ITHACA, N.Y. – In a game of runs that featured stingy defense by both squads, New Hampshire scored the final three points of the contest to edge the Big Red women's basketball team, 48-45, in Lundholm Gymnasium. A layup by Kat Fogarty with 48 second to play ended a Wildcat scoring drought of 5:22 as Cornell had used a 6-2 run to tie the game at 45-45 with 2:59 to play. Cornell (2-9) has now had five of its last seven losses decided by five or fewer points.
Three Big Red players –
Samantha Clement, Janee Dennis, and
Samantha Widmann – finished with nine points apiece. Widmann also finished with a season-high eight rebounds, three assists and one steal. Sophomore forward
Jessica Willerson had the best game of her career, with highs in points (8), rebounds (10) and minutes (25). She also knocked down the baseline jumper that tied the game for the fifth and final time at 45-45.
UNH (9-4) saw nearly all of its points come from three players as Oliva Healy (16), Fogarty (15), and Brittni Lai (10) combined for 41 of the Wildcats' 49 points.
The teams were nearly identical across the stat line. The Wildcats shot marginally better from the field at .349 percent overall (15-43) to Cornell's .340 percent (17-50), while the Big Red had the advantage beyond the arc at .286 percent (4-14) to UNH's .182 percent performance (2-11). Cornell held the 34-29 advantage on the boards, while the Wildcats forced the visitors into two more turnovers (22-20). In the end, the game came down to the free throw line, where UNH made six more (16-21) than the Big Red attempted (7-10).
The home team hit its first three shots and jumped out to an early 6-0 lead before a steal and finish by Widmann opened up a 7-1 Cornell run that would knot the game for the first time at 7-7 on a trey from Dennis with 3:15 to go in the opening quarter. From there, the teams traded leads until a free throw from Willerson began a 12-1 run that gave the Big Red the largest lead of either team (25-16) with 2:26 to go in the second quarter. A bucket from UNH and a pair of made free throws cut the Cornell lead to 25-20 at the half.
The Wildcats opened the third quarter on a 7-2 run to tie the game at 27-27 and once again the teams battled back and forth until four straight points sent the home team into the final break with the 43-39 lead.
The team traded baskets to open the fourth quarter before back-to-back jumpers from
Danielle Jorgenson and Willerson tied the game at 45-45 with 2:58 to play and neither team scored for the next 2:10 until Fogarty's go-ahead layup.
The Big Red will have a quick turnaround as it closes the 2017 portion of its schedule at UMass-Lowell on Sunday, Dec. 31 at noon. The game will be available to view on ESPN3.
