GAME INFORMATION
Game #7: Cornell vs. Towson
Tip off: Wednesday, Dec. 2, at 7:00 p.m.
Site: Newman Arena (4,473), Ithaca, N.Y.
2015-16 Records: Cornell (3-3, 0-0 Ivy); Towson (2-4, 0-0 CAA)
Series Record: First Meeting
Last Meeting: First Meeting
Live Video 
Live Stats 
 
Game Notes (PDF)
 
THE MATCHUP: After dropping a pair of road contests to Buffalo and Marshall, the Big Red women's basketball team returns to Ithaca to open up a three-game home-stand, beginning with a contest vs. Towson on Wednesday, Dec. 2 at 7 p.m. The Tigers enter the contest with a record of 2-4, but have been on a hot streak lately, winning two of three, with their last loss coming in a 74-72 overtime decision at the University of North Florida.
 
THE SERIES VS. TOWSON: Wednesday's game will be the first contest between the Big Red and Towson women's basketball programs.
 
SCOUTING THE TIGERS: After dropping its first three games of the season, Towson has rebounded to win two of its last three contests. The lone loss during that run came in the Tigers' last outing at North Florida when the Ospreys knocked down a trey with 20 seconds remaining in overtime to win, 74-72. In that game, senior Dominique Johnson became the 16th player in program history to join the 1,000 point club. She currently ranks third on the team in points per game (14.0), behind Raven Bankston (17.8) and Sianni Martin (14.8). Daijha Thomas leads the team with an impressive 10.8 rebounds per game, posting the team-high in rebounds for the Tigers in all but one game this season.
 
LAST TIME VS. TOWSON: Wednesday's game will be the first contest between the Big Red and Towson women's basketball programs.
 
CORNELL VS. COLONIAL ATHLETIC ASSOCIATION:  Cornell has a 3-13 all-time record against the current members of the Colonial Athletic Association with its only victories coming against Hofstra (1-3), James Madison (1-1) and William & Mary (1-1). The Big Red has also faced Drexel (0-6), Northeastern (0-2), but has never played the College of Charleston, Delaware, Elon UNC-Wilmington, or Towson in women's basketball ... Coach Smith is 2-6 all-time against CCA with victories against JMU and William & Mary.
 
A CORNELL WIN WOULD:
• put the Big Red back above .500 at 4-3 on the season.
• snap a two-game skid against the CAA, giving Cornell its first win vs. the conference since a 60-56 win over William & Mary on Dec. 20, 2012.
• improve Cornell to 4-13 all-time vs. the CAA and make head coach Dayna Smith 3-6.
 
RACE TO 1,000 – With 903 career points through 62 games, Nia Marshall is on pace to reach the 1,000-point plateau faster than any Cornell player other than Karen Walker '91, the leading scorer in Cornell history, who scored her 1,000th point in her 65th career game. The junior forward is averaging 16.0 points per game, which would have eclipse the mark in her 68th career game.
 
ON THE RISE: In each of its first four games of the season, the Big Red upped its point production. After scoring just 50 in its season opener, Cornell went 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.
 
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 8.2 points and 7.3 rebounds per game.
 
40-MINUTE WOMEN:  Megan LeDuc has played at least 40 minutes in eight contests during her career. Only Karen Walker (27 games), Kacee English (17 games) and Lauren Benson (16 games) have played more 40-minute games in their career than LeDuc.
 
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-143 games (37 percent) decided by eight points or fewer. In those games, Cornell has posted a 26-27 record (.491).
 
I'LL TAKE THAT: The Big Red is averaging 9.5 steals per game, ranking second in the Ivy League and 87th in the nation … Nia Marshall ranks first in the conference and 68th in the country in steals per game (2.67).
 
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 48 of its 89 opponents (54 percent) to below 40 percent shooting from the floor, including 4-of-6 opponents (67 percent) this season.
 
STARTING STREAK: Junior Nia Marshall has the longest starting streak on the team, standing at 35 games. Marshall had started every game of her freshman season, with the exception of the Big Red's Senior Day on March 1, 2014.
 
FOR OPENERS: The Big Red is 19-26 all-time in season openers. Coach Dayna Smith saw her record slip to 3-11 in season openers after being edged by Hartford, 53-50, on Nov. 13, 2015. It was Cornell's second consecutive one-possession loss to the Hawks in a season opener.
 
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.
 
PLAYER OF THE WEEK NOTES:
• Nia Marshall was named Ivy League Player of the Week (POW) four times last season (Dec. 22, Dec. 29, Jan. 12, Feb. 15), becoming the first Big Red women's basketball player to be named Ivy POW four times in a single season since Allyson DiMagno did so during the 2012-13 campaign.
• Marshall was also named the Ivy League Player of the Week on Feb. 3, 2014, to become the first-ever Cornell freshman to take home the honor.
• Marshall's five 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 five POW honors, Marshall was named the Ivy Rookie of the Week (ROW) five times last season, giving her 10 total Ivy weekly awards to her credit, matching Jeomi Maduka who was honored 10 times by the conference (seven ROW; three POW).
 
30-POINT PERFORMANCES:
• Nia Marshall registered at least 30 points three times last 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 came 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).
 
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). 
 
WHAT WAS LOST: The Big Red graduated two players from the 2014-15 squad – Christine Kline and Sarah Poland – and lost two other non-letter winners. The four players accounted for an average of 9.4 points and 6.25 rebounds per game.
 
WHAT REMAINS: Cornell returns four starters and two additional letter winners from last season's squad. The Big Red returns 84% of its scoring (1,375-of-1,640 points) and 84% of its rebounding (874-of-1088) from a year ago.
 
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.
 
THE 400-POINT CLUB: Last season, Nia Marshall became just the 12th player in Cornell women's basketball history to register 400 points in a single season and the first since Allyson DiMagno tallied 411 in 2012-13. Prior to DiMagno, the last Big Red player to reach the 400 point plateau was Tanya Karcic (412) during the 2003-04 season.
 
TICKLE THE ALL-IVY:  Nia Marshall was named first-team All-Ivy last season. She became 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.
 
JUST SHY OF A SCHOOL RECORD:  Nia Marshall fell just 13 points shy of setting a new school record for points in a single season, finishing the year with 455 points to rank third behind Mary LaMacchia (467 in 1995-96) and Rhonda Anderson (462 in 1982-83). 
 
TIGHT LOSSES: Eight of the Big Red's 13 losses last season came by nine or fewer points.
 
TOUGH D: Cornell held eight opponents last season to less than 50 points, the most since the 1978-79 team held 10 opponents to fewer than 50 points.
 
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 continues its three-game home-stand when it welcomes Stony Brook to Newman Arena on Friday, Dec. 4 for a contest at 7 p.m.