GAME INFORMATION
Game #25: Cornell vs. Penn
Tip off: Friday, Feb. 26, at 7:00 p.m.
Site: Newman Arena (Ithaca, N.Y.)
2015-16 Records: Cornell (13-11, 5-5 Ivy); Penn (20-3, 8-0 Ivy)
Series Record: Penn leads, 54-20
Last Meeting: Penn won, 65-50 (Philadelphia, Pa.) on 2/13/16
Live Video:  http://www.ivyleaguedigitalnetwork.com/cornell/schedule
Live Stats: http://www.sidearmstats.com/cornell/wbball/ 
 
Game #26: Cornell vs. Princeton
Tip off: Saturday, Feb. 27, at 6:00 p.m.
Site: Newman Arena (Ithaca, N.Y.)
2015-16 Records: Cornell (13-11, 5-5 Ivy); Princeton (19-4, 8-1 Ivy)*
Series Record: Princeton leads, 51-21
Last Meeting: Princeton won, 71-51 (Princeton, N.J.) on 2/12/16
Live Video: http://www.ivyleaguedigitalnetwork.com/cornell/schedule
Live Stats: http://www.sidearmstats.com/cornell/wbball/
 
* records prior to Friday, Feb. 26
 
Game Notes (PDF)
 
THE MATCHUP: The Big Red women's basketball team has a big weekend on tap, taking on the top two teams in the Ivy League – Penn and Princeton – while also hosting its Play 4Kay game vs. the Quakers on Friday at 7 p.m., and its Senior Night celebration vs. the Tigers on Saturday at 6 p.m. Both games will be broadcast live on the Ivy League Digital Network.
 
PLAY 4 KAY: Friday's game will be the team's annual Play 4Kay game, as Cornell joins the WBCA in its fight against breast cancer. Fans are encouraged to wear pink and admission to the game is free. There will be several activities, including a photo booth, face painting, and other games for kids, beginning at 6 p.m.
 
SENIOR DAY SEND OFF: The Big Red will celebrate Senior Day on Saturday vs. Princeton, as Maddie Campbell will play her final game at Newman Arena. After transferring from UC Santa Barbara, Campbell has left an indelible mark on the Big Red program. A two-time captain, she has enters the weekend having played in all 52 games during her Cornell career, making 31 starts. This season she is averaging career highs in both points (6.7) and rebounds (6.5). 
 
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, 54-20, but the Big Red has won 11 of the last 21 meetings. Coach Smith, who served as an assistant coach for Penn from 1999-2002, holds an 11-16 record.
 
LAST TIME VS. THE QUAKERS: The Big Red suffered its second loss of the weekend as Ivy League-leading Penn topped the Big Red, 65-50, at the Palestra on Feb. 13. Junior Megan LeDuc posted a career-high nine rebounds for Cornell while classmate Nia Marshall finished with 17 points and junior Nicholle Aston posted 12. Penn's Sydney Stipanovich finished with a double-double, posting 21 points and 12 rebounds. Anna Ross added 15 points and Michelle Nwokedi chipped in 12.

THE SERIES VS. PRINCETON: The Tigers hold a 51-20 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 15 outings. Coach Dayna Smith is 7-20 vs. Princeton.
 
LAST TIME VS. THE TIGERS: Despite junior Nicholle Aston's 22 points, which tied a career high, Cornell suffered a 71-51 loss to Princeton in Jadwin Gymnasium on Feb. 12. The Big Red played the Tigers closely through the first half, but a 23-point third quarter pushed Princeton out of reach. Three players finished in double figures for the Tigers, with Annie Tarakchian leading with 12, Jordan Muhammad adding 11, and Alex Wheatley putting up 10. Aston added seven rebounds to her 22 points, and junior Megan LeDuc recorded six assists and no turnovers. 

STORY LINES:
• The Big Red enters the weekend sitting in fifth place in the Ivy League with a 5-5 conference mark.
• Cornell enters the weekend with a 10-2 record in home games.  
• The Big Red got off to a 5-1 start in Ivy League play, its best start in conference since the 2007-08 team went 8-1 to begin Ancient Eight play, but has lost four in a row.
• Penn enters the weekend with an overall record of 20-3 and a mark of 9-0 to sit atop the Ivy League standings.
• Princeton's only loss in the Ivy League has come to the Quakers. The Tigers sit in second place in the conference standings with an overall record of 19-4 (8-1 Ivy).
 
THE 400-POINT CLUB: For the second year in a row, Nia Marshall has scored more than 400 points in a season, entering the weekend with 417. Her 417 points ranks eighth overall in Cornell women's basketball history, she is also just the third player to do it twice in a career – joining Karen Walker (1989-90, 1990-91) and Keri Farley (1994-95, 1992-93).
 
WELL ROUNDED: With her nine rebounds at Harvard on Feb. 20, Nia Marshall became just the second player in Cornell women's basketball history to record 1,200 points, 500 rebounds, 100 assists, 100 steals and 50 blocked shots in a career, joining Clare Fitzpatrick '13.  
 
COMEBACK KIDS: Cornell has tailed at some point in nine of its 13 victories this season, including three games in which it trailed by double-digits. The largest lead the Big Red has overcome was a 17-point deficit to Columbia on Jan. 16. The Lions led, 30-13, early in the second period before the Big Red fought back to win, 66-59. Cornel has also trailed by 11 to Yale on Feb. 6, before winning 74-63, as well as 10 points vs. Bryant, before outscoring the Bulldogs, 26-15, in the final quarter of action to steal a 70-62 victory.
 
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 417 points on the season and needs to average just 12.8 points over the final four 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).
 
SMALL SENIOR DAY: Cornell's 2015-16 roster features just one senior – Maddie Campbell. Every other team in the Ivy League has at least two seniors, while Princeton tops the conference with five. 
 
100 THREES: With five 3-pointers vs. Harvard on Feb. 20, Cornell eclipsed 100 3-pointers for the eighth straight season … 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.
 
LOW PERCENTAGE SHOTS: So far this season, Cornell has held 15-of-24 opponents (63 percent) to below 40 percent shooting from the floor. Since the beginning of the 2012-13 season, the Big Red has held 58 of its 104 opponents (56 percent) to below 40 percent.
 
TIGHT LOSSES: So far this season, six of Cornell's 11 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 sixth in the nation in fewest turnovers (305) … Cornell ranks second in the conference and is 19th in the country with a 1.23 assist/turnover ratio … The Big Red is also second in the conference and 14th in the nation in turnovers per game (12.7).
 
MAY I ASSIST YOU: Cornell ranks second in the Ivy League and 43rd in the nation in assists per game (15.6) … Kerri Moran ranks third in the Ivy League and ranks 43rd nationally with a 2.10 assist/turnover ratio ... Moran leads the conference and ranks 95th in the country with 4.3 assists per game.
 
MAKING THE CONNECTION: Cornell ranks second in the Ivy League and 94th in the nation in field goal percentage (.416) … The Big Red is even better from beyond the arc, ranking second in the conference and 44th in the nation in 3-point field goal percentage (.346).
 
RULE FOLLOWERS: The Big Red ranks 29th in the nation in fewest fouls (386).
 
SCORES A LOT: Nia Marshall has jumped up to seventh place in Cornell history for career points (1,224) … She leads the Ivy League and ranks 75th in the nation in points per game (17.4) … The junior forward also ranks third in the conference and 93rd in the country in field goal percentage (.481).
 
CORNELL TOP 10: Junior Nia Marshall has moved into the top 10 in career  points made (seventh), field goals (sixth), career free throws made (eighth), career defensive rebounds (sixth), career steals (eighth), career blocked shots (fourth), and career starts (10th) … lassmate Kerri Moran has moved into the top 10 in career assists (eighth).
 
HOLDING THE LEAD: The Big Red has a perfect 8-0 record this season in games in which it has led at halftime.
 
FOUR STRAIGHT IVY HONORS: From Jan. 18 to Feb. 8, the Big Red took home four consecutive Ivy League weekly honors. The run began with Megan LeDuc (Jan. 18) earning her first career Player of the Week honor, before Caroline Shelquist took home back-to-back Rookie of the Week honors on Jan. 25 and Feb. 1. Nia Marshall capped the run with her sixth career Player of the Week honor on Feb. 8.
 
PLAYER OF THE WEEK NOTES:
• Nia Marshall was named the Ivy League Player of the Week (POW) on Feb. 8, 2016 … It was the sixth POW honor of her career, tying Allyson DiMagno and Mary LaMacchia for the most in Cornell history.
• Megan LeDuc became the first Big Red player this season to be named the 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.
• 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 11 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 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.
• 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.
 
150 WINS AND COUNTING: Head Coach Dayna Smith is already the winningest coach in Cornell history, and she reached the 150-win mark for her career with the team's overtime victory vs. Dartmouth on Jan. 30, 2016. She enters the weekend with 152 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.
 
30-POINT PERFORMANCES:
• With a 31-point performance vs. Binghamton on Dec. 30, 2015, Nia Marshall became the first player in Cornell women's basketball history to register at least 30 points four times in a career.
• A year ago, Marshall became the first player in Cornell women's basketball history to score at least 30 points three times in the same season, doing so with 33 points vs. Howard on Jan. 7; 36 points vs. Vermont on Dec. 30; 31 points vs. Robert Morris on Dec. 20.
• Her career-high 36 points came 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 at least 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).
 
ON THE SMALL SIDE: Cornell's roster of 12 players is the smallest in the Ivy League.
 
WINNING NON-CONFERENCE SLATE: With an 8-6 non-conference record, the Big Red has posted a winning non-conference slate for the fourth straight season. The four consecutive winning non-conference seasons is the most in program 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.
 
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.
 
CLOSE CALLS: Since the beginning of the 2010-11 season, the Big Red has had 56-of-159 games (35 percent) decided by eight points or fewer. In those games, Cornell has posted a 28-30 record (.483).
 
STARTING STREAK: Junior Nia Marshall has the longest starting streak on the team, standing at 54 games. Marshall had started every game of her freshman season, with the exception of the Big Red's Senior Day on March 1, 2014.
 
UP NEXT: The Big Red will play its final regular season road games of the season when it travels Yale and Brown on Friday, March 4 and Saturday, March 5, respectively.