GAME INFORMATION
Game #8: Cornell vs. Drexel
Tipoff: Saturday, Dec. 3, at 1:00 p.m.
Site: Newman Arena (4,473), Ithaca, N.Y.
2016-17 Records: Cornell (5-2, 0-0 Ivy); Drexel (3-2, 0-0 CAA)
Series Record: Drexel leads, 6-0
Last Meeting: Drexel won, 62-53, on Nov. 16, 2014 (Philadelphia, Pa.)
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Game Notes (PDF)
 
THE MATCHUP: The Big Red women's basketball team returns home this weekend to play its final game before embarking on the University's two-week study break, as it welcomes Drexel to Newman Arena on Saturday, Dec. 3 at 1 p.m. Cornell is coming off a two-game road weekend in which it split a pair of games, falling to Pitt before defeating Saint Francis (Pa.) to improve to 5-2 on the season. After upsetting No. 11/14 Syracuse on Nov. 21, the Dragons fell to Bucknell in its last outing to slip to 3-2 on the year. 
               
THE SERIES VS. DREXEL: The Dragons are a perfect 6-0 in the series with Cornell. The series began during the 1982-83 campaign, a 63-58 decision, and the squads last played during the 2014-15 season, when Drexel earned the 62-53 victory in Philadelphia.
 
LAST TIME VS. THE DRAGONS:  The Big Red used a furious comeback in the second half, but couldn't regroup from a 36-23 halftime deficit as it fell to Drexel, 62-53, on Nov. 16, 2014 at the Daskalakis Athletic Center in Philadelphia.  Cornell (0-2) was led by sophomore forward Nia Marshall with 13 points, while sophomore guard Megan LeDuc finished with a career-high 12 points. LeDuc also matched a career-high with eight assists. Sophomore forward Nicholle Aston registered five points to go along with a career-high 10 rebounds, helping the Big Red to a 39-31 advantage on the boards. Christine Kline also chipped in 10 points as the only other Cornell player in double-figures. Drexel (1-0) was led by Sarah Curran with 12 points, while Jamila Thompson and Meghan Creighton finished with 11 points apiece. Creighton also handed out five assists, while Rachel Pearson had a team-high five rebounds. The game was a tale of two halves, as the Dragons shot a blistering 46.2 percent from the floor, 36.4 percent from 3-point range and was nearly perfect from the free throw line (8-9) in the first half, to get out to a 36-23 lead at the intermission. Cornell shot 34.8 percent from the floor and 30.8 from beyond the arc in the first stanza. In the second half, the roles were reversed as the Big Red hit five of its first seven shots and connected on 47.8 percent from the floor and 42.9 percent from 3-point range to close the gap on Drexel. The Big Red also stepped up on defense, holding the Dragons to 29.7 percent from the floor and just 12.5 percent from deep. For the game, Cornell finished at 41.3 percent overall (19-46) and 25.0 percent from beyond the arc (6-24), while holding Drexel to 37.7 percent from the floor (20-53) and 26.3 percent from 3-point range (5-19). The Dragons used a 10-2 run late in the first half to open up a double-digit lead at 29-19 with 3:35 on the clock. A trey from the corner by Kline temporarily halted the run, but Creighton answered right back with a 3-pointer from the top of the arc and the Dragons extended their lead to 36-23 at the intermission. Cornell executed its offense and used some outstanding transition play in the opening moments of the second half to cut into the Drexel lead, using a 7-1 scoring run that included four points from Maddie Campbell to get back within single digits, 38-30, at the first media timeout. The Big Red continued to click on offense and used tough defense and timely rebounds to make it a four-point contests twice down the stretch, but a layup from Thompson and an elbow jumper by Megan Marecic on consecutive Drexel plays pushed the home teams lead to 58-50 with 56 seconds to play. From there, Cornell was forced to foul and the home team made its free throws to account for the 62-53 final.
 
SCOUTING DREXEL: The Dragons are off to a 3-2 start, including a 62-61 upset of No. 11/14 Syracuse on Nov. 21. Drexel is a perfect 3-0 at Daskalakis Athletic Center, but has yet to win a game on the road. The Dragons, who have finished in second place and earned the CAA's automatic bid to the WNIT in each of the last two seasons, bring back first-team All-CAA performer Sarah Curran to highlight three returning starters. Curran leads the team with 16.8 points per game, while senior guard Jessica Pellechio is averaging 14.8 per contests. Junior forward Kelsi Lidge has a team-best 4.6 rebounds per game and senior guard Meghan Creighton is handing out 5.4 assists per contest.
 
CORNELL VS. COLONIAL ATHLETIC ASSOCIATION:  Cornell has a 4-14 all-time record against the current members of the Colonial Athletic Association with victories coming against Hofstra (1-3), James Madison (1-1), Towson (1-1), and William & Mary (1-1). The Big Red has also faced Drexel (0-6), Northeastern (0-2), but has never played the College of Charleston, Delaware, Elon, UNC of Wilmington in women's basketball ... Coach Smith is 3-7 all-time against CCA with victories against JMU and William & Mary.
 
A WIN WOULD:
• give the Big Red its first ever win over Drexel in women's basketball.
• improve Cornell to 6-2 this season.
• make the Big Red a perfect 4-0 this season in Newman Arena.
• improve Cornell to 5-14 all-time vs. the CAA and make head coach Dayna Smith 4-7.
• even the Big Red's record against the CAA this season at 1-1.
 
COACHING TENURE: Head coach Dayna Smith, in her 15th 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.
 
HOLDING THE LEAD: The Big Red has won 12 straight contests when leading at the half, dating back to a loss to Harvard on Feb. 27, 2015. Cornell was a perfect 9-0 last season and is 3-0 so far this season when leading at the half.  
 
SCHOOL RECORD IN SIGHT: Nia Marshall enters the week with 1,332 career points. She needs just 283 to break the school record, currently held by Karen Walker (1987-91).
 
CORNELL CAREER TOP 10:
Nia Marshall
Points (third – 1,368)
Field goals made (third – 515)
Free throws made (fourth – 333)
Blocked shots (fourth – 84)
Defensive rebounds (fifth – 405)
Steals (sixth – 173)
Starts (seventh – 90)
Kerri Moran 
Assists (fifth – 340)
Megan LeDuc
Assists (seventh – 274)
 
TEAM NCAA RANKINGS: As of Wednesday, Nov. 30, the Big Red ranks among the top 100 in the nation in …
• Assists – 35th (105)
• Free throws attempts – 27th (142)
• Free throws made – 39th (95)
• Rebounds – 71st (263)
• Scoring defense – 85th (59.1)
• Steals – 48th (64)
• 3-point field goal defense – 57th (26.1)
• 3-point field goal percentage – 61st (.360)
• Turnovers forced – 93rd (19.14)
 
INDIVIDUAL NCAA RANKGINGS: Here's how Cornell players stack up nationwide as of Wednesday, Nov. 30 …
Nia Marshall
• Points – 70th (89)
• Free throws made – 18th (33)
• Rebounds – 147th (48)
• Steals – 104th (14)
• Steals per game – 197th (2.00)
• Minutes played – 114th (216:00)
Megan LeDuc
• Assists – 87th (27)
• Assists per game – 168th (3.9)
• Steals – 104th (14)
• Steals per game – 197th (2.00)
• 3-point field goals made – 57th (16)
• 3-point field goals per game – 135th (2.29)
• 3-point field goal percentage – 64th (45.7)
• Minutes played – 52nd (234:00)
• Minutes per game – 149th (34:00)
Kerri Moran
• Assist/Turnover Ratio – 107th (2.00)
• Assists – 30th (36)
• Assists per game – 57th (5.1)
• Steals – 140th (13)
• Minutes played – 44th (236:00)
 
TOP 10 ASSISTS:  Arguably the best backcourt duo in Cornell history, Kerri Moran and Megan LeDuc enter the week ranked fifth and 10th, respectively, in career assists. They are just the third pair of four-year teammates in Ivy League history to finish in the top 10 of their team's assist record list. The other Ivy duos are Brown's Julie Amato and Vita Redding (1995-99) and Dartmouth's Ashley Taylor and Fatima Kamara (2003-07).  
 
10 ASSISTS CLUB: Kerri Moran and Megan LeDuc are the 11th and 12th players, respectively in Cornell history to have 10 assists in a single game, with Moran doing so vs. Towson on Dec. 2, 2015 and LeDuc doing so vs. Penn on Feb. 26, 2016 and vs. New Hampshire on Nov. 11, 2016. In total, 12 Big Red players have accounted for 24 double-digit assist performances in Cornell history.  
 
WELL ROUNDED: Nia Marshall is the only player in Cornell women's basketball history to record 1,300 points, 500 rebounds, 100 assists, 100 steals and 50 blocked shots in a career.  
 
LOW PERCENTAGE SHOTS: Since the beginning of the 2012-13 season, the Big Red has held 63 of its 113 opponents (56 percent) to below 40 percent, including 4-of-7 games so far this season.
 
THE 400-POINT CLUB: In each of the past two seasons, Nia Marshall scored more than 400 points, becoming just the third player in Cornell history to do it twice in a career – joining Karen Walker (1989-90, 1990-91) and Keri Farley (1994-95, 1992-93). Her 464 points in 2015-16 ranks second overall in Cornell women's basketball history, while her 455 points in 2014-15 is good for fourth overall.
 
ROOKIE OF THE WEEK NOTES:
• Samantha Widmann was named the Ivy League Rookie of the Week on Nov. 14 after scoring 14 points to help the Big Red comeback to defeat Loyola, 58-50.
• Caroline Shelquist was one of just eight Cornell women's basketball players to win Rookie of the Week honors twice in a career.
• Last season, Shelquist became the Big Red's first repeat Rookie of the Week winner since Nia Marshall took home the award on Feb. 3 and Feb. 10, 2014.
 
150 WINS AND COUNTING: Head Coach Dayna Smith is the winningest coach in Cornell history, and reached the 150-win mark for her career with the team's overtime victory vs. Dartmouth on Jan. 30, 2016. She currently stands at 158 career victories.
 
1,000-POINT CLUB: With a 31-point performance vs. Binghamton on Dec. 30, 2015, Nia Marshall became the 14th 1,000-point scorer in Cornell women's basketball history.
 
40-MINUTE WOMEN:  Megan LeDuc has played at least 40 minutes in 10 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.
 
CLOSE CALLS: Since the beginning of the 2010-11 season, the Big Red has had 61-of-168 games (36 percent) decided by eight points or fewer. In those games, Cornell has posted a 32-31 record (.508).
 
STARTING STREAK: Senior Nia Marshall has the longest starting streak on the team, standing at 65 games. Marshall has started every game of her career, with the exception of the Big Red's Senior Day on March 1, 2014.
 
UP NEXT: The Big Red will enjoy a two-week exam break before heading to Ohio to take on Youngstown State on Saturday, Dec. 17 at noon.