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GAME INFORMATION
Game #25: Cornell at Harvard
Tipoff: Friday, Feb. 27, at 7:00 p.m.
Site: Lavietes Pavilion (2,195), Cambridge, Mass.
2014-15 Records: Cornell (15-9, 6-4 Ivy); Harvard (10-14, 3-7 Ivy)
Series Record: Harvard leads, 62-11
Last Meeting: Harvard won, 61-57, on Feb. 14, 2015 (Ithaca, N.Y.)
 
Game #26: Cornell at Dartmouth
Tipoff: Saturday, Feb. 28, at 6:00 p.m.
Site: Leede Arena (2,100), Hanover, N.H.
2014-15 Records: Cornell (15-9, 6-4 Ivy)*; Dartmouth (11-13, 2-8 Ivy) *
Series Record: Dartmouth leads, 54-18
Last Meeting: Cornell won, 66-46, on Feb.. 13, 2015 (Ithaca, N.Y.)
 
THE MATCHUP: The Big Red women's basketball team will play its final Ivy road games of the season when it travels to Harvard and Dartmouth this weekend. Cornell enters the weekend with an Ivy record of 6-4 and needs just one win to post its most conference victories since the 2007-08 squad won the Ancient Eight title with a record of 11-3. The Big Red sits in a tie for third place in the Ivy League standings and will look to solidify its position prior to a final weekend showdown with the top two teams in the conference – No. 14 Princeton and Penn. The Big Red is out to avenge a slim 61-57 loss to Harvard and snap its current 14-game skid to the Crimson on Friday, Feb. 27, at 7:00 p.m. The following evening at 6 p.m., Cornell will attempt to sweep the Big Green in three consecutive seasons for the first time in the history of the series.
 
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 62-11, 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 14 contests to Harvard.
               
LAST TIME VS. THE CRIMSON: The Big Red erased an early deficit and carried the lead for the majority of the second half before watching Harvard use a decisive 13-1 run to take a slim lead it would not relinquish en route to a 61-57 victory this afternoon at Newman Arena. Cornell was led by Nia Marshall's 27-point, 10-rebound double-double, while Nicholle Aston and Megan LeDuc finished with 10 points apiece. Aston also added seven rebounds, while LeDuc handed out five assists. Sophomore guard Taylor DePalma also matched a career-high with six points, all of which came during the Big Red's first half comeback. Harvard was led by Erin McDonnell and Kit Metoyer with 17 and 12 points, respectively, while Annmarie Healy grabbed a team-high eight rebounds. The Crimson held the slim edge in rebounds, 38-36, but had one more turnover than Cornell (14-13). Harvard also shot just a little bit better from the floor, connecting on 37.7 percent from the game, including a mark of 45.5 percent during the decisive second half. Cornell connected on 33.3 percent overall and 23.5 percent from beyond the arc.
 
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, 54-17, 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 10-6 lead over the past 16 meetings, with five of those games being decided by four or fewer points. The Big Red enters the game having won the last five outings vs. Dartmouth, which is the longest winning streak in the series for Cornell.
               
LAST TIME VS. THE BIG GREEN: The Big Red connected on its first five shots of the contest to jump out to a 12-0 lead and never looked back as it defeated Dartmouth, 66-46, in Newman Arena. Nia Marshall was outstanding, scoring 24 points in just 26 minutes on 8-of-12 shooting from the floor and an 8-of-9 performance from the foul line. Nicholle Aston connected on 6-of-9 from the field to tally 13 points and Kerri Moran also finished in double-figures with 11 points. Both Marshall and Aston collected a team-high seven rebounds, while Sarah Poland grabbed a career-high six boards, as Cornell outrebounded the Big Green, 43-34. The Big Red assisted on 18-of-23 baskets with Moran, Megan LeDuc and Christine Kline handing out four helpers apiece. Cornell shot a blistering 61.9 percent in the first half to build a 39-24 lead at the intermission. After getting out to the quick 12-0 advantage at the 17:21 mark, Dartmouth made it a single-digit lead (13-4 and 16-8) twice over the next three minutes but a jumper by Marshall put Cornell up 18-8 and the home team led by double-digits the rest of the way.
 
SEEKING SEVEN WINS: The Big Red enters the weekend with six Ivy League wins, needing just one more victory in its final four games to post the most conference wins since the 2007-08 season.
 
THE 400-POINT CLUB: With her 25 points last weekend, Nia Marshall became just the 12^th player in Cornell women's basketball history to score 400 points in a single season and the first since Allyson DiMagno registered 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.
 
SCHOOL RECORD IN SIGHT:  Nia Marshall is on pace to break the school record for points scored in a single season. The sophomore forward enters the weekend averaging 17.3 points per game. With her 415 points so far, she is just 52 points shy of the record and would need to average 13 points per game over the final four games of the season to set the new standard.
 
MOVING ON UP: 
*Nia Marshall enters the weekend ranked seventh overall in Cornell history for points in a single season (415) and needs just 31 more to surpass Karen Walker, who scored 445 points during the 1990-91 season.  
*Nia Marshall enters the weekend ranked 15th overall in Cornell history for free throws made in a single season (98) and needs just seven more makes to leap into the top 10.
*Nia Marshall enters the weekend ranked eighth overall in Cornell history with 137 defensive rebounds, needing just six more to tie Allyson DiMagno (2011-12) and Clare Fitzpartick (2011-12) for fifth place overall.
*Nicholle Aston enters the weekend ranked 17th overall in Cornell history with 113 defensive rebounds, needing just eight more to tie Do Stevens (1998-99-12) in 16h place overall.
*Nicholle Aston enters the weekend ranked 15th overall in Cornell history with 62 offensive rebounds, needing just eight more to tie Allyson DiMagno (2010-11) in 10^th place.
*Nia Marshall enters the weekend ranked eighth overall in Cornell history with 137 defensive rebounds, needing just six more to tie Allyson DiMagno (2011-12) and Clare Fitzpartick (2011-12) for fifth place overall.
*Nia Marshall enters the weekend ranked 10th overall in Cornell history with 53 steals, needing just seven more to jump into the top five and tie Kacee English (1996-97).
*Christine Kline enters the weekend ranked 16th overall in Cornell history with 50 steals, needing just three more to jump into the top 10.
 
 TIGHT LOSSES: Seven of the Big Red's nine losses this season have come by nine or few points.
 
TOUGH D: Cornell has held eight opponents this season to less than 50 points, the most since the 1978-79 team held 10 opponents to fewer than 50 points … As of Feb. 25, the Big Red ranks 42nd in the nation in scoring defense, allowing just 57.5 points per game.
 
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
 
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.
 
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 368-of-553 baskets (66.5 percent) … As of Feb. 25, the team ranks second in the Ivy League and 49th in the country in assists per game (15.3) … Three Cornell players – Megan LeDuc (fourth), Christine Kline (fifth), and Kerri Moran (sixth) – rank in the top 10 of the Ivy League in assists per game.
 
HANDLE WITH CARE: As of Feb. 25, Cornell is second in the conference and 65th in the country in assist to turnover ratio (1.00) … The team is also third in the conference and 91st in the country in turnover margin (2.08).
 
I'LL TAKE THAT:
• As of Feb. 25, the Big Red is averaging 8.6 steals per game, ranking third in the Ivy League and 111th in the nation.
 
INDIVIDUAL EFFORT (as of Feb. 25):
• Christine Kline ranks 56th in the nation in assist/turnover ratio (1.98), while Megan LeDuc (166th – 1.40) and Kerri Moran (235th – 1.11) also appear in the rankings.
• Megan LeDuc ranks 188th in the country with 3.5 assists per game, while Christine Kline is 197th with 3.5 apg.
• Nicholle Aston currently ranks 36th in the nation with a .520 shooting percentage, while Nia Marshall sits at 92nd overall (.476).
• Nia Marshall ranks 75^th in the country in points per game (17.3) and 164th in rebounds per contest (7.7).
• Nia Marshall ranks 92nd in the nation with 2.21 steals per game, while Christine Kline sits 121st nationally with 2.08 steals per game.
 
IVY LEADERS: As of Feb. 25, several Big Red players are ranked among the Ivy League leaders this season, including:
*Nia Marshall – first in scoring (17.3ppg.)
*Nicholle Aston –12th in scoring (12.0 ppg.)
*Nia Marshall – fifth in rebounding (7.7 rpg.)
*Nicholle Aston – seventh in rebounding (7.3 rpg.)
*Nicholle Aston – second in field goal percentage (.520)
*Nia Marshall – sixth in field goal percentage (.476)
*Megan LeDuc – fourth in assists per game (3.5 apg.)
*Christine Kline – fifth in assists per game (3.5 apg.)
*Kerri Moran – sixth in assists per game (3.4 apg.)
*Nia Marshall – 10th in free throw percentage (.681)
*Nia Marshall – first in steals (2.2 spg.)
*Christine Kline – third in steals (2.1 spg.)
*Megan LeDuc – 12th in steals (1.4 spg.)
*Megan LeDuc – 11th in 3-point FG percentage (.302)
*Megan LeDuc – ninth in 3-point FGM (1.5 per game)
*Christine Kline – first in assist/turnover ratio (2.0)
*Megan LeDuc – fifth in assist/turnover ratio (1.4)
*Kerri Moran – sixth in assist/turnover ratio (1.1)
*Nicholle Aston – fourth in offensive rebs. (2.6 per game)
*Nia Marshall – 10th in offensive rebs. (2.0 per game)
*Nia Marshall – fourth in defensive rebs. (5.7 per game)
*Nicholle Aston – seventh in defensive rebs. (4.7 per game)
*Megan LeDuc – first in minutes played (36.0 per game)
*Nia Marshall – fourth in minutes played (34.2 per game
*Christine Kline – ninth in minutes played (32.2 per game)
 
PLAYER OF THE WEEK NOTES:
• Nia Marshall has been named Ivy League Player of the Week (POW) four times this 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 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 three of those four weeks (Dec. 22, Dec. 29, Jan. 12), she 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 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; 3 POW).
• Nicholle Aston earned her first Ivy 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.
 
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 139 career coaching wins.
 
LOW PERCENTAGE SHOTS: Since the beginning of the 2012-13 season, Cornell held 43 of its 79 opponents (54 percent) to below 40 percent shooting from the floor, including 15-of-24 opponents (63 percent) so far this season.
 
CLOSE CALLS: Since the beginning of the 2010-11 season, the Big Red has had 49-of-134 games (37 percent) decided by eight points or fewer. In those games, Cornell has posted a 24-25 record (.489).
 
STARTING STREAK: With the graduation of Allyson DiMagno, sophomore Nia Marshall has the longest starting streak on the team, standing at just 26 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.
 
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 32.2 minutes per game, while Aston has gone from 11.3 to 31.1 minutes per game, and LeDuc has gone from 11.5 to 36.0 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.
 
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.
 
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).
 
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).
 
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.
 
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 will play its final home Ivy League games of the season when it welcomes No. 14 Princeton and Penn on Friday, March 6 and Saturday, March 7, respectively. The game against the Tigers will tip-off at 7 p.m., while the game vs. the Quakers is slated to begin at 6 p.m.  Cornell will celebrate its Senior Night on Saturday, as the team honors Christine Kline and Sarah Poland prior to the game with Penn.