ITHACA, N.Y. – On Cornell's Senior Night, it was Brown's youngsters that stole the show, as the visitors erased the Big Red's early lead with a 13-4 run over the close of the first and opening of the second quarters to take a lead it would not relinquish en route to a 67-46 victory. At the end of the game, both teams sat tied for fourth place in the Ivy League standings with identical records of 16-11 overall and 7-7 in the conference, but the Bears earned the final spot in the Ivy League Basketball Tournament by virtue of its two head-to-head wins over Cornell.
 
"I'm heartbroken for our seniors and for our team," said Dayna Smith, the Rebecca Quinn Morgan '60 Head Coach of Cornell Women's Basketball. "We couldn't find the bottom of the net. It wasn't our night. To see the five seniors go out on that will leave a sour taste in our mouth for a long time."
 
As they have done all season, seniors led the way for Cornell as Nia Marshall finished with a team-high 13 points, seven rebounds and one steal, while her partner in the frontcourt Nicholle Aston grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds and chipped in six points, one steal and one block. Megan LeDuc added six points, seven rebounds, seven assists, and three steals.
 
A pair of underclassmen – Samantha Widmann and Christine Ehland – finished with seven points each off the bench.
 
Brown was led by sophomore Shayna Mehta's game-high 28 points, while freshman Justin Gaziano and sophomore Taylor Will finished with 13 and 10 points, respectively.
 
The game featured the top offense in the conference against the second best defense, and in the end Brown's offense prevailed, as the visitors shot .522 percent from the floor (24-46) and a blistering .615 percent from 3-point range. Cornell, on the other hand, struggled from the floor, connecting on just .284 percent overall (19-67) and a mere 091 percent from beyond the arc (1-11).
 
"We weren't able to get into our press, which I thought was effective, because we weren't getting scores" said Smith. "They obviously have a couple of tremendous scorers and they were getting transition points because we weren't making baskets. It was a snowball effect. When you don't make your shots, it feeds right into Brown's style of play."
 
The Big Red held the significant 41-32 edge in rebounds, including pulling down more than 20 offensive boards for the first time in two seasons, but only managed to capitalize on 10 second chance points.
 
Cornell finishes the season with a record of 16-11 overall and 7-7 in the Ivy League, the most wins and conference wins in a season since the 2007-08 team went 20-9 overall and 11-3 in the Ivy League.
 
NOTES TO KNOW
• With 59 wins, the Class of 2017 was the winningest class in program history, surpassing the Class of 2016 that won 56 games.
• Seniors Nia Marshall, Nicholle Aston, Kerri Moran, and Megan LeDuc all rank among the top 30 in Big Red history for career points … There are just six pairs of four-year teammates in Cornell history to rank among the top 30, but there have never been three or more four-year teammates prior to this season.
• With her 414 points on the season, Nia Marshall becomes the first player in Cornell women's basketball history to amass at least 400 points three times in a career.
• Marshall's 414 points ranks ninth in Cornell history for points in a single-season.
• Marshall closes her career as the program's all-time scoring leader with 1,685 points.
• With her 16 caroms on the weekend, Marshall finishes with 708 career rebounds, making her one of just five players in Big Red history to amass 1,000 points and 700 rebounds.
• Megan LeDuc finished the season ranked in the top 10 in Cornell history for 3-point field goals (fourth – 54), 3-point field goal percentage (seventh – .415), minutes played (ninth – 941) and minutes per game (ninth – 34.9).
• With her seven assists on the night, LeDuc jumped from eighth place in Cornell history to sixth overall with 342 career assists.   
• Nia Marshall (1,685 points / 708 rebounds) and Nicholle Aston (927 points / 577 rebounds) are two of just 12 players in Big Red history to reach at least 900 points and 500 rebounds … They are the only pair of four-year teammates at Cornell to accomplish the feat.
• Nia Marshall (1,685 points) and Nicholle Aston (927 points) are the highest scoring teammates in the history of Cornell women's basketball with 2,612 points. They surpassed Do Stevens (1,327 points) and Breaean Walas (982 points), who played together from 1998-2002 and combined for 2,309 points.
• Kerri Moran (845 points / 413 assists) and Megan LeDuc (852 points / 342 assists) are two of just five players in Big Red history to reach at least 800 points and 300 assists … They are the only pair of four-year teammates at Cornell to accomplish the feat.
• Arguably one of the best backcourt duo in Ivy League history, Kerri Moran and Megan LeDuc rank fourth and sixth, respectively, in career assists at Cornell. They are just the fourth pair of four-year teammates in Ivy League history to finish in the top 10 of their team's assist record list. The other Ivy duos are Brown's Julie Amato and Vita Redding (1995-99), Cornell's Do Stevens and Breean Walas (1998-2002), Dartmouth's Ashley Taylor and Fatima Kamara (2003-07).