GAME INFORMATION
Game #9: Cornell vs. Fairfield
Tip off: Friday, Dec. 17, at 5:00 p.m.
Site: Newman Arena (4,473), Ithaca, N.Y.
2015-16 Records: Cornell (4-4, 0-0 Ivy); Fairfield (3-4, 0-2 MAAC)
Series Record: Series Tied, 2-2
Last Meeting: Cornell won, 58-47 (11/24/2014)
Live Video: http://www.ivyleaguedigitalnetwork.com/cornell/schedule
Live Stats: http://www.sidearmstats.com/cornell/wbball
 
Game Notes (PDF)
 
THE MATCHUP: After a 12-day hiatus for the Cornell University study break, the Big Red women's basketball team returns to action with the first of three games in a five-day span when it plays host to Fairfield in Newman Arena on Thursday, Dec. 17 at 5 p.m. The team will then head to the West Coast for a pair of games vs. No. 12/15 Stanford and Cal State Fullerton on Dec. 19 and Dec. 21, respectively.  Fairfield, which has also been dormant for over a week, fell to Albany, 62-50, in its last outing on Dec. 9 to slip to 3-4 on the year.
 
THE SERIES VS. FAIRFIELD: Thursday's contest marks just the fifth meeting between the Big Red and Fairfield with the series tied at 2-2 after Cornell's 58-47 victory a year ago in Connecticut. The first meeting came during the 1996-97 season with Fairfield taking the 73-57 victory in the championship game of the 17th annual Warner's Classic at Alumni Hall in Fairfield, Conn. The rematch came 12 years later as the Big Red took the 58-54 victory in Newman Arena on Dec. 1, 2008. The Stags rebounded with a 77-61 decision in Fairfield on Nov. 19, 2010.
 
SCOUTING THE STAGS: Fairfield won its first three games, defeating La Salle, Loyola (Md.), and Sacred Heart, before losing four straight, including conference games to Iona and Marist, to slip to 3-4 on the season. The team features two players averaging double-digit points – Kelsy Carey (14.1) and Samantha Cooper (10.0) – while Casey Smith comes just short at 9.9 points per game. Cooper also leads the team with an impressive 9.0 rebounds per contest.
 
LAST TIME VS. FAIRFIELD: Cornell forced eight turnovers in the first six minutes of action to build an early 11-4 lead over Fairfield and never looked back en-route to a 58-47 victory on Nov. 24, 2014. The Big Red had a trio of players in double-figures, led by Christine Kline's career-high 16 points. Kline connected on 5-of-8 from the floor and 6-of-8 from the charity stripe. After a slow start due to foul trouble, Nia Marshall kept Cornell in the game in the second half, finishing with 14 points and nine rebounds. Guard Megan LeDuc tallied 11 points and handed out five assists. Kerri Moran was also solid off the bench, finishing with nine pints and two assists in just 28 minutes. Fairfield was led by Kristine Schatzlein with 15 points, while Samantha Cooper and Helena Orts added 10 rebounds apiece. Orts also chipped in eight points. After an impressive first half of shooting by both teams, both slowed down in the second half, with Cornell connecting on 38.5 percent for the game (20-52) and just 30 percent from 3-point range (3-10), while the Stags shot 37.8 percent overall (17-45) and 35.7 percent from beyond the arc (5-14). Fairfield held the slim advantage in rebounds (35-33), despite having a significant height advantage, but Cornell forced the home team into 22 turnovers with 11 steals. The Big Red had just 14 turnovers.
 
CORNELL VS. THE MAAC: Cornell improved to 16-32 all-time vs. the current members of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference after defeating Fairfield last season. The Big Red holds a winning record vs. Iona (1-0) and Monmouth (2-1), and is tied with Fairfield (2-2) and Manhattan (2-2), but has a losing record vs. Canisius (1-7), Marist (2-7), Niagara (6-10) and Siena (0-3). Cornell has never faced Quinnipiac, Rider or St. Peter's in women's basketball ... Coach Smith's record against teams in the MAAC is 5-9.
 
A CORNELL WIN WOULD:
• give the Big Red a winning record on the season at 5-4.
• improve Cornell to 4-1 in home games this season.
• give Cornell the slim 3-2 lead in the all-time series with Fairfield.
• be the third in a row over a MAAC opponent and the second in a row vs. the Stags.
• give Cornell a 17-32 record all-time vs. the MAAC.
• improve head coach Dayna Smith to 3-1 against the Stags.
• make Coach Smith 6-9 all-time vs. the MAAC.
 
A PERFECT TIME: Junior guard Kerri Moran enters the game with a streak of 86:35 without a turnover. During that time, she has handed out 16 assists.
 
POINT-ASSIST: Junior guard Kerri Moran was outstanding vs. Towson with career highs in points (18) and assists (10), with no turnovers, to post the Big Reds first point-assist double-double since Lauren Benson had 13 points and set a school record with 12 assists vs. Tennessee State on Nov. 21. 2009. 
 
10 ASSISTS CLUB: With her 10 assists vs. Towson, Kerri Moran became just the 11th player in Cornell history to have 10 assists in a single game. Those 11 players have accounted for 22 double-digit assist performances.  
 
PERFECT 10: Kerri Moran became the first player in Cornell history to post 10 assists, with zero turnovers, in a single game. On three previous occasions, Lauren Benson (12-1 vs. Tennessee State on Nov. 21, 2009), Kacee English (11-1 vs. Penn on Feb. 28, 1997) and Keri Farley (10-1 vs. Colgate on Dec. 6, 1994) had all posted 10+ assist performances with just one turnover.
 
RACE TO 1,000: With 941 career points through 64 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 16.8 points per game, which would have eclipse the mark in her 68th career game.
 
BIG NIGHT: Cornell's 88-point output vs. Towson was the most points scored in regulation by the Big Red since finishing with 92 vs. Tennessee State on Nov. 21. 2009. Cornell scored 90 points a year ago at Vermont in a double overtime contest.
 
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. At the time, she was 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 8.5 points and 6.9 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-145 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 8.9 steals per game, ranking second in the Ivy League and 124th in the nation … Nia Marshall ranks second in the conference and 61st in the country in steals per game (2.71).
 
MAY I ASSIST YOU: The Big Red is first in the conference and 40th in the country in assist/turnover ratio (1.12) … Cornell also ranks fourth in the Ivy League and 91st in the nation in assist per game (14.9). … Kerri Moran leads the Ivy League and ranks 46th nationally with a 2.40 assist/turnover ratio.  Moran also leads the conference and ranks 89th in the country with 4.5 assists 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 143 career coaching wins.
 
LOW PERCENTAGE SHOTS: Since the beginning of the 2012-13 season, Cornell has held 48 of its 91 opponents (53 percent) to below 40 percent shooting from the floor, including 4-of-8 opponents (50 percent) this season.
 
STARTING STREAK: Junior Nia Marshall has the longest starting streak on the team, standing at 37 games. Marshall had started every game of her freshman season, with the exception of the Big Red's Senior Day on March 1, 2014.
 
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.

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.
  
UP NEXT: The Big Red will head to California to take on No. 12/15 Stanford on Saturday, Dec. 19 and Cal State Fullerton on Monday, Dec. 21.