ITHACA, N.Y. – The Big Red women's basketball team used balanced offense, tough defense, and timely rebounding to snap an 18-game losing streak to Harvard, coming back to defeat the Crimson, 57-52, this evening in Newman Arena. The win was a crucial one as the Big Red continues to battle for a place in the first-ever Ivy League Basketball Tournament and with its sweep this weekend, Cornell is now tied with Brown for the final spot with identical Ivy marks of 5-5.  
 
Cornell (14-9) was led by Samantha Widmann, who finished with a career-highs of 15 points and 12 rebounds for her first-ever double-double. The freshman guard was one of four Big Red players in double-figures as Nicholle Aston finished with 13, after scoring 10 points in the first half to keep the Big Red in the contest, while Nia Marshall and Megan LeDuc tallied 11 and 10 points, respectively. Marshall (8) and Aston (6) also combined for 14 rebounds.
 
Harvard (18-4, 6-3 Ivy) was led by Katie Benzan's 16 points, while Madeline Raster (13) and Destiney Nunley (12) also finished in double-digits.
 
Neither team was particularly sharp offensively, but Cornell connected on .358 percent overall (19-53) and .286 percent from 3-point range (2-7), while holding the Crimson to .300 overall (18-60) and .259 from beyond the arc (7-27).
 
Harvard held the slim 43-41 edge in rebound and both reams had 13 turnovers.
 
COACH'S CORNER – DAYNA SMITH
I told the team to have faith in who we are. Harvard, obviously, is a very good team and has a great tradition but each game is its own. We felt like we had a great game against them at their place and it was just two good teams battling it out. There were a few aspects that we felt we could take advantage of today and clean up, and we did that. Our rebounding was so much better. We executed down the stretch. We hit a couple big shots at the end. It was a similar game up at their place a couple weeks ago. We learned from it. We learned from our mistakes.
 
I think we had two points by our guards at the half. Our forwards, Nia and Nicholle carried us. We talked at the half that we needed more balance. The guards needed to step up. The forwards couldn't keep carrying that load. They were starting to double them and we started forcing it and we had a few turnovers. So we needed that balance. Kerri and Megan played phenomenally down the stretch. Their leadership really carried us. That's how good teams win.
 
TURNING POINT
After trailing by seven points (34-27) with 6:40 to play in the third quarter, Cornell used a 10-4 run to close the gap and eventually trailed by one-point (42-41) at the final break. After coming up empty on its first possession of the fourth quarter, the Big Red used some smothering defense to force a shot clock violation and moments later LeDuc rolled off a screen at the top of the key to knock down her only trey of the game and put Cornell up, 44-42. It was Cornell's first lead since finishing the first quarter with a 15-14 advantage. Cornell never trailed the rest of the way, eventually pushing its lead to six points (50-44) on a layup from Widmann with 4:46 remaining.
 
DOWN THE STRETCH
Holding a 54-50 lead with 1:21 to play, Cornell hit just 3-of-6 free throws, but held the Crimson without a field goal to escape with the 57-52 victory.
 
NOTES TO KNOW
• With the win, the Class of 2017 is now the winningest class in program history with 57 victories.
• The victory snaps an 18-game losing streak to Harvard, giving Cornell its first win in the series since the first meeting of the 2007-08 season.
• It's the first time Cornell has swept Dartmouth/Harvard in the same weekend since the 2007-08 season.
• Samantha Widmann is just the fourth Big Red player on the current roster to post a double-double, joining Nicholle Aston (13), Nia Marshall (12) and Kerri Moran (2).
• With her 11 points, Nia Marshall is now just 14 points away from setting the school record for points in a career.
• Megan LeDuc moved up another notch on Cornell's single-season 3-point list, knocking down her 49th of the season to tie Kayleen Fitzsimmons (2005-06) in sixth place.
• The 57 points in the win is the lowest in a victory for the Big Red since defeating Binghamton, 54-51 earlier this season on Jan. 1.
• The Big Red held Harvard to below 60 points for just the ninth time in 77 meetings … It's the lowest Crimson point total since Harvard defeated Cornell, 51-48, in the second meeting of the 2007-08 season … It is the lowest Harvard point total in a Cornell victory since the Big Red beat the Crimson, 60-49, during the 1982-83 season. 

UP NEXT
The Big Red hits the road for the final pair of Ivy League regular season road games when it travels to Penn and Princeton. Cornell will take on the Quakers on Friday, Feb. 24 at 7 p.m., before facing the Tigers on Saturday, Feb. 25 at 6 p.m.