GAME INFORMATION
GAME #10: Cornell vs. Hampton
GAME TIME: Saturday, Dec. 29, at 2:00 p.m.
GAME SITE: Newman Arena (Ithaca, N.Y.)
SERIES RECORD: First Meeting
LAST MEETING: First Meeting
2018-19 RECORDS: Cornell (4-5, 0-0 Ivy); Hampton (4-5, 0-0 Big South)
LIVE STATS: https://bit.ly/2PYqZhG
LIVE VIDEO: https://es.pn/2Sr6f00
 
Full Game Notes (PDF)
 
THE MATCHUP: The Big Red women's basketball team returns from the holiday break to take on Hampton for the first time in program history when it welcomes the Lady Pirates to Newman Arena at 2 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 29. Cornell enters the game with a 4-5 record after an exciting 62-59 victory over Lafayette last week. Hampton is also 4-5 on the season after dropping a pair of contests at the New Mexico Tournament.
 
QUICK HITS:
• The Big Red will take on Hampton for the first time in program history.
• The Lady Pirates are the first Big South opponent the Big Red has faced since playing Longwood during the 2011-12 season.
• The Big Red snapped an eight-game losing streak on the road when it defeated Lafayette, 62-59, before the holiday break.
• Cornell got a late three-point play from Samantha Widmann and then forced Lafayette into two turnovers and a bad shot in the final seven seconds to escape Kirby Sports Complex with the victory.
• Cornell had four players in double-digits against Lafayette, led by Laura Bagwell-Katalinch's 18 points, while Samantha Widmann, Samantha Clement and Theresa Grace Mbanefo finished with 10 points apiece.   
• Bagwell-Katalinich and Widmann have combined to lead Cornell in scoring in eight-of-nine games this season.
 
THE SERIES VS. HAMPTON: First meeting.
 
A WIN WOULD:
• be the third in a row and even the Big Red's record at 5-5.
• be the fifth in a row at Newman Arena.
• give the Big Red a 1-0 record vs. Hampton.
• make Cornell 5-3 vs. the Big South.  
• give Coach Smith a 3-2 record against the conference.
 
CORNELL VS. THE BIG SOUTH: Cornell has a 4-3 record all-time vs. the current members of the Big South.
• The Big Red has a winning record vs. Gardner-Webb (1-0) and Winthrop (1-0).
• The series with Longwood is tied at 1-1.
• Radford has a winning record vs. the Big Red (1-2).
• Cornell has never played Campbell, Charleston Southern, Hampton, High Point, Presbyterian, UNC Asheville, or USC Upstate.
• Head Coach Dayna Smith is 2-2 all-time vs. the Big South.
 
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 180 career victories.
 
WINNING OPPONENTS: Lafayette was the sixth opponent, out of nine for the Big Red, to own at least a .500 record or better entering the contest. 
 
NCAA STATS:
• Cornell ranks inside the top 100 in 3-point field goal defense (88th – .281), fewest fouls (73rd – 168), fewest turnovers (91st – 161), and scoring defense (77th – 58.8).
• Laura Bagwell-Katalinich ranks 160th in rebounds per game (7.6) and 156th in field goal percentage (.468).
• Samantha Widmann ranks 146th in steals per game (2.0) and 216th in assist/turnover ratio (1.35).
 
STARTING STATS: The Big Red has used three different starting line-ups this season.
• Samantha Widmann and Danielle Jorgenson lead the team with 34 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.
• Kate Sramac made her first career start vs. Delaware State on Dec. 15.
 
STUDYING THE OPPONENTS: Since the 1980-81 season, the Big Red is 16-22 coming out of Cornell's two-week study break. However, Coach Smith's teams have fared much better, posting a record of 11-6 in the first game back from exams, a mark that was raised with a 94-59 win over Delaware State.
 
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 closes out 2018 when it welcomes St. Bonaventure to Newman Arena at 1 p.m. on Monday, Dec. 31.