NEWARK, N.J. – Samantha Widmann posted her fourth career 20-point performance and gave the Big Red its first double-double of the season, finishing with 23 points and a career-high 14 rebounds as Cornell downed NJIT, 61-46, this morning at the NJIT Wellness and Events Center in Newark. The win gives the Big Red its first winning streak of the season and improves the squad to 4-9 at the end of non-conference play.
 
In addition to Widmann's performance, senior forward Christine Ehland also had an outstanding game, finishing with 13 points and six rebounds. Widmann (9-of-13) and Ehland (6-of-9) combined to shoot 68.1 percent from the field, with Widmann matching a career-high with three 3-pointers. Senior guard Janee Dennis chipped in eight points and four rebounds, while sophomore point guard Danielle Jorgenson handed out nine assists, blocked two shots and tallied two steals.
 
NJIT (2-13) had two players in double-figures – Danielle Tunstall (12) and Ellyn Stoll (10) – with Tunstall coming one rebound shy of a double-double.
 
Cornell shot a solid 42.6 percent from the floor (23-54) and 30 percent from beyond the arc (6-20), while holding the Highlanders to just 34 percent overall (18-53) and 38.5 percent from 3-point range (5-13). The Big Red held the significant advantage on the boards (40-28) but finished with one more turnover than the home team (17-16).
 
Cornell was plagued with turnovers in the opening minutes of the game but used strong rebounding and some outstanding offense from Widmann and Ehland to stay in the contest, trailing 13-12 at the first break.
 
After two early free throws pushed the Highlanders' lead to three points, the Big Red's press forced a turnover and a trey from Dennis knotted the game at 15-15 at the 8:52 mark. The teams traded leads until a 7-0 run put the Highlanders up, 24-18, with 4:07 to go in the quarter. The home team's run was ended when back-to-back layups from Jess Willerson opened up a 7-0 run to give the Big Red a 25-24 lead at the half.  
 
Cornell turned those seven unanswered points into a 28-4 run that gave the visitors a 36-28 lead at the 5:56 mark of the third quarter. The Big Red pushed its advantage to double-digits and closed the scoring for the quarter on a fastbreak layup from Ehland as Cornell took the 42-32 lead into the final break.
 
The Big Red scored the first five points of the fourth quarter to stretch its lead to 47-32 before some intense NJIT pressure cut the visitors' lead to 11 points (47-36) with 7:00 to play. Cornell responded with nine unanswered, all of which came from Widmann and Ehland to push the Big Red advantage to 20 points (56-36) with 3:02 showing on the clock. From there, Cornell rolled to the 61-46 victory.
 
The Big Red will open Ivy League play when it travels to Penn and Princeton on Friday, Jan. 12 and Saturday, Jan. 13, respectively. The game with the Quakers will begin at 6 p.m., with the game vs. the Tigers slated for 4:30 p.m.