GAME INFORMATION
GAME #20: Cornell at Penn
GAME TIME: Saturday, Feb. 23, at 4:30 p.m.
GAME SITE: The Palestra (Philadelphia, Pa.)
SERIES RECORD: Penn leads, 56-21
LAST MEETING: Penn, 59-46 (2/1/2019 in Ithaca)
2018-19 RECORDS: Cornell (9-11, 3-6 Ivy); Penn (17-4, 7-1 Ivy)
LIVE STATS: https://bit.ly/2BO9dFx
LIVE VIDEO: https://es.pn/2SmxWG5
 
Full Game Notes (PDF)
 
THE MATCHUP: The Big Red women's basketball team saw its two-game Ivy League winning streak come to an end last night with a heartbreaking 68-64 loss at Princeton. Cornell (9-11, 3-6 Ivy) trailed by 21 points early in the fourth quarter before using an epic comeback to get with two points of the Tigers with 34 seconds to play, but could not find the equalizer. Penn, on the other hand, earned a dominant 79-56 win over Columbia last night to improve to 17-4 overall and remain in first place in the conference standings with a mark of 7-1.
 
QUICK HITS:
• Trailing by 21 points to Princeton early in the fourth quarter last evening, the Big Red embarked on an epic comeback to get within two points with 34 seconds to play in the game, but could not find the equalizer as the Tigers held on to win, 68-64.
• The comeback was spearheaded by Laura Bagwell-Katalinch, who tallied 14 points in the final stanza en route to a game-high 21 points.
• Samantha Widmann, who tallied 18 points, kept the Big Red in the contest early, finishing the first quarter with 10 points as Cornel trailed 19-16 at the first break.
• 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 9-2 when allowing less than 60 points.
• The Big Red is 8-2 when making more free throws than its opponents.
• Cornell is 7-1 when leading at halftime.
• Danielle Jorgenson and Samantha Widmann have started 47 straight games.
• Laura Bagwell-Katalinich has scored in double-digits in 16 consecutive games.  
• Laura Bagwell-Katalinich has lead Cornell in scoring in 12 consecutive games.  
• Samantha Widmann has led Cornell in rebounding in nine of the last 14 games.
• Bagwell-Katalinich and Widmann have combined to lead Cornell in scoring in 19-of-20 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:
• give the Big Red a weekend split.
• improve Cornell to 4-7 on the road this season.
• snap a three-game losing streak to Penn.
• end a three-game losing streak at the Palestra to give Cornell its first win in Philadelphia since 2015.
 
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 185 career victories.
 
NCAA STATS:
• Cornell ranks inside the top 100 in fewest fouls (14th – 353), fewest turnovers (73rd – 364), field goal percentage defense (41st – .365); scoring defense (50th – 58.5); steals per game (66th – 9.4), 3-point field goal defense (21st – .275), and turnovers forced (72nd – 18.15).
• Laura Bagwell-Katalinich ranks 125th in field goal percentage (.469), 42nd in free throw percentage (.847), 142nd in points per game (15.9), and 139th in rebounds per game (7.9).
• Danielle Jorgenson ranks 159th in steals per game (1.90).
• Samantha Widmann ranks 244th in rebounds per game (7.0) and 159th in steals per game (1.90).
 
DEFENSIVE DOMINANCE: The Big Red has proven to be one of the top defensive teams in the Ivy League, ranking second in the conference in scoring defense (58.5), fourth in field goal percentage defense (.365), second in 3-point field goal percentage defense (.275), first in rebounding defense (35.8), and second in steals (9.4).
 
INDIVIDUAL IVY RANKINGS: Here's how the Big Red stacks up in the Ivy League … 
Laura Bagwell-Katalinich
• Fourth in scoring (15.9)
• Fourth in rebounding (7.9)
• Eighth in field goal percentage (.469)
• First in free throw percentage (.847)
• 10th in steals (1.6)
• Third in offensive rebounds (3.3)
• 10th in defensive rebounds (4.6)
Samantha Widmann
• 19th in scoring (10.8)
• Eighth in rebounding (7.0)
• 10th in field goal percentage (.463)
• 14th in assists (2.6)
• 11th in free throw percentage (.617)
• Fifth in steals (1.9)
• 11th in offensive rebounds (2.2)
• Ninth in defensive rebounds (4.8)
Danielle Jorgenson
• 11th in assists (2.9)
• Sixth in steals (1.7)
Theresa Grace Mbanefo
• Fifth in blocks (0.9)                
 
STARTING STATS: The Big Red has used four different starting line-ups this season.
• Samantha Widmann and Danielle Jorgenson lead the team with 47 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.
• Caitlyn Smith made her first career start at Brown on Feb. 15.
 
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.
 
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 returns to Newman Arena for its final home games of the season when it plays host to Yale and Brown on Friday, March 2 and Saturday, March 3, respectively. Friday's 6 p.m. game against the Bulldogs will be a part of Cornell's National Girls and Women in Sports Day and all children will receive free admission, while Saturday's 4 p.m. contest vs. the Bears will serve as the Big Red's Senior Night with the program honoring Samantha Clement.