GAME INFORMATION
GAME #12: Cornell vs. Columbia
GAME TIME: Saturday, Jan. 19, at 1:00 p.m.
GAME SITE: Newman Arena (Ithaca, N.Y.)
SERIES RECORD: Cornell leads, 49-25
LAST MEETING: Columbia, 72-54 (1/27/2018; Ithaca, N.Y.)
2018-19 RECORDS: Cornell (6-5, 0-0 Ivy); Columbia (4-9, 0-0 Ivy)
LIVE STATS: https://bit.ly/2PYqZhG  
LIVE VIDEO: https://es.pn/2HfsmoZ  
 
Full Game Notes (PDF)
 
THE MATCHUP: The Big Red women's basketball team opens Ivy League play this weekend when it welcomes to Columbia to Newman Arena for an 11 a.m. contest on Saturday, Jan. 19. Cornell has won four in a row, and six straight in Ithaca, but has been idle for 18 days after having a contest against Vermont Tech cancelled. The Big Red enters the contest with a 6-5 record, while the Lions have won two in a row to improve to 4-9 on the year.  
 
KIDS DAY: Cornell Athletics will celebrate its Fifth Annual Fred Geise Memorial KIDS DAY, on Saturday. Free activities, including face painting (by Cami and Dan of Festive Faces), an inflatable obstacle course, sand art, photo booth and other games (courtesy of CNY Attractions) begin at 11:00 a.m., and continue throughout the men's game, which tips at 1:30 p.m. Kids receive FREE admission to both games and there will be plenty of free giveaways (while supplies last).

QUICK HITS:
• Cornell had a game scheduled for Jan. 7 against Vermont Tech canceled, giving the Big Red an unexpected 18-day break from competition.  
• Cornell has won six consecutive home games, its longest winning streak in Newman Arena since winning six in a row from Dec. 6, 2014 to Jan. 13, 2015.
• The Big Red is in the midst of a four-game winning streak, its longest stretch since winning four consecutive contests from Jan. 1 to Jan. 21, 2017.
• The Big Red has been idle since a 58-44 victory over St. Bonaventure on Dec. 31.
• The victory over the Bonnies gave Cornell its first win over an A10 opponent since defeating Fordham during the 2011-12 season.
• The Big Red forced a season-high 30 turnovers with 19 steals vs. St. Bonaventure.
• Laura Bagwell-Katalinch had a team-high 14 points vs. the Bonnies, giving her double-digits in seven consecutive games.   
• Bagwell-Katalinich and Widmann have combined to lead Cornell in scoring in 10-of-11 games this season.
 
THE SERIES VS. COLUMBIA: Cornell's rivalry with Columbia began in 1975-76 when the team represented Barnard College.
• Cornell dominated the series throughout the 1990s, during which the teams met 20 times from 1990-91 to 1999-2000, with Cornell winning 17 of those meetings, including a series-high 12 straight from 1993 to 2000. 
• Currently, the Big Red has won 13 of the last 15 outings.
• Cornell had won seven straight in Ithaca, and eight consecutive against the Lions, prior to Columbia's win last season in Newman.
 
A WIN WOULD:
• be the fifth in a row and give the Big Red a winning record at 7-5.
• give Cornell its longest winning streak since winning six in a row from Dec. 30, 2014 to Jan. 30, 2015.
• be the seventh in a row at Newman Arena.
•  give Cornell its most consecutive home wins since winning 10 straight from Jan. 19, 2008 to Dec. 1, 2008.
• be the Big Red's 50th win over Columbia, improving the program to 50-25 all-time vs. the Lions.   
• give Coach Smith a 21-12 record against the Lions.
 
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 182 career victories.
 
ROOKIE OF THE WEEK: Theresa Grace Mbanefo was named the Ivy League Rookie of the Week on Dec. 31
• She is the first Big Red player this season to take home a league honor, and is the first ROW for Cornell since Samantha Widmann on Feb. 20, 2017.
• Mbanefo won the award after a stellar effort against Hampton with career-highs in points (12) and rebounds (9) in just 19 minutes of action off the bench.
 
NON-CONFERENCE WINS:
• With its 6-5 record in non-conference play, the Big Red has secured a .500 or better non-conference record in six of the last seven seasons.
• In Coach Smith's 16 seasons with the Cornell women's basketball program she has led the Big Red to seven non-conference seasons in which the team has posted at least a .500 record.
 
NCAA STATS:
• Cornell ranks inside the top 100 in fewest fouls (10nd – 205), fewest turnovers (23rd – 204), field goal percentage (61st – .367); rebound margin (95th – 3.5); scoring defense (35th – 56.9); steals per game (49th – 10.4), 3-point field goal defense (14th – .250), and turnovers forced (53rd – 19.7).
• Laura Bagwell-Katalinich ranks 108th in field goal percentage (.485) and 217th in rebounds per game (7.2).
• Samantha Widmann ranks 126th in steals per game (2.09).
• Danielle Jorgenson ranks 126th in steals per game (2.09).
 
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 completes the home-and-home series with Columbia when it travels to New York City to take on the Lions in a 4 p.m. contest on Saturday, Jan. 26.