GAME INFORMATION
GAME #6: Cornell at Lehigh
GAME TIME: Thursday, Nov. 29, at 6:00 p.m.
GAME SITE: Stabler Arena (Bethlehem, Pa.)
SERIES RECORD: Lehigh leads, 5-2
LAST MEETING: Lehigh won, 62-57 (11/22/17 in Ithaca)
2018-19 RECORDS: Cornell (2-3, 0-0 Ivy); Lehigh (5-2 0-0 Patriot)
LIVE STATS:  https://bit.ly/2zspKha  
LIVE VIDEO: https://bit.ly/2wxBEG0
 
Full Game Notes (PDF)
 
THE MATCHUP: The Big Red women's basketball team will look to end a two-game skid when it travels to Lehigh to take on the Mountain Hawks at 6:00 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 29. Cornell enters the game with a record of 2-3 after dropping back-to-back decisions at No. 23 Minnesota and Colorado State last weekend. Lehigh enters the contest with a 5-2 record overall after falling to Charlotte, 62-60, in the championship game of the Christmas City Classic. In all five of its victories, the Mountain Hawks have outscored their opponents by at least 10 points.  
 
QUICK HITS:
• The Big Red is in the midst of a four-game road trip that began on Nov. 23 at No. 23 Minnesota and will conclude at Stony Brook on Saturday, Dec. 1.
• After winning two in a row, Cornell has dropped back-to-back games at No. 23 Minnesota (65-45) and Colorado State (56-53).
• Laura Bagwell-Katalinich posted the first 20-point game of her career vs. the Rams to lead all scorers.
• Bagwell-Katalinich has been Cornell's leading scorer three times this season.
• The Big Red matched a school record with just four turnovers at CSU.
• The game with Lehigh will be the eighth meeting all-time, and just the third during head coach Dayna Smith's 17-year tenure.
• Cornell will face three Patriot League opponents this season – Lehigh, Lafayette and Colgate.
• The Big Red has not won a road game yet this season and has lost six in a row away from Newman Arena.
 
THE SERIES VS. LEHIGH: Cornell and Lehigh first met during the 1983-84 season, an 82-67 Lehigh victory.
• The Mountain Hawks would win again the following season before Cornell earned its first victory in the series during the 1995-96 campaign.
• Lehigh has won three of the last four, including two in a row (2002-03; 20017-18).
 
A WIN WOULD:
• even the Big Red's record at 3-3 on the season.
• snap a six-game losing streak on the road.
• cut Lehigh's advantage in the series to 5-3.
• make Coach Smith 22-20 vs. the Patriot League. 
• give Coach Smith her first win over the Mountain Hawks.
 
CORNELL VS. THE PATRIOT LEAGUE: Cornell is 46-61 all-time vs. the current members of the Patriot League.
• The Big Red owns the advantage in the series with Colgate (22-16).
• Cornell is tied with Lafayette (8-8) and Loyola (Md.) (3-3).
• The Big Red holds a losing mark against American (1-2), Army (5-6), Bucknell (5-19), Lehigh (2-5), and Navy (0-2).
• Boston University and Holy Cross are the only members of the Patriot League that Cornell has never faced in women's basketball.
• Coach Smith's record vs. the conference stands at 21-20.
 
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 (36 yrs), 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.
 
NCAA STATS:
• Cornell ranks inside the top 100 in fewest fouls (91st – 86), field goal percentage defense (79th – .360) and scoring defense (64th – 56.2).
• Laura Bagwell-Katalinich ranks 70th in rebounds per game (9.2).
• Samantha Widmann ranks 183rd in assist/turnover ratio (1.60).
• Theresa Grace Mbanefo ranks 227th in blocked shots per game (1.00).
 
STARTING STATS: The Big Red has used two different starting line-ups through the first five games of the season.
• Samantha Widmann and Danielle Jorgenson lead the team with 32 consecutive starts.
• Laura Bagwell-Katalinich 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.
 
GET A GRIP: Cornell turned the ball over just four times at Colorado State, matching the school record of four turnovers vs. Yale on Feb. 6, 2016.
 
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.
• Freshman Annika Hoff saw her first collegiate action in her home state when she played six minutes vs. No. 23 Minnesota. She finished with six points and five rebounds.
 
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 concludes its four game road trip as it heads to Stony Brook for a 5 p.m. contest on Saturday, Dec. 1.