GAME INFORMATION
GAME #14: Cornell vs. Penn
GAME TIME: Friday, Feb. 1, at 7:30 p.m.
GAME SITE: Newman Arena (Ithaca, N.Y.)
SERIES RECORD: Penn leads, 56-21
LAST MEETING: Penn won, 53-39 (2/17/2018 in Ithaca)
2018-19 RECORDS: Cornell (7-6, 1-1 Ivy); Penn (11-3, 1-0 Ivy)
LIVE STATS:  https://bit.ly/2PYqZhG   
LIVE VIDEO: https://es.pn/2CQR0H0
 
Full Game Notes (PDF)
 
THE MATCHUP: The Big Red women's basketball team opens up a four-game home stand when it welcomes Penn to Newman Arena at 7:30 p.m. on Friday night. The game will be part of a double-header with the men's team also taking on the Quakers. Cornell (7-6, 1-1 Ivy) has won seven in a row at Newman Arena, but dropped its last outing at Columbia on Saturday in New York City. Penn has won two in a row, and seven of its last eight, as it sits atop the Ivy League standings with a record of 11-3 overall and 1-0 in the conference.
 
QUICK HITS:
• As part of the Cornell Student-Athlete Advisory Committee's ongoing #DontBearItAlone campaign, the Big Red will host its first-ever "Green Game" for student-athlete mental health awareness.
• The Big Red fell to Columbia last weekend, 65-57, in NYC to even its Ivy record at 1-1 on the year. 
• The Big Red is in the midst of a seven-game winning streak in Newman Arena, its most consecutive home wins since winning 10 straight from Jan. 19, 2008 to Dec. 1, 2008.
• Head Coach Dayna Smith was an assistant coach at Penn from 199-2002, helping the Quakers to an undefeated Ivy title in 2000-01.
• Big Red junior Laura Bagwell-Katalinch played for the Quakers during her freshman season before transferring to Cornell.
 
SEASON NOTES TO KNOW:
• Cornell is 7-1 when allowing less than 60 points.
• The Big Red is 6-0 when making more free throws than its opponents.
• Cornell is 7-1 when leading at halftime.
• Danielle Jorgenson and Samantha Widmann have started 40 straight games.
• Laura Bagwell-Katalinch has scored in double-digits in nine consecutive games.  
• Jorgenson has registered at least one steal in 11 straight games.
• Samantha Widmann has led Cornell in rebounding in five of the last seven games.
• Bagwell-Katalinich and Widmann have combined to lead Cornell in scoring in 12-of-13 games.
 
THE SERIES VS. PENN: Cornell's rivalry with the Quakers began during the 1974-75 season and the two teams have met every year since, excluding the 1977-78 and 1978-79 seasons.
• Cornell's longest winning streak in the series came when the Big Red won three consecutive from 2010-12.
• Head coach Dayna Smith, who served as an assistant coach for Penn from 1999-2002, holds a 12-20 record in the series.
 
A WIN WOULD:
• be the eighth 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.
• snap a three-game losing streak to Penn.
• restore a winning Ivy League record at 2-1.
• hand the Quakers their first conference loss.
 
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 183 career victories.
 
NCAA STATS:
• Cornell ranks inside the top 100 in fewest fouls (5th – 235), fewest turnovers (13th – 234), field goal percentage defense (54th – .368); rebound margin (88th – 3.8); scoring defense (32nd – 57.1); steals per game (42nd – 10.3), 3-point field goal defense (16th – .259), and turnovers forced (53rd – 19.2).
• Laura Bagwell-Katalinich ranks 100th in field goal percentage (.485), 206st in points per game (14.9), and 197th in rebounds per game (7.4).
• Samantha Widmann ranks 101st in steals per game (2.15).
• Danielle Jorgenson ranks 123rd in steals per game (2.08).
• Theresa Grace Mbanefo ranks 222nd in blocks per game (1.00).
 
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 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.
 
STARTING STATS: The Big Red has used three different starting line-ups this season.
• Samantha Widmann and Danielle Jorgenson lead the team with 40 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.
 
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 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 picked 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 chosen fifth (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. 
• Two games were broadcast on the Patriot League Network (Lehigh, Lafayette).
• Cornell had 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 plays host to Princeton on Saturday, Feb. 2 in a double-header with the men's program also taking on the Tigers. Cornell will tip-off with Princeton at 5 p.m. .