GAME INFORMATION
Game #17: Cornell vs. Harvard
Tip off: Friday, Jan. 29, at 7:00 p.m.
Site: Newman Arena (4,473) Ithaca, N.Y.
2015-16 Records: Cornell (10-6, 2-0 Ivy); Harvard (6-9, 1-1 Ivy)
Series Record: Harvard leads, 63-11
Last Meeting: Harvard won, 60-54 (Cambridge, Mass.) on 2/27/15
Live Stats: http://www.sidearmstats.com/cornell/wbball
Live Video: http://www.ivyleaguedigitalnetwork.com/cornell/schedule 
 
Game #18: Cornell vs. Dartmouth
Tip off: Saturday, Jan. 30, at 6:00 p.m.
Site: Newman Arena (4,473) Ithaca, N.Y.
2015-16 Records: Cornell (10-6, 2-0 Ivy); Dartmouth (6-12, 1-1 Ivy)
Series Record: Dartmouth leads, 55-18
Last Meeting: Dartmouth won, 54-35 (Hanover, N.H.) on 2/28/15
Live Stats: http://www.sidearmstats.com/cornell/wbball
Live Video: http://www.ivyleaguedigitalnetwork.com/cornell/schedule
Television: ESPN3
 
Game Notes (PDF)
 
THE MATCHUP: The Big Red continues its five-game home stand this weekend when it welcomes Harvard and Dartmouth to Newman Arena. Cornell will face the Crimson on Friday, Jan. 29 at 7 p.m., before taking on the Big Green on Saturday, Jan. 30 at 6 p.m. Both games will be broadcast live on the Ivy League Digital Network with the gave vs. Dartmouth being simulcast on ESPN 3 with Dave Kudgus and former first-team All-Ivy honoree Allyson DiMagno '14 on the call.
 
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 63-11, 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 15 contests to Harvard.
 
LAST TIME VS. THE CRIMSON: The Big Red dropped a 60-54 heartbreaker to Harvard ON Feb. 27, 2015 at Lavietes Pavilion. The game was tightly contested throughout until the Crimson used a 16-4 lead late in the second half to erase the Big Red's halftime lead and hold on for the victory. Cornell was led by Megan LeDuc's 13 points, all of which came in the second half, while Nicholle Aston finished with 10 points on a 4-of-6 performance from the floor. Aston also grabbed a team-high 10 rebounds for her seventh double-double of the season. Nia Marshall and Kerri Moran both chipped in nine pints with Marshall grabbing five rebounds and Moran handing out two assists. Harvard was led by Erin McDonnell and Kit Metoyer with 15 points apiece, while Temi Fagbenle registered an 11-point, 11-rebound double-double. Annmarie Healy also reached double figures (11 points) and grabbed nine rebounds as the Crimson held the 42-33 advantage on the boards. Cornell took a 27-23 lead into the intermission despite the Crimson shooting nearly 42 percent, to the Big Red's 34 percent. The home team also held the 19-17 edge in rebounding, but the Big Red's defense was tough on the floor, forcing Harvard into 10 first half turnovers with seven steals. Unfortunately for the Big Red, the Crimson cut down on its turnovers in the second half (five) and managed to hit 43.3 percent from the floor and 37.5 percent from beyond the arc, while holding Cornell to just 36.7 percent overall and a mere 15.4 percent from long range over the final 20 minutes. Cornell finished the game at 35.5 percent overall (22-62) and 22.7 percent from 3-point range (5-22), while the home team knocked down 42.6 percent overall (23-54) and 33.3 percent from beyond the arc (5-15).
  
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, 55-18, 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 9-7 lead over the past 16 meetings, with five of those games being decided by four or fewer points. The Big Red had a five-game winning streak, the longest by Cornell in the history of the series, ended last season at Leede Arena.
 
LAST TIME VS. THE BIG GREEN: The Big Red couldn't find its shooting touch and fell to Dartmouth, 54-35, on Feb. 28, 2015 at Leede Arena in Hanover, N.H. Cornell was led by Nia Marshall with 10 points, while Nicholle Aston scored 10 points and grabbed a team-high nine rebounds. Kerri Moran chipped in eight points, grabbed seven rebounds, handed out four assists and recorded three steals. Dartmouth was led by Lakin Roland's 17 points, while Fanni Szabo scored 16. On the boards, Tia Lawson grabbed nine rebounds, helping the Big Green to the 36-34 advantage. The Big Green got out to a hot start, shooting 41.7 percent overall (10-24) and a blazing 60 percent (6-10) from beyond the arc in the first half as it built a 28-19 halftime lead. Cornell, on the other hand, shot just 32.1 overall (9-28) and connected on just one trey (1-9) in the first 20 minutes, due in large part to an eight minute scoring drought through the middle of the first half. Dartmouth, which shot just 30 percent from 3-point range entering the game, knocked down 45 percent for the contest, hitting 9-of-20 treys. The Big Green finished at 38.5 percent for the game (20-52) after cooling in the second half. Unfortunately, Cornell couldn't capitalize as its shooting didn't improve over the final 20 minutes and the Big Red finished at 26.9 percent overall (14-52) and a mere 16.7 percent from long distance (3-18).   
 
STORY LINES:
• the Big Red enters the weekend on a three-game win streak, and has won four in a row at Newman Arena.
• Cornell enters the weekend with a 7-1 record at home, with its lone home loss of the season coming vs. Stony Brook (58-49) on Dec. 4.
• Head Coach Dayna Smith enters the weekend needing just one victory to reach 150 for her career.
• Cornell is looking to snap a 15-game losing streak to Harvard.
• The Big Red had a five-game winning streak vs. Dartmouth snapped last season.

RECAPPING COLUMBIA: For the second season in a row, the Big Red earned a sweep of Columbia, winning its fifth straight against the Lions, 84-73, on Jan. 23 at Newman Arena. The 84 points scored is the most by Cornell in the history of the series with Columbia, and the most scored by either team since an 83-70 victory by the Big Red during the 2006-07 season. 
 
ROOKIE OF THE WEEK NOTES:
• Caroline Shelquist was named the Ivy League Rookie of the Week on Jan. 25 after scoring a career-high 15 points on a 5-of-8 performance from 3-point range as the Big Red defeated Columbia, 84-73.
• It was the first Rookie of the Week award won by a Cornell player since Nia Marshall took home the honor on Feb. 10, 2014.
 
PLAYER OF THE WEEK NOTES:
• Megan LeDuc became the first Big Red player this season to be named the Ivy League Player of the Week (POW) when she took home the honor on Jan. 18 … She joins Nicholle Aston (1/26/15) as the only current Cornell player other than Nia Marshall to be named Ivy POW.
• Nia Marshall was named Ivy League 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).
 
SCHOOL RECORD IN SIGHT: Nia Marshall is on pace to break the school record for points in a single season (Mary LaMacchia – 467 in 1995-96). The junior forward, who averages 17.4 points per game, enters this weekend with 278 points on the season and needs to average just 15.8 points over the final 12 games to set the new standard … A year ago, Marshall fell just 13 points shy of breaking the school record, finishing the year with 455 points to rank third behind LaMacchia and Rhonda Anderson (462 in 1982-83).
 
WELL ROUNDED: Nia Marshall is just 41 rebounds shy of joining Clare Fitzpatrick '13 as just the second player in Cornell women's basketball history to record 1,000 points, 500 rebounds, 100 assists, 100 steals and 50 blocked shots in a career. Marshall, who is currently averaging 6.1 rebounds per game, is on pace to reach the mark during the Princeton/Penn weekend (Feb. 12-13).   
 
LOW PERCENTAGE SHOTS: So far this season, Cornell has held 10-of-16 opponents (63 percent) to below 40 percent shooting from the floor. Since the beginning of the 2012-13 season, the Big Red has held 54 of its 98 opponents (55 percent) to below 40 percent.
 
TIGHT LOSSES: So far this season, three of Cornell's six losses have come by nine or few points. A year ago, eight of the Big Red's 13 losses came by nine or fewer points.
 
HANDLE WITH CARE: The Big Red is second in the Ivy League and fifth in the nation in fewest turnovers (215) … Cornell ranks second in the conference and is 29th in the country with a 1.17 assist/turnover ratio … The Big Red is also second in the conference and 23rd in the nation in turnovers per game (13.4).
 
MAY I ASSIST YOU: Cornell ranks third in the Ivy League and 46tj in the nation in assists per game (15.7) … Kerri Moran leads the Ivy League and ranks 25th nationally with a 2.38 assist/turnover ratio ... Moran also leads the conference and ranks 69th in the country with 4.8 assists per game.
 
SCORES A LOT: Nia Marshall leads the Ivy League and ranks 74th in the nation in points per game (17.4).
 
I'LL TAKE THAT: The Big Red is averaging 7.8 steals per game.
 
CORNELL TOP 10: Junior Kerri Moran has moved into the top 10 in career assists (9th), while Nia Marshall has moved into the top 10 in career free throws made (10th), and career blocked shots (5th).
 
BIG RED COMEBACK: Cornell trailed Columbia by 17 points (30-13) early in the second half before coming back to defeat the Lions, 66-59, on Jan. 16. The comeback win was the second of the season, as the Big Red 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.
 
IVY OPENERS: Since Ivy League round robin play began in the 1982-83 season, Cornell has posted a 18-16 record in conference openers, thanks to its 66-59 victory over Columbia earlier this season. Head Coach Dayna Smith's record is 7-7 in the first game of Ancient Eight play. Cornell has faced the Lions more than any other team, opening the season against Columbia 17 times.

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 7.1 points and a team-high 6.8 rebounds per game.
 
40-MINUTE WOMEN:  Megan LeDuc has played at least 40 minutes in nine 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 fourth 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.
 
UP NEXT: The Big Red wraps up a five-game home stand when it welcomes Brown and Yale to Newman Arena, taking on the Bears on Friday, Feb. 5 at 7 p.m., before facing the Bulldogs on Saturday, Feb. 6 at 6:00 p.m.