LOWELL, Mass. – After four consecutive losses, including two in overtime, the Big Red women's basketball team earned a dominating 71-53 victory over UMass-Lowell this afternoon at the Costello Athletic Center. The 18-point margin of victory was the largest for Cornell this season as the team improved to 3-9 on the year.
 
Samantha Widmann led all scorers with 17 points and finished with a team-high eight rebounds, while Janee Dennis (12), and Samantha Clement (11) both finished in double digits. Dennis (4-7) and Clement (3-4) combined to go 7-of-11 from beyond the arc as the Big Red connected on 45.5 percent from 3-point range for the game. Senior forward Christine Ehland had a solid line with six points, a team-high six assists, and four rebounds, while Kate Sramac tied a career-high with eight points. .
 
UML (3-10) was led by Brianna Rudolph's 10 points and Linda Svenne's game-high nine rebounds.
 
The Big Red shot a season-high 42.6 percent (26-61) from the floor, while holding the home team to just 37.3 percent overall (19-51) and a mere 29.4 percent (5-17) from beyond the arc. The River Hawks held the slim 36-33 edge on the boards, helping them to a 13-2 advantage in second chance points, but Cornell used stifling defense and full-court pressure to score easy buckets in transition. Overall, the Big Red forced 20 turnovers with nine steals, resulting in 29 points, while turning the ball over a season-low 10 times.
 
Both teams hit shots in the opening moments of the contest, but a driving layup from Widmann at the 6:13 mark handed Cornell a lead it would not relinquish as it used a 17-2 run to go up, 21-9, just before the first break.   
 
After four unanswered points from UML to close the first quarter, Halley Miklos used an offensive putback to give the Big Red a double-digit lead (23-13). The visitors pushed their lead to 17 points (33-16) and kept a 10+ point cushion until a layup from Sveenne made it a 38-30 game with 1:43 to go in the first half. UML closed the second quarter on a 16-5 run to cut Cornell's halftime leat to 38-32.
 
The Big Red opened the third quarter on a 20-3 run, including nine points from Widmann and six from Dennis, to push its lead to 58-35 at the 4:37 mark. The River Hawks responded with a 12-2 run of its own to make it a 60-47 game at the final break.
 
UML used some tough defense to hold Cornell scoreless for the first 4:45 of the fourth quarter, but the Big Red's defense was solid in its own right, allowing the River Hawks to score just three points in that span before Sramac made a trey from the corner to take a 63-50 lead. From there Cornell rolled to the 71-53 victory.  
 
The Big Red will play its final non-conference game of the season when it opens the New Year at NJIT on Wednesday, Jan. 3 at 11:30 a.m. The game will be broadcast live on ESPN3.