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GAME INFORMATION
Game #19: Cornell at Penn
Tipoff: Friday, Feb. 6, at 7:00 p.m.
Site: The Palestra (8,772), Philadelphia, Pa.
2014-15 Records: Cornell (12-6, 3-1 Ivy); Brown (11-6, 2-1 Ivy)
Series Record: Penn leads, 52-19
Last Meeting: Penn won, 50-43, on March 8, 2014 (Philadelphia, Pa.)
 
Game #20: Cornell at No. 18 Princeton
Tipoff: Saturday, Feb. 7, at 6:00 p.m.
Site: Jadwin Gym (6,854), Princeton, N.J.
2014-15 Records: Cornell (12-6, 3-1 Ivy)*; Princeton (19-0, 3-0 Ivy) *
Series Record: Princeton leads, 48-20
Last Meeting: Princeton won, 69-46, on Mach 7, 2014 (Princeton, N.J.)
 
THE MATCHUP: The Big Red women's basketball team will wrap up a five game road swing when it takes on Penn and No. 18 Princeton this weekend. Cornell (12-6, 3-1 Ivy) will take on the Quakers in front of a nationwide audience on ESPN3 on Friday, Feb. 6 at 7 p.m. The Big Red will then face its toughest test of the season vs. Ivy League leading Tigers on Saturday, Feb. 7 at 6 p.m.  
 
THE SERIES VS. PENN: Cornell's rivalry with the Quakers began during the 1974-75 season and the two teams have met every year since, excluding the 1977-78 and 1978-79 seasons. The Quakers hold the all-time series record, 52-19, but the Big Red has won 10 of the last 18 meetings. Coach Smith, who served as an assistant coach for Penn from 1999-2002, holds a 10-14 record vs. her old squad.
               
LAST TIME VS. THE QUAKERS: Senior Allyson DiMagno became Cornell's all-time career rebounding leader, grabbing 12 boards in her final collegiate game to finish with 938 and edge out Patti Froehlich (931; 1985-85) and a record that had stood for 24 years. DiMagno also tallied 14 points for her 10th double-double of the season (31st career) to lead Cornell, but it wasn't enough as Penn pulled away in the second half for the 50-43 victory. Freshman forward Nia Marshall also recorded 14 points, while senior guard Stephanie Long tallied 12. Marshall filled out the stat line with six rebounds, four blocked shots, three assists and two steals. Senior guard Shelby Lyman was the only other Big Red player to score, finishing with three points and four rebounds. Sydney Stipanovich was the only Penn player to score in double-digits (13 points), while Kara Bonenberger chipped in nine. Senior Alyssa Baron was held well-below her season average of 14.6 points per game, as she finished with five points, but she was still a force on the court with a team-high eight rebounds and five assists.  After a hot start, Cornell ended up shooting just 26 percent for the game (16-62), while the Quakers finished at 40 percent for the game (19-48). Neither team had much success from beyond the arc with the Big Red hitting a mere 19 percent (3-16) and Penn shooting 18 percent (2-11). The home team held the slim edge in rebounds (39-38), and had 19 turnovers to Cornell's 15. Both team's offenses moved the ball extremely well with Penn assisting on 14-of-19 baskets, while the Big Red assisted on 12 –of-16.
 
THE SERIES VS. PRINCETON: The Tigers hold a 48-20 edge in the series with the Big Red. The series began in 1974-75 with a 51-33 Princeton victory, but the teams wouldn't meet again until the 1979-80 season. The schools have met every year since 1979-80, and the Tigers have won the last 12 outings. Coach Dayna Smith is 7-18 vs. Princeton.
               
LAST TIME VS. THE TIGERS:  The Big Red ran into a hot-shooting Princeton team and finished with its second lowest scoring output of the season as it fell to the Tigers, 69-46, in Jadwin Gym. Allyson DiMagno saw limited playing time due to early foul trouble but still finished with a team-high 13 points and six rebounds. Freshman forward Nicholle Aston came in off the bench and finished with nine points and six rebounds, while Kerri Moran chipped in seven points and handed out three assists. Princeton was led by Alex Wheatley and Nichole Hung, who finished with 14 and 12 points, respectively. Altogether, 10 Tigers found the scoring column as the home team's bench outscored Cornell's 32-17. Princeton also used its considerable size advantage to hold a 48-34 edge in rebounds and outscore the visitors, 38-14, in the paint. Despite hitting 40 percent from the floor in the second half, Cornell couldn't overcome its slow start and finished the game at 32 percent overall. The Tigers, on the other hand, had nearly identical marks of 39 percent in the first and 41 percent in the second half to control the game. Princeton also shot 41 percent beyond the arc, while holding the Big Red without a 3-point basket.
 
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 13th 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 (33rd 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 283-of-424 baskets (66.7 percent) … As of Feb. 3, the team ranks second in the Ivy League and 40th in the country in assists per game (15.7) … Three Cornell players – Megan Christine Kline (third), LeDuc (fourth), and Kerri Moran (seventh) – rank in the top 10 of the Ivy League in assists per game.
 
HANDLE WITH CARE: As of Feb. 3, Cornell is second in the conference and 74th in the country in assist to turnover ratio (0.98) … The team is also third in the conference and 83rd in the country in turnover margin (2.56).
 
I'LL TAKE THAT:
• As of Feb. 3, the Big Red is averaging 9.3 steals per game, ranking second in the Ivy League and 78th 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. 3):
• Christine Kline ranks 34th in the nation in assist/turnover ratio (2.19), while Megan LeDuc (162nd – 1.44) and Kerri Moran (242nd – 1.11) also appear in the rankings.
• Christine Kline ranks 138th in the country with 3.9 assists per game, while Megan LeDuc is 175th with 3.6 apg.
• Nicholle Aston currently ranks 38th in the nation with a .525 shooting percentage, while Nia Marshall sits at 96th overall (.484).
• Nia Marshall ranks 71st in the country in points per game (17.3) and 131st in rebounds per contest (8.1).
• Nia Marshall ranks 56th in the nation with 2.44 steals per game, while Christine Kline sits 108th nationally with 2.17 steals per game.
 
IVY LEADERS: As of Feb. 3, several Big Red players are ranked among the Ivy League leaders this season, including:
*Nia Marshall – second in scoring (17.3ppg.)
*Nicholle Aston –13th in scoring (11.9 ppg.)
*Megan LeDuc – 18th in scoring (9.3 ppg.)
*Nia Marshall – fifth in rebounding (8.1 rpg.)
*Nicholle Aston – eighth in rebounding (7.0 rpg.)
*Nicholle Aston – second in field goal percentage (.525)
*Nia Marshall – fifth in field goal percentage (.484)
*Christine Kline – third in assists per game (3.9 apg.)
*Megan LeDuc – fourth in assists per game (3.6 apg.)
*Kerri Moran – seventh in assists per game (3.3 apg.)
*Nia Marshall – 14th in free throw percentage (.676)
*Christine Kline –15th in free throw percentage (.655)
*Nia Marshall – first in steals (2.4 spg.)
*Christine Kline – second in steals (2.2 spg.)
*Megan LeDuc – 10th in steals (1.5 spg.)
*Megan LeDuc – 11th in 3-point FG percentage (.322)
*Megan LeDuc – 10th in 3-point FGM (1.6 per game)
*Nia Marshall – 14th in blocked shots (0.6)
*Christine Kline – first in assist/turnover ratio (2.2)
*Megan LeDuc – fifth in assist/turnover ratio (1.4)
*Kerri Moran – seventh in assist/turnover ratio (1.1)
*Nicholle Aston – fourth in offensive rebs. (2.6 per game)
*Nia Marshall – eighth in offensive rebs. (1.9 per game)
*Nia Marshall – fourth in defensive rebs. (6.2 per game)
*Nicholle Aston – 11th in defensive rebs. (4.4 per game)
*Megan LeDuc – second in minutes played (36.1 per game)
*Nia Marshall – fourth in minutes played (34.5 per game
*Christine Kline – seventh in minutes played (33.3 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 136 career coaching wins.
 
TIGHT LOSSES: Five of the Big Red's six losses this season have come by nine or few points.
 
TOUGH D: Cornell has held 5-of-18 opponents this season to less than 50 points, a feat it accomplished just three times all of last season … As of Feb. 3, the Big Red ranks 59th in the nation in scoring defense, allowing just 58.6 points per game.
 
LOW PERCENTAGE SHOTS: Since the beginning of the 2012-13 season, Cornell held 39 of its 74 opponents (53 percent) to below 40 percent shooting from the floor, including 11-of-18 opponents (61 percent) so far this season.
 
CLOSE CALLS: Since the beginning of the 2010-11 season, the Big Red has had 47-of-129 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 20 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 33.3 minutes per game, while Aston has gone from 11.3 to 30.9 minutes per game, and LeDuc has gone from 11.5 to 36.1 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). 
 
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.

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 (24th, 3.394). The University of Missouri-Kansas City led the way with a 3.628 grade point average.
 
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.
 
UP NEXT: The Big Red will open up a four-game home stand when it welcomes Dartmouth and Harvard to Newman Arena on Friday, Feb. 13 and Saturday, Feb. 14, respectively. The game against the Big Green will tip-off at 7 p.m., while the game vs. the Crimsons is slated to begin at 6 p.m.