GAME INFORMATION
Game #5: Cornell at Buffalo
Tip off: Wednesday, Nov. 25, at 2:00 p.m.
Site: Alumni Arena (6,100), Buffalo, N.Y.
2015-16 Records: Cornell (3-1, 0-0 Ivy); Buffalo (3-0, 0-0 MAC)
Series Record: Buffalo leads, 10-6
Last Meeting: Buffalo won, 65-58 on Dec. 4, 2014 (Buffalo, N.Y.)
ESPN 3
Live Stats
 
Game #6: Cornell at Marshall
Tip off: Friday, Nov. 27, at 4:00 p.m.
Site: Cam Henderson Center (9,048), Huntington, W.Va.
2015-16 Records: Cornell (3-1, 0-0 Ivy); SFU (4-0, 0-0 C-USA)
Series Record: Cornell, 1-0
Last Meeting: Cornell won, 58-49 on Nov. 26, 2014 (Ithaca, N.Y.)
Live Video
Live Stats
  
Game Notes (PDF)
 
THE MATCHUP: The Big Red hits the road for a pair of games this week sandwiched around the Thanksgiving holiday. Head Coach Dayna Smith will be seeking a victory on her birthday for the first time since the 2007-08 season as Cornell takes on the University at Buffalo on Wednesday, Nov. 25 at 2 p.m., on a game slated for ESPN 3. The Big Red will then face Marshall on Friday, Nov. 27 at 4 p.m.
 
THE SERIES VS. BUFFALO: The Cornell women's basketball series with Buffalo began in the 1972-73 season, as the Big Red rattled off victories in each of the first three meetings (1972-73, 1973-74, 1974-75), but since that time, the Bulls have taken a 10-6 lead. Cornell snapped a six-game losing streak to Buffalo during the 2012-13 season for its first victory over the Bulls since the 1992-93 campaign and extended its streak to two in a row with a victory the following year. Buffalo won last season's meeting with a late 10-2 run handing the Bulls a 65-58 victory in Newman Arena.
 
SCOUTING THE BULLS: Buffalo is off to a 3-0 start with victories over LIU-Brooklyn, Canisius and UMass. The team is averaging 55 points per game and using some tenacious defense to allow just 42 points per contest. The Bulls are holding opponents to .331 percent shooting, an abysmal .138 percent from beyond the arc, and harassing opponents into 24.3 turnovers with an average of 14.3 steals per game.  Joanna Smith has been the team's top scorer in two-of-three contests and averages team-highs in points (15.0) and rebounds (6.3) per game. She is the only Buffalo player to average more than 10 points per game, with Stephanie Reid coming in at 9.3 points per game. Reid also leads to the team with 6.0 assists per contest.
 
LAST TIME VS. BUFFALO: The Bulls' hot second half shooting and 10-2 run to close the game helped the visitors to a 65-58 victory over Cornell on Dec. 4, 2014 at Newman Arena. Buffalo shot 58 percent in the final 20 minutes to rally from a halftime deficit and overcome a scrappy Big Red team that punished the bigger, more athletic Bulls on the backboards (45-37, including 18-10 on the offensive glass). The Bulls closed strong over the final 2:08, regaining the lead at 57-56 on a Rachel Gregory layup and never surrendering it. Nicholle Aston had a then career-high 19 points and four rebounds in just 20 minutes of action, while Nia Marshall notched 14 points, eight rebounds and three steals. Christine Kline played a great floor game with four points, four rebounds, three assists and career highs of six steals and two blocked shots. Megan LeDuc had six points, a career-high eight rebounds and three assists and Sarah Poland notched six points and four boards in the loss. Cornell hung in until the final minutes despite 24 turnovers and just 32 percent shooting from the field. Christa Baccas scored 16 points and grabbed seven rebounds, both team highs, off the bench to lead four double figure scorers for the Bulls. Alexus Malone had 11 points, four rebounds, six steals, three blocks and two assists and both Mackenzie Loesing and Rachael Gregory had 10 points apiece. Buffalo had 12 steals and eight blocked shots. Cornell stifled several UB runs in the second half and didn't relinquish the lead until there was five minutes remaining. The teams traded the lead five times with three ties until the Bulls took control in the final 90 seconds.
 
CORNELL VS. MID-ATLANTIC CONFERENCE: Cornell is 65-14 all-time vs. the current members of the MAC. The Big Red holds a losing record vs. Buffalo (6-10), Bowling Green (0-1) and Eastern Michigan (0-3), but has never faced Akron, Ball State, Central Michigan, Kent State, Miami (OH), Ohio, Toledo or Western Michigan … Head Coach Dayna Smith is 2-6 against the MAC with both wins coming against Buffalo.
 
THE SERIES VS. MARSHALL: Cornell met the Thundering Herd for the first time in program history a year ago at Newman Arena. The Big Red won that outing, 58-49, thanks in large part to Nicholle Aston's 16 points on a perfect 8-for-8 performance from the field.
 
SCOUTING THE THUNDERING HERD: Marshall is off to a 4-0 start with wins over Morehead State, Brescia (NAIA), University of Rhode Island, and NJIT. The team has shown some real offensive ability, averaging 98 points in its first two outings and entering its game with the Big Red at 82.8 points per game for the season. The Herd is shooting .447 percent overall and .352 from 3-point range with three players – Leah Scott (19.0), Shayna Gore (16.8) and Telequia Hamilton (11.5) – all averaging double digits, with Norrisha Victrum coming just short at 9.8 points per game. Scott also has a team-best 8.8 rebounds per game, while Victrum leads the team with 4.4 assists per contest.
 
LAST TIME VS. MARSHALL: The Big Red ran its winning streak to three games as it pulled away late in the second half to earn the 58-49 victory over Marshall Nov. 26, 2014 at Newman Arena. Nia Marshall finished with 18 points and grabbed six rebounds. Marshall's counterpart, Nicholle Aston registered her first career double-double with a career-high 16 points and 10 rebounds, despite playing only 28 minutes due to foul trouble. Aston was a perfect 8-for-8 from the floor, setting a new school record for field goal percentage in a single game (1.000). Senior guard Christine Kline also finished with 10 points and a career-high six assists, while junior guard Maddie Campbell matched a career-high with eight rebounds. The Big Red never lost the lead after halftime and took control a little past the midway point of the second half. Cornell extended a lead to 11 points (51-40) after a Kline trey with 6:30 to play and the Herd never got back within six. Cornell ended the evening with assists on 20 of its 25 baskets. The Big Red defense was also spectacular all game, limiting Marshall to 32 percent shooting after halftime and 35 percent for the game. When the Herd missed, Cornell cleaned up the glass, holding a significant 41-30 rebounding advantage against the bigger Thundering Herd squad. Marshall was led by Leah Scott's 21 points and 10 rebounds, as the only Herd player in double-digits. 
 
CORNELL VS. THE C-USA: Cornell is 1-4 all-time vs. Conference USA, with the lone victory coming in the team's very first meeting against Marshall (1-0). The Big Red has a losing record against Rice (0-2), Florida Atlantic, and North Texas (0-1) but has never played FIU, Florida Atlantic, Louisiana Tech, Middle Tennessee, Old Dominion, Southern Mississippi., UAB, UTEP, UTSA, or Western Kentucky ... Coach Smith is 1-2 all-time vs. C-USA with losses to North Texas and Rice.   
 
HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Head Coach Dayna Smith's birthday is Nov. 25. The Big Red currently has a two-game losing streak on Coach Smith's birthday, with the last win coming in a 74-63 triumph vs. Bucknell on Nov. 25, 2007.
 
ON THE RISE: In each of its four games this season, the Big Red has upped its point production. After scoring just 50 in its season opener, Cornell has gone on to score 70 vs. Bryant, 73 vs. Colgate, and 75 vs. Saint Francis.

BIG RED COMEBACK: Cornell trailed by as many as 10 points in its game with Bryant before outscoring the Bulldogs, 26-15, in the final quarter of action to steal a 70-62 victory on Nov. 15.
 
BIG RED LEADS: Since erasing Bryant's 10-point lead in its game on Nov. 15, Cornell has not trailed an opponent by more than three points. Since regaining the lead against Bryant with 7:55 to play in the fourth quarter, the Big Red has trailed for a total of 2:15 over the last 87:55 of play.
 
CAMPBELL CAN: Senior Maddie Campbell earned her first career double-double with 13 points and a career-high 10 rebounds in the Big Red's 70-62 victory over Bryant. She's the only current player on the team other than Nia Marshall (10) and Nicholle Aston (7) to post a double-double and the first to do it in the 2015-16 season … In her second full season with the Big Red, the UCSB transfer is having her best season to date, averaging 10.8 points and 8.0 rebounds per game.
 
COACHING TENURE: Head coach Dayna Smith, in her 14th 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 (34th season), ranks ahead of Cornell's Smith.
 
CLOSE CALLS: Since the beginning of the 2010-11 season, the Big Red has had 53-of-141 games (38 percent) decided by eight points or fewer. In those games, Cornell has posted a 26-27 record (.491).
 
HANDLE WITH CARE: The Big Red ranks second in the Ivy League and 67^th in the nation in assist/turnover ratio (1.07). Cornell is also second din the conference and 86th in the nation in turnovers per game (14.8) ... Maddie Campbell ranks first in the Ivy League and 46^th  in the nation in assist/turnover ratio (3.00).
 
I'LL TAKE THAT: So far this season, the Big Red is averaging 9.8 steals per game, ranking second in the Ivy League and 98th in the nation … Nia Marshall ranks first in the conference and 61^st in the country in steals per game (3.00).
 
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 142 career coaching wins.
 
LOW PERCENTAGE SHOTS: Since the beginning of the 2012-13 season, Cornell has held 47 of its 87 opponents (53 percent) to below 40 percent shooting from the floor, including 3-of-4 opponents (75 percent) this season.
 
STARTING STREAK: Junior Nia Marshall has the longest starting streak on the team, standing at 33 games. Marshall had started every game of her freshman season, with the exception of the Big Red's Senior Day on March 1, 2014.
 
ON THE SMALL SIDE: Cornell's roster of 12 players is the smallest in the Ivy League.
 
SMALL SENIOR DAY: Cornell's 2015-16 roster features just one senior – Maddie Campbell. Every other team in the Ivy League has at least two seniors, while Princeton tops the conference with five. 
 
NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK: The Big Red added two players to the 2015-16 squad – Samantha Clement (Anaheim, Calif.) and Caroline Shelquist (Minnetonka, Minn.). The duo  hails from two different states and features a Miss Basketball Minnesota nominee (Shelquist), as well as a player that broke her high school's record for career 3-pointers made (Clement).
 
HI, MY NAME IS: Cornell has a new face on the bench for the 2015-16 season, as Kelsey Florian has joined the staff as a volunteer assistant coach. Florian comes to East Hill following a successful two-year stint with Ithaca College, where she served as a graduate assistant coach for the Bombers while earning a Master of Science in Exercise and Sport Sciences. While at IC, Florian was part of the 2014-15 Empire 8 Coaching Staff of the Year after helping the Bombers advance to the second round of the NCAA Tournament. During her two seasons on South Hill, Ithaca posted a combined record of 49-11, a pair of Empire 8 regular season championships, and one E8 Tournament championship. A native of Roseville, Minn., Florian played collegiately at Gustavus Adolphus College.
 
PRESEASON IVY STANDINGS: The Big Red women's basketball team was picked to finish in fifth place in the 2015-16 Ivy League preseason media poll. No. 25 Princeton, the reigning Ivy League champion, is the preseason favorite earning 16-of-17 first place votes and 135 points overall. Penn was the only other team to earn a first place vote and register more than 100 points with 115. Harvard was picked third with 94 points, followed by Yale in fourth place (76 points). Cornell (64 points) sits above Dartmouth (60), Brown (42) and Columbia (26). 
 
THE 2014-15 SEASON: Cornell finished the 2014-15 season with a 15-13 record (6-8 Ivy), the program's first winning season since the 2007-08 campaign. With its 9-5 non-conference record, 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. At one point, the Big Red had a six-game winning streak from Dec. 30, 2014 to Jan. 30, 2015, the longest since setting the school record with eight consecutive victories during the 2007-08 season. Following a brilliant sophomore campaign in which she came just 13 points shy of setting the school record, Nia Marshall was named first-team All-Ivy. She was the Big Red's first member of the top conference team since Jeomi Maduka took home first-team honors following the 2007-08 season. Additionally, Marshall was named a College Sports Madness first-team selection. Marshall became the first player in Cornell women's basketball history to score at least 30 points three times in the same season. But Marshall was not the only member of the sophomore class to have impressive single-game performances, as Nicholle Aston set the school record for field goal percentage in a single game (1.000; 8-for-8 vs. Marshall on Nov. 26), and Megan LeDuc matched the Cornell single-game record with eight steals vs. Columbia on Jan. 17. Additionally, the 2014-15 squad set the school record for the fewest turnovers in a single game with just five miscues at Penn on Feb. 6.
 
UP NEXT: The Big Red opens December with three consecutive home games, beginning with a contest vs. Towson on Wednesday, Dec. 2 at 7 p.m.