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GAME INFORMATION
Game #21: Cornell vs. Dartmouth
Tipoff: Friday, Feb. 13, at 7:00 p.m.
Site: Newman Arena (4,473), Ithaca, N.Y.
2014-15 Records: Cornell (13-7, 4-2 Ivy); Dartmouth (10-10, 1-5 Ivy)
Series Record: Dartmouth leads, 54-17
Last Meeting: Cornell won, 63-50, on March 1, 2014 (Ithaca, N.Y.)
 
Game #22: Cornell vs. Harvard
Tipoff: Saturday, Feb. 14, at 6:00 p.m.
Site: Newman Arena (4,473), Ithaca, N.Y.
2014-15 Records: Cornell (13-7, 4-2 Ivy)*; Harvard (9-11, 2-4 Ivy) *
Series Record: Harvard leads, 61-11
Last Meeting: Harvard won, 70-66, on Feb. 28, 2014 (Ithaca, N.Y.)
 
THE MATCHUP: The Big Red women's basketball team will play its first home game in nearly a month when it welcomes Dartmouth and Harvard to Newman Arena this weekend.  Cornell (13-7, 4-2 Ivy) will take on the Big Green on Friday, Feb. 13 at 7 p.m., before taking on the Crimson on Saturday, Feb. 14 at 6 p.m.  
 
THE SERIES VS.DARTMOUTH: Cornell's rivalry with Dartmouth began in the 1976-77 season when the Big Red squeaked out a 50-49 victory, but the Big Green has dominated ever since. Dartmouth holds the advantage in the all-time series, 54-16, but had an 11-game winning streak ended during the 2007-08 season when the Big Red earned a 50-43 victory at Newman Arena. Since that time, the two teams have been fairly even, with Cornell holding the slight 9-6 lead over the past 15 meetings, with five of those games being decided by four or fewer points. The Big Red enters the game having won the last four outings vs. Dartmouth, which is the longest winning streak in the series for Cornell.
               
SCOUTING THE BIG GREEN: After stunning Harvard in its first Ivy League game of the season, Dartmouth has dropped five consecutive conference games to slip to 10-10 overall and 1-5 in the league.  Fanni Szabo leads the team with 17.6 points per game, while Lakin Roland is chipping in 13.3 points and a team-high 8.7 rebounds per game. The Big Green is holding opponents to just 60.0 points per game just .373 shooting from the field, but is struggling on offense, ranking last overall with 58.2 points per game.
 
LAST TIME VS. DARTMOUTH: Cornell seniors Allyson DiMagno and Stephanie Long combined for 39 points on 16-of-25 shooting to power the Big Red women's basketball team to a 63-50 victory over Dartmouth on March 1, 2014 in Newman Arena. All five seniors found the scoring column as the Big Red used a decisive 14-0 run to close the first half and open the second to roll to the Senior Night victory. DiMagno posted her fourth 20-point game of the season and eighth of her career to lead the Big Red, while Long had a season-high 19 points. DiMagno also finished with a team-high nine rebounds and Long handed out four assists. Classmates Joelle Davidson (six points), Aspen Chandler (three points, two assists) and Shelby Lyman (three points, four steals, three assists) were also instrumental to the Cornell victory. Freshman forward Nia Marshall went 3-for-3 for seven points and freshman guard Kerri Moran handed out eight assists, pulled down five rebounds and posted one steal. Dartmouth, who came into the game winners of two in a row, was led by Lakin Roland's 14-point, 11-rebound double-double. Milica Toskovic had nine points and Abbey Schmitt and Nicola Zimmer finished with eight points apiece. The Big Red shot 48 percent (25-of-54) overall and went 35 percent from 3-point range (6-of-17), while holding Dartmouth to 42 percent overall (19-of-45) and just 23 percent beyond the arc (3-of-13). The Big Green held the slim 29-28 edge in rebounds but had 21 turnovers to Cornell's 17. The game was played at a fairly slow pace early on and DiMagno carried the Big Red through the first 17 minutes of the game, scoring 15 of Cornell's first 20 points, including a layup off a beautiful pass from Long to make it 18-18 and spark the decisive 14-0 scoring run.
 
THE SERIES VS. HARVARD: The Big Red first played Harvard in the 1974-75 season with Cornell winning the contest, 36-20, but from there, the Crimson has controlled the series, leading the Big Red 61-11, including a perfect 33-0 in contests against Cornell played in Cambridge, Mass. The Big Red snapped a seven-game skid to the Crimson in the first meeting of the 2007-08 season with an 85-61 victory at Newman Arena, but have dropped the past 13 contests to Harvard
               
SCOUTING THE CRIMSON: Harvard snapped a three-game skid when it defeated Yale, 65-55, last weekend to improve to 9-11 overall and 2-4 in the Ivy League. The Crimson has a high-powered offense, led by Temi Fagbenle's 15.3 points and 10.5 rebounds per game, while Erin McDonnell (13.3) and Annmarie Healy (12.6) also average double-digits points per game. Harvard has struggled defensively, ranking last in the conference in scoring defense (71.0) and field goal percentage defense (.420).
 
LAST TIME VS. HARVARD:  Cornell senior Allyson DiMagno finished with a 10-pont, 14-rebound double-double to become just the 12th player in Ivy League women's basketball history, and first ever at Cornell, to reach 1,200 points and 900 rebounds in her career, but it wasn't enough as the Big Red fell to the Crimson, 70-66 on Feb. 28, 2014 in Newman Arena. Cornell jumped out to a 15-point lead early on and then nearly came all the way back from a 20-point deficit in the final eight minute s of the game but couldn't pull off the upset. Freshman forward Nia Marshall and senior guard Stephanie Long each finished with a team-high 13 points, while freshman forward Nicholle Aston tallied 10 points. Marshall also pulled down seven rebounds. Freshman point guard Kerri Moran handed out five assists and senior guard Aspen Chandler chipped in seven points and three assists. Harvard was led by Christine Clark's 18 points, while Temi Fagbenle and Elise Gordon finished with 12 and 11 points, respectively. Melissa Mullins had a team-high eight rebounds and both Fagbenle and Clark grabbed seven apiece to help the Crimson to the 44-36 advantage on the boards. The Crimson shot 43 percent overall (27-63) but just 21 percent from 3-point range (4-19), while Cornell hit 39 percent overall (23-59) and 31 percent beyond the arc (4-13). The Big Red harassed Harvard into 20 turnovers with 12 steals, six of which came in the first eight minutes of the game when the home team jumped out to a 23-8 lead.
 
GET A GRIP: Cornell turned the ball over just five times at Penn on Feb. 6, setting a school record for the fewest turnovers in a single game, besting the record of six which had previously been set twice before (at Penn in 2008; at Princeton on March 9, 1985).
 
40-MINUTE WOMEN:  
So far this season, Megan LeDuc has played at least 40 minutes in eight contests. Only Karen Walker, Kacee English and Lauren Benson have played more 40-minute games than LeDuc.
1) Kacee English – 27 games
2) Karen Walker – 17 games
3) Lauren Benson – 16 games
4) Megan LeDuc – 8 games
5) Yvonne Jones – 8 games
6) Allyson DiMagno – 6 games
7) Kim Ruck – 5 games
 
UNDEFEATED JANUARY: With its 65-52 victory at Brown on January 30, the Big Red went undefeated in the month of January for the first time in program history … Cornell  has had just one loss in January three times, all three of which came during Coach Smith's tenure.
 
GOING STREAKING: The Big Red's six-game winning streak from Dec. 30, 2014 to Jan. 30, 2015 was the longest since setting the school record with eight consecutive victories during the 2007-08 season.
 
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).
 
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 301-of-469 baskets (64.2 percent) … As of Feb. 10, the team ranks third in the Ivy League and 59th in the country in assists per game (15.1) … Three Cornell players – Megan Christine Kline (third), LeDuc (fourth), and Kerri Moran (sixth) – rank in the top 10 of the Ivy League in assists per game.
 
HANDLE WITH CARE: As of Feb. 10, Cornell is second in the conference and 71st in the country in assist to turnover ratio (0.98) … The team is also second in the conference and 66th in the country in turnover margin (2.95).
 
I'LL TAKE THAT:
• As of Feb. 10, the Big Red is averaging 9.4 steals per game, ranking second in the Ivy League and 74th 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 Feb. 10):
• Christine Kline ranks 48th in the nation in assist/turnover ratio (2.00), while Megan LeDuc (157th – 1.46) and Kerri Moran (217th – 1.18) also appear in the rankings.
• Christine Kline ranks 175th in the country with 3.6 assists per game, while Megan LeDuc is 192nd with 3.5 apg.
• Nicholle Aston currently ranks 49th in the nation with a .510 shooting percentage, while Nia Marshall sits at 109th overall (.468).
• Nia Marshall ranks 87th in the country in points per game (17.0) and 142nd in rebounds per contest (8.0).
• Nia Marshall ranks 59th in the nation with 2.40 steals per game, while Christine Kline sits 90th nationally with 2.25 steals per game.
 
IVY LEADERS: As of Feb. 10, several Big Red players are ranked among the Ivy League leaders this season, including:
*Nia Marshall – third in scoring (17.6ppg.)
*Nicholle Aston –13th in scoring (12.2 ppg.)
*Megan LeDuc – 20th in scoring (9.1 ppg.)
*Nia Marshall – fifth in rebounding (8.0 rpg.)
*Nicholle Aston – seventh  in rebounding (7.2 rpg.)
*Nicholle Aston – third in field goal percentage (.510)
*Nia Marshall – seventh in field goal percentage (.468)
*Christine Kline – third in assists per game (3.6 apg.)
*Megan LeDuc – fourth in assists per game (3.5 apg.)
*Kerri Moran – sixth in assists per game (3.3 apg.)
*Nia Marshall – 12th in free throw percentage (.667)
*Christine Kline –13th in free throw percentage (.632)
*Nia Marshall – first in steals (2.4 spg.)
*Christine Kline – second in steals (2.3 spg.)
*Megan LeDuc – ninth in steals (1.6 spg.)
*Megan LeDuc – 12th in 3-point FG percentage (.309)
*Megan LeDuc – 10th in 3-point FGM (1.5 per game)
*Nia Marshall – 15th in blocked shots (0.7)
*Christine Kline – first in assist/turnover ratio (2.0)
*Megan LeDuc – fifth in assist/turnover ratio (1.5)
*Kerri Moran – sixth in assist/turnover ratio (1.2)
*Nicholle Aston – fourth in offensive rebs. (2.7 per game)
*Nia Marshall – 14th in offensive rebs. (1.8 per game)
*Nia Marshall – fourth in defensive rebs. (6.2 per game)
*Nicholle Aston – ninth in defensive rebs. (4.5 per game)
*Megan LeDuc – first in minutes played (36.5 per game)
*Nia Marshall – fourth in minutes played (34.7 per game
*Christine Kline – seventh in minutes played (32.9 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 137 career coaching wins.
 
TIGHT LOSSES: Five of the Big Red's seven losses this season have come by nine or few points.
 
TOUGH D: Cornell has held 6-of-20 opponents this season to less than 50 points, a feat it accomplished just three times all of last season … As of Feb. 10, the Big Red ranks 66th in the nation in scoring defense, allowing just 59.0 points per game.
 
LOW PERCENTAGE SHOTS: Since the beginning of the 2012-13 season, Cornell held 40 of its 75 opponents (53 percent) to below 40 percent shooting from the floor, including 12-of-20 opponents (60 percent) so far this season.
 
CLOSE CALLS: Since the beginning of the 2010-11 season, the Big Red has had 47-of-131 games (36 percent) decided by eight points or fewer. In those games, Cornell has posted a 24-23 record (.511).
 
STARTING STREAK: With the graduation of Allyson DiMagno, sophomore Nia Marshall has the longest starting streak on the team, standing at just 22 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 32.9 minutes per game, while Aston has gone from 11.3 to 31.5 minutes per game, and LeDuc has gone from 11.5 to 36.5 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 remains at home for a pair of games vs. Yale and Brown on at Newman Arena on Friday, Feb. 20 and Saturday, Feb. 21, respectively. The game against the Bulldogs will tip-off at 7 p.m., while the team's Play 4 Kay game vs. the Bears is slated to begin at 6 p.m.