit midway through the first half and went on to defeat Howard, 70-58, on Jan. 8 at Burr Gymnasium in Washington, D.C. Trailing by a score of 18-8 with just under eight minutes to play in the opening stanza, Cornell embarked on a 14-4 run, which included eight points from forward Nia Marshall en-route to a then-career-high 21, to tie the score at 22-22 and take over the contest. Marshall connected on 8-of-13 from the floor and 5-of-10 from the charity stripe to go along with eight rebounds, three assists and one steal. Senior forward Allyson DiMagno chipped in her third double-double of the season, with 13 points and 11 rebounds, while Stephanie Long finished with a season-high 15 points and seven rebounds. Kerri Moran and Shelby Lyman had nine and five points, respectively, and each finished with five assists, as Cornell assisted on 17-of-26 baskets. Howard saw a three-game winning streak snapped despite 21 points from Te'Shya Heslip and 13 points apiece from Cheyenne Brown and Victoria Gonzalez. The Bison held the slim 43-42 edge in rebounds, but also had one more turnover than Cornell (21-20). Cornell was on fire from the field, hitting 47.3 percent for the game, including 56 percent in the crucial second half, and knocked down 28.6 percent from 3-point range. Defensively, the Big Red held the home team to just 33.3 percent overall and a mere 12.5 percent from beyond the arc.
 
A WIN OVER THE BISON WOULD:
• improve Cornell to 9-5 overall and 5-2 at home.
• give the Big Red its most non-conference wins (9) since the 2007-08 squad went 9-6 in non-conference play.
• be the fourth straight home victory, beginning with a 66-64 win vs. Bryant on Dec. 6.
• make Cornell a perfect 2-0 vs. Howard.
• improve the Big Red to 9-6 all-time vs. the current members of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference.
• give head coach Dayna Smith a 5-3 record vs. the MEAC.
 
CORNELL VS. THE MEAC: Cornell has an 8-6 all-time record against the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference, including a mark of 1-0 against Howard. The Big Red has faced Bethune-Cookman (0-1), Coppin State (2-3), Delaware State (2-1), Maryland Eastern-Shore (1-0), and Morgan State (2-1), while never having met Florida A&M, Hampton, Howard, Norfolk State, North Carolina A&T, North Carolina Central, Savannah State and South Carolina State. Coach Smith is 4-3 all-time against MEAC teams.
 
WINNING NON-CONFERENCE SLATE: With an 8-5 record heading into its final non-conference game of the 2014-15 season, the Big Red is assured of 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.
 
MAY I ASSIST YOU?: So far this season, Cornell has assisted on 210-of-314 baskets (66.8 percent) … As of Jan. 5, the team ranks third in the Ivy League and 43rd in the country in assists per game (16.2) … Three Cornell players – Christine Kline, Megan LeDuc and Kerri Moran – rank in the top 10 of the Ivy League in assists per game
 
HANDLE WITH CARE: As of Jan. 5, Cornell is second in the conference and 42^nd in the country in assist to turnover ratio (1.06) … The team is also first in the conference and 68th in the country in turnover margin (3.38) … The Big Red is fifth in the league and 95^th in the nation in turnovers per game (15.2).
 
I'LL TAKE THAT:
• So far this season, the Big Red is averaging 9.0 steals per game, ranking second in the Ivy League and 110th 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:
• Christine Kline ranks 30th in the nation in assist/turnover ratio (2.48), while Megan LeDuc (136^th – 1.62) and Kerri Moran (204^th – 1.31) also appear in the rankings.
• Christine Kline ranks 117^th in the country with 4.0 assists per game, while Megan LeDuc is 187^th with 3.6 apg.
• Nicholle Aston currently ranks 36^th in the nation with a .535 shooting percentage, while Nia Marshall sits at 108^th overall (.478).
• Nia Marshall ranks 89th in the country in points per game (17.1) and 177^th in rebounds per contest (7.6).
• Christine Kline (2.46) and Nia Marshall (2.31) rank nationally, 78th and 95th, respectively, in steals per game.
 
IVY LEADERS: As of Dec. 30, several Big Red players are ranked among the Ivy League leaders this season, including:
*Nia Marshall – third in scoring (17.1 ppg.)
*Nicholle Aston –13th in scoring (12.0 ppg.)
*Christine Kline – 19th in scoring (9.3 ppg.)
*Megan LeDuc – 19th in scoring (9.3 ppg.)
*Nia Marshall – seventh in rebounding (7.6 rpg.)
*Nicholle Aston – 11th in rebounding (6.7 rpg.)
*Nicholle Aston – first in field goal percentage (.535)
*Nia Marshall – eighth in field goal percentage (.478)
*Christine Kline – fourth in assists per game (4.0 apg.)
*Megan LeDuc – fifth in assists per game (3.6 apg.)
*Kerri Moran – ninth in assists per game (3.2 apg.)
*Nia Marshall – 13th in free throw percentage (.680)
*Christine Kline –15th in free throw percentage (.667)
*Christine Kline – first in steals (2.5 spg.)
*Nia Marshall – second in steals (2.3 spg.)
*Maddie Campbell – 12th in steals (1.5 spg.)
*Megan LeDuc – 10th in 3-point FG percentage (.306)
*Christine Kline – 13th in 3-point FG percentage (.289)
*Megan LeDuc – 10th in 3-point FGM (1.5 per game)
*Christine Kline – 15th in 3-point FGM (1.0 per game)
*Christine Kline – first in assist/turnover ratio (2.5)
*Megan LeDuc – fifth in assist/turnover ratio (1.6)
*Kerri Moran – eighth in assist/turnover ratio (1.3)
*Nicholle Aston – fifth in offensive rebs. (2.5 per game)
*Nia Marshall – 10th in offensive rebs. (2.0 per game)
*Nia Marshall – fifth in defensive rebs. (5.6 per game)
*Nicholle Aston – 13th in defensive rebs. (4.2 per game)
*Megan LeDuc – fourth in minutes played (35.9 per game)
*Nia Marshall – fifth in minutes played (35.0 per game
*Christine Kline – seventh in minutes played (33.8 per game)
 
PLAYER OF THE WEEK NOTES:
• Nia Marshall was named the Ivy League Player of the Week 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 to accomplish the feat since Allyson DiMagno during the 2012-13 season.
• Those same weeks, 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. 
 
30-POINT PERFORMANCES:
• Nia Marshall registered a career-high 36 points in Cornell's double overtime victory against Vermont on Dec. 30.
• She had previously registered 31 points in the Big Red's 79-61 win at Loyola (Md.) on Dec. 22 to become 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 five women's basketball players in Cornell history have had two 30 point games in their career. Keri Farley and Karen Walker had three each, while Rhonda Anderson and Karin Dwyer had two apiece.
• Cornell has had two 30-point games in the same season just twice and both times they were done by a single player – Marshall and Karin Dwyer (Jan. 21, 1984 vs. Yale; Feb. 24, 1984). Marshall's two 30-point games came in a span of four games over 10 days. Dwyer's performances came in a span of nine games over 34 days.
 
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.
 
TIGHT LOSSES: Four of the Big Red's five losses this season have come by nine or few points.
 
TOUGH D: Cornell has held three of its 13 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 15 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 30.4 minutes per game, and LeDuc has gone from 11.5 to 35.9 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.
 
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.
 
LOW PERCENTAGE SHOTS: Since the beginning of the 2012-13 season, Cornell held 35 of its 69 opponents (51 percent) to below 40 percent shooting from the floor, including 7-of-13 opponents (5.38 percent) so far this season.
 
CLOSE CALLS: Since the beginning of the 2010-11 season, the Big Red has had 45-of-124 games (36 percent) decided by eight points or fewer. In those games, Cornell has posted a 23-22 record (.511).
 
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.
 
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 132 career coaching wins.
 
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 open Ivy League play when it welcomes Columbia to Newman Arena on Saturday, Jan. 17 at 1 p.m. The game will be part of a double-header as the men's basketball team takes on the Lions at 4:30 p.m.