ITHACA, N.Y. – Cornell senior Janée Dennis put on an offensive clinic, knocking down her first eight 3-point attempts to finish with a career- and game-high 24 points, but the Big Red couldn't hold off Lafayette's furious fourth quarter comeback and the Leopards escaped Newman Arena with a 59-58 victory this evening.
 
Dennis accounted for all of the Big Red's 3-pointers in the game going 8-of-9 from beyond the arc, just one off the school record held by Keri Farley who went 9-for-9 vs. Georgetown on Dec. 20, 1993. Dennis filled out the stat line with five rebounds, three assists, two steals and one block. Sophomore Stephanie Umeh also finished with a career-high 11 points and grabbed five rebounds, while freshman Elodie Furey grabbed a career-high 10 boards to go along with two assists, two blocks and two steals. Sophomore Danielle Jorgenson finished with a career-high 10 assists, good for eighth in Cornell history for assists in a single game.
 
Lafayette (3-3) had three players finish in double digits, led by Natalie Kucowski's 15-point, 14-rebound double-double.
 
Cornell held the slim edge in rebounds (40-38), forced the Leopards into 20 turnovers with 16 steals, and assisted on 21-of-22 baskets.
 
Lafayette shot .404 percent overall (23-57) and .300 percent from 3-point range (6-20), while holding the Big Red to .349 percent from the floor (22-66) and .348 percent from beyond the arc (8-23).
 
The Big Red started the game with 10 unanswered points, forcing the visitors into nine first quarter turnovers and held a 19-14 lead at the end of the stanza. Lafayette battled its way to tie the game at 19-19 with 7:31 to go in the second quarter and took its first lead of the contest (25-24) at the 3:37 mark. But Cornell closed strong and a trey by Dennis, followed by a layup from Umeh sent the home team into halftime with the 31-27 lead.
 
The Leopards came out strong in the third quarter and took its largest lead of the game (42-36) with just under five minutes to go, but the Big Red responded with a run of its own, capped by a traditional three-point play by Christine Ehland with six seconds left on the clock to go up, 50-47, at the final break.
 
Back-to-back treys from Dennis to open the fourth quarter pushed Cornell's lead to 56-47 with 7:33 to play, but the Big Red went cold and Lafayette closed the game on a 12-2 run, including a baseline jumper by Ellen Graham with :07 to play, to win the contest, 59-58.
 
Cornell (1-5) plays its final game before the 14-day study break when it welcomes Stony Brook to Newman Arena on Friday, Dec. 1 at 7 p.m.