GAME INFORMATION
Game #12: Cornell at Binghamton
Tipoff: Sunday, Jan. 1, at 2:00 p.m.
Site: Events Center (4,400), Binghamton, N.Y.
2016-17 Records: Cornell (7-4, 0-0 Ivy); Binghamton (5-7, 0-0 America East)
Series Record: Binghamton leads, 8-7
Last Meeting: Cornell won, 64-57, on Dec. 30, 2015 (Ithaca, N.Y.)
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Game Notes (PDF)
 
THE MATCHUP: The Big Red women's basketball team opens the 2017 portion of its schedule when it travels down I-81 to take on Binghamton at the Events Center on Sunday, Jan. 1 at 2 p.m. Cornell had a two game winning streak halted on Friday afternoon when it fell in double-overtime at Stony Brook to slip to 7-4 overall, while the Bearcats won its last outing against DII foe Georgian Court to improve to 5-7 on the season.
 
THE SERIES VS. BINGHAMTON: Cornell and Binghamton have met 15 times in women's basketball history. The Big Red has won the last three outings but still trail in the all-time series, 8-7. Cornell also won the first two meetings, which occurred in the late 1970's, when the Binghamton squad played on the Division III level. Cornell renewed its rivalry with the Bearcats during the 2001-02 campaign, the same season that Binghamton transitioned to Division I status. The Bearcats won that meeting, 66-61, and defeated the Big Red again the following season, 66-48, but Cornell reclaimed the edge in the series history with a 50-43 victory during the 2004-05 season. Binghamton took the temporary lead in the series with two straight victories during the 2005-06 and 2006-07 seasons, before Cornell evened the series at 4-4 during the 2007-08 campaign. The next season, the Bearcats opened up a four-game winning streak to take the lead in the series.
 
LAST TIME VS. THE BEARCATS: ITHACA, N.Y. – Nia Marshall was nearly perfect in racking up 31 points to power the Big Red to a 64-57 win over Binghamton in Newman Arena on Dec. 30, 2015. The junior forward went 15-of-16 from the field, tying the school record for field goals made in a single game, and also finished tied for 10th all-time in NCAA history for the highest single game shooting percentage (.938). In the process, Marshall also recorded her 1,000th career point and became the first player in Big Red women's basketball history to register four 30-point games in a career.  She reached the 1,000-point plateau in just her 68th career game, faster than anyone other than Karen Walker '91. Marshall wasn't the only player to impress, as Nicholle Aston posted her 10th career double-double with 13 points and a game-high 12 rebounds. Junior guard Kerri Moran finished with seven points and handed out seven assists, while Maddie Campbell finished with four points, five rebounds and five assists. In total, six of the eight Big Red players handed out at least two assists, as Cornell registered more assists (23) than Binghamton made shots (21). Cornell shot .529 percent overall and .400 percent from beyond the arc, while holding the Bearcats to just .396 percent overall and .250 percent from 3-point range. The Big Red also outrebounded the visitors 34-27. Both teams turned the ball over 16 times. Still the Bearcats stayed in the contest thanks to three double-digit scorers – Alyssa James (19) and Imani Watkins (16) and Kim Albrecth (12).
 
CORNELL VS. THE AMERICAN EAST: Cornell slipped to 20-25 all-time vs. the current members of the America East Conference after a 66-65 loss to Stony Brook on Dec. 30, 2016. The Big Red holds a winning record vs. Albany (5-1) and UMBC (2-0), but a losing mark vs. Binghamton (7-8), Hartford (0-2), Maine (0-1), New Hampshire (1-4), Stony Brook (1-3) and Vermont (4-6). Cornell has never faced UMass-Lowell in women's basketball ... Coach Smith is 10-15 all-time vs. the America East.
 
A WIN WOULD:
• improve Cornell to 8-4 this season.
• give the Big Red a 4-3 record on the road.
• improve Cornell to 4-0 in games after a loss.
• even Cornell's record vs. Binghamton at 8-8.
• be the fourth in a row over the Bearcats.
• give Cornell a 20-25 record all-time vs. the America East.
• make Coach Smith 11-15 all-time vs. the America East.
 
STRONGEST START:
• Through the first 10 games of the season, the Big Red posted a 7-3 record, matching the best start in program history.
• The 7-3 start was the best ever under head coach Dayna Smith.
• Cornell has posted a 7-3 record to start a season twice before – 1972-73 and 1999-2000.
 
FIVE-WIN NOVEMBER:
• Cornell went 5-1 in November, the most wins ever achieved by the program in the month of November.
• The Big Red had previously won four games in the month of November in 1999-00, 2012-13, 2013-14.
• Three of the four winningest Novembers have come during head coach Dayna Smith's tenure.
 
PLAYER OF THE WEEK NOTES:
• Nia Marshall was named the Ivy League Player of the Week (POW) on Dec. 19, 2016, giving her seven POW awards in her career.
• Nia Marshall's seven POW awards are a Cornell record, surpassing Allyson DiMagno and Mary LaMacchia, who previously held the record with six honors apiece.
• Megan LeDuc (Jan. 18, 2016) and Nicholle Aston (Jan. 26, 2015) are the only current Big Red players other than Nia Marshall to be named Ivy POW.
• In addition to Nia Marshall's POW honors, she was named the Ivy Rookie of the Week (ROW) five times during the 2013-14 season, giving her 12 total Ivy weekly awards to her credit, passing Jeomi Maduka who was honored 10 times by the conference (seven ROW; three POW).
• Nia Marshall was named Ivy League POW four times in 2014-15 (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.
• Nia 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.
 
ROOKIE OF THE WEEK NOTES:
• Danielle Jorgenson was named the Ivy League Rookie of the Week on Dec. 19 after helping the Big Red defeat Youngstown State, 80-75.
• 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.
• Danielle Jorgenson and Samantha Widmann become the first pair of Cornell freshman to win the award in the same season since Allie Munson and Allison Abt did so during the 2008-09 campaign.
• 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.
 
IVY HONOR SWEEP: Nia Marshall and Danielle Jorgenson were named the Ivy League Player and Rookie of the Week, respectively, on Dec. 19 to give Cornell its first Ivy League honors sweep since Marshall took home both awards on Feb. 3, 2014.  
 
STUDYING THE OPPONENTS: Since the 1980-81 season, the Big Red is 15-21 coming out of Cornell's two-week study break, thanks mostly to Coach Smith's teams, which have posted a 10-5 mark in the first game back from exams.
 
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: Prior to its double-overtime loss to Stony Brook on Dec. 30, the Big Red had won 14 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 began the 2016-17 campaign at 5-0 when leading at the half. 
 
SCHOOL RECORD IN SIGHT: Nia Marshall enters the game ranked second in Cornell history, and 32nd in the Ivy League rankings, with 1,434 career points. She needs just 217 to break the school record, currently held by Karen Walker (1987-91).
 
CORNELL CAREER TOP 10:
Nia Marshall
Points (2nd; 1,409) – 217 pts to move into 1st
Field goals made (2nd; 540) – 100 FG to move into 1st
Free throws made (3rd; 347) – 9 FT to move into 2nd
Blocked shots (4th; 87) – 17 blocks to move into 3rd
Defensive rebounds (2nd; 428) – 163 defensive rebs to move into 1st
Steals (5th; 183) – 5 steals to move into 4th
Starts (7th; 94) – 1 start to move into 6th
Rebounds (7th; 602) – 7 rebounds to move into 6th
Offensive rebounds (9th; 174) – 7 offensive rebs to move into 9th
Kerri Moran
Assists (5th; 356) 37 assists to move into 4th
Career games started (9th; 86) – 1 start to move into 8th
Megan LeDuc
Assists (9th; 288) – 7 assists to move into 8th
3-Point FG (7th; 112) – 1 3FG to move into 6th
 
TEAM NCAA RANKINGS: Prior to the games played on Saturday, Dec. 31, the Big Red ranked among the top 100 in the nation in …
• Fewest fouls – 84th (196)
• Scoring defense – 905th (60.1)
• 3-point field goal defense – 66th (28.4)
• 3-point field goal percentage – 1th (38.9)
 
INDIVIDUAL NCAA RANKGINGS: Prior to the games played on Saturday, Dec. 31, here's how Cornell players stack up nationwide …
Nia Marshall
• Field goal percentage – 250th (39.9)
• Free throws made – 84th (47)
• Points per game – 193rd (14.8)
• Rebounds per game – 201st (7.3)
• Steals per game – 116th (2.18)
Megan LeDuc
• Assists per game – 191st (3.7)
• Minutes played per game – 81st (34.73)
• Steals per game – 215th (1.91)
• 3-point field goals per game – 110th (2.27)
• 3-point field goal percentage – 45th (43.1)
 Kerri Moran
• Assist/Turnover Ratio – 88th (2.00)
• Assists – 117th (52)
• Assists per game – 73rd (4.7)
• Minutes played per game – 91st (34.55)
 
TOP 10 ASSISTS:  Arguably the best backcourt duo in Cornell history, Kerri Moran and Megan LeDuc enter the week ranked fifth and ninth, 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).  
 
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 65 of its 117 opponents (55 percent) to below 40 percent, including 6-of-11 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.
 
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 160 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 11 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 63-of-172 games (37 percent) decided by eight points or fewer. In those games, Cornell has posted a 33-32 record (.508).
 
STARTING STREAK: Senior Nia Marshall has the longest starting streak on the team, standing at 69 games. Marshall has started every game of her career, with the exception of the Big Red's Senior Day on March 1, 2014.
  
NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK: The Big Red added eight players to the 2016-17 squad, the largest class ever brought to East Hill by Coach Smith. The group hails from eight different states and boasts four guards and four forwards.
 
UP NEXT: The Big Red will play its final non-conference game of the season when it travels to Delaware State for a mid-week contest on Thursday, Jan. 5 at 6 p.m.