GAME INFORMATION
GAME #4: Cornell at No. 23 Minnesota
GAME TIME: Friday, Nov. 23, at 4:00 p.m. EST
GAME SITE: Williams Arena (Minneapolis, Minn.)
SERIES RECORD: First Meeting
LAST MEETING: First Meeting
2018-19 RECORDS: Cornell (2-1, 0-0 Ivy); Minnesota (4-0, 0-0 B1G)
LIVE STATS: https://bit.ly/2OXeiPk
LIVE VIDEO: https://www.btn2go.com/refer/MINN146
 
Full Game Notes (PDF)
 
THE MATCHUP: The Big Red women's basketball team takes a two-game winning streak into its toughest test of the season when it travels to No. 23 Minnesota for a post-Thanksgiving contest at 4:00 p.m. EST on Friday, Nov. 23. Cornell enters the game with a record of 2-1, while the Gophers improved to 4-0 after an 84-42 victory over Arkansas - Pine Bluff on Tuesday evening.
 
QUICK HITS:
• The Big Red has won two in a row – defeating UAlbany and UMass Lowell – to improve to 2-1 on the season.
• Samantha Widmann was outstanding vs. the River Hawks, going 8-of-9 from the floor and 4-of-4 from the charity stripe to finish with a game-high 20 points, including nine in the decisive fourth quarter. She also tallied a team-high eight rebounds, handed out a career-high seven assists and registered four steals.
• Danielle Jorgenson reached double-digits for the first time this season with 14 points vs. UML.
• Cornell finished with 19 steals vs. the River Hawks, the most since the Big Red posted 20 steals at Columbia on Jan. 26, 2002. 
• Cornell has four players on its roster that hail from Minnesota – Danielle Jorgenson (Orono), Laura Bagwell-Katalinich (Minneapolis), Theresa Grace Mbanefo (Otsego), Annika Hoff (Northfield).
• The game with Minnesota is the first vs. a BIG 10 opponent since facing Ohio State during the 2006-07 season.
• The contest is the first for Cornell vs. a nationally ranked opponent since taking on No. 15 Stanford during the 2015-16 season.
 
THE SERIES VS. MINNESOTA: First meeting.
 
A WIN WOULD:
• be the first over a nationally ranked opponent in program history.
• improve the Big Red's record at 3-1 on the season.
• snap a four-game losing streak on the road.
• be the first ever against a BIG 10 team.
• make Cornell 1-0 in the series.
• make Coach Smith 1-2 vs. the B1G. 

CORNELL VS. THE BIG 10: Cornell improved to 0-1 all-time vs. the current members of the Big 10 Conference.
• The Big Red has a losing record vs. Indiana (0-1) and Ohio State (0-1).
• Cornell has never faced Iowa, Illinois, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Nebraska, Northwestern, Purdue, Rutgers, or Wisconsin.
• Coach Smith is 0-2 all-time vs. the B1G.
 
HEAD COACH DAYNA SMITH: In her 17th season at the helm of the Big Red program, head coach Dayna Smith ranks fourth overall in Ivy League women's basketball history in years served as a head coach in the conference.
• Only one active coach, Harvard's Kathy Delaney-Smith (36th season), ranks ahead of Cornell's Smith.
• Smith is the winningest coach in Cornell history, and reached the 150-win mark for her career with the team's overtime victory vs. Dartmouth on Jan. 30, 2016.
• She currently stands at 178 career victories.
 
STARTING STATS: The Big Red has used two different starting line-ups through the first three games of the season.
• Samantha Widmann and Danielle Jorgenson lead the team with 30 consecutive starts.
• Laura Bagwell-Katalanich made her first career start in the season opener at Binghamton.
• Dylan Higgins made her first career start in the contest vs. UAlbany on Nov. 12.
 
FIRST IMPRESSIONS: Four new players saw their first action for the Big Red in the season opener at Binghamton – Laura Bagwell-Katalanich, Theresa Grace Mbanefo, Caitlyn Smith and Samantha Will.
 
WHAT WAS LOST: The Big Red graduated two seniors from the 2017-18 squad, and lost two other letter winners, as well as one non-letter winner.
• The five players accounted for just 25 percent of Cornell's points and rebounds.
 
WHAT REMAINS: Cornell returns three starters and 10 letter winners from a year ago.  
• The team returns its top scorer and rebounder in Samantha Widmann, as well as its second leading scorer, Samantha Clement.
• Overall, the squad returns 75% of its scoring and rebounding
• All but one returning letter winner played in at least 20 contests. 
 
NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK: The Big Red added four players to the 2018-19 squad, three freshman and one junior college transfer.
• The group hails from three different states – Minnesota (2), Florida and New Hampshire.
• The group consists of two forwards (Annika Hoff, Theresa Grace Mbanefo), one guard (Samantha Will) and one point guard (Caitlyn Smith).
 
IVY PRESEASON RANKINGS: The Big Red was picked eighth overall in the 2018-19 Ivy League media preseason poll.
• Princeton was selected to repeat, as the Tigers garnered 133 points and 14 first-place votes.
• Penn and Harvard were neck-and-neck for second and third, respectively, with the Quakers earning two first-place votes and 107 points and the Crimson receiving one first-place vote and 104 points. 
• Yale took fourth with 89 points, as the voters selected a repeat of last year's top-four teams.
• Brown was picked to place fifth with 66 points, followed by Dartmouth (55), Columbia (30) and Cornell (28).
 
LIVE AND ON THE AIR: The Big Red will have all 27 of its regular season games broadcast this season.
• 20 games, including 12 Ivy League contests, will be broadcast on ESPN+.
• Two Ivy League games will be broadcast on ESPN3.
• ESPN+ is available through the ESPN app and ESPN.com for $4.99 / month and $49.99 / year. The subscription includes over 175 Ivy League men's and women's basketball games as well as thousands of other live events from other collegiate conferences and professional sports leagues. 
• Three games will be broadcast on the Patriot League Network (Colgate, Lehigh, Lafayette).
• Cornell will have one game each on the Big Ten Network Plus (Minnesota) and the Mountain West Network (Colorado State).
 
DON'T I NOW YOU?: Shelby Lyman '14 returned to Cornell as an assistant coach prior to the 2017-18 season.
• One of the most prolific 3-point shooters in Cornell history, Lyman returned to East Hill after a successful three-year stint as an assistant coach at Division III powerhouse St. John Fisher College, helping the Cardinals to an Empire 8 championship in 2015 and a pair of NCAA DIII Tournament appearances.  
• Lyman still ranks among the top 20 in Cornell history in assists (14th – 219), steals (14th – 122), and minutes played (13th – 3096). She finished her career with 718 career points.
• A native of Snohomish, Wash., Lyman earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Government, before obtaining an MBA from St. John Fisher.
 
RECAPPING THE 2017-18 SEASON: The Big Red finished the season with a 7-20 record overall and a mark of 3-11 in the Ivy League.
 
UP NEXT: The Big Red continues its road trip as it heads to Colorado State for a 2 p.m. contest on Sunday, Nov. 25.