GAME INFORMATION
GAME #22: Cornell vs. Yale
GAME TIME: Friday, March 1, at 6:00 p.m.
GAME SITE: Newman Arena (Ithaca, N.Y.)
SERIES RECORD: Yale leads, 52-27
LAST MEETING: Cornell, 43-41 (2/16/2019 in New Haven)
2018-19 RECORDS: Cornell (9-12, 3-7 Ivy); Yale (15-10, 5-5 Ivy)
LIVE STATS: https://bit.ly/2PYqZhG
LIVE VIDEO: https://es.pn/2tFlhnM
 
Full Game Notes (PDF)
 
THE MATCHUP: After dropping a pair of close decisions to Ivy League leaders Penn and Princeton last weekend, the Big Red women's basketball team will look for more than just a moral victory when it opens its final home Ivy weekend with Yale (15-10, 5-5) at 6 p.m. on Friday, March 1. The game will be part of Red Key's National Girls and Women in Sports Day and could have Ivy League Tournament implications as the Bulldogs are tied with Dartmouth for fourth place in the conference standings, just above the Big Red.
 
QUICK HITS:
• Cornell defeated Yale, 43-41, in the first meeting this season, overcoming a 10-point deficit midway through the third quarter to down the Bulldogs.
• Laura Bagwell-Katalinch scored the Big Red's final six points of the contest, and finished with 17 points in the victory.
• Cornell is looking to sweep the Bulldogs for the second time in three seasons, having won both meetings in 2016-17 before being swept by Yale in 2017-18.
• Elodie Furey's cousin, Conor, played football for Yale (2014-18).
 
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 48 straight games.
• Laura Bagwell-Katalinich has scored in double-digits in 17 consecutive games.  
• Laura Bagwell-Katalinich has lead Cornell in scoring in 13 consecutive games.
• Samantha Widmann has scored in double-digits in five consecutive games.  
• Samantha Widmann has led Cornell in rebounding in 10 of the last 15 games.
• Bagwell-Katalinich and Widmann have combined to lead Cornell in scoring in 20-of-21 games.
 
THE SERIES VS. YALE: Cornell's rivalry with Yale began in 1974-75 with Yale taking the 31-23 victory.
•Since 2000, the Big Red has the lead in the series, 18-17, thanks to Cornell's win earlier this season.
• The Big Red won both meetings vs. Yale in 2016-17, earning its first season-sweep of the Bulldogs since winning both games during the 2008-09 campaign
 
A WIN WOULD:
• give the Big Red its second season sweep of the Bulldogs over the last three seasons.  
• improve Cornell to 7-4 in Newman Arena this season.
• snap a two-game losing streak.
 
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 (15th – 370), fewest turnovers (73rd – 377), field goal percentage defense (48th – .367); scoring defense (54th – 59.0); steals per game (71st – 9.2), 3-point field goal defense (26th – .278), and turnovers forced (74th – 17.90).
• Laura Bagwell-Katalinich ranks 136th in field goal percentage (.463), 38th in free throw percentage (.848), 128th in points per game (16.1), and 136th in rebounds per game (7.9).
• Danielle Jorgenson ranks 207th in assist/turnover ratio (1.38).
• Samantha Widmann ranks 236th in rebounds per game (7.1) and 173rd in steals per game (1.86).
 
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 (59.0), fourth in field goal percentage defense (.367), second in 3-point field goal percentage defense (.278), first in rebounding defense (36.1), and third in steals (9.2).
 
INDIVIDUAL IVY RANKINGS: Here's how the Big Red stacks up in the Ivy League … 
Laura Bagwell-Katalinich
• Fourth in scoring (16.1)
• Fourth in rebounding (7.9)
• 10th in field goal percentage (.463)
• First in free throw percentage (.848)
• Eighth in steals (1.7)
• Fourth in offensive rebounds (3.3)
• 10th in defensive rebounds (4.6)
Samantha Widmann
• 18th in scoring (11.1)
• Eighth in rebounding (7.1)
• Ninth in field goal percentage (.464)
• 14th in assists (2.5)
• 11th in free throw percentage (.622)
• Fifth in steals (1.9)
• 10th in offensive rebounds (2.3)
• Eighth in defensive rebounds (4.8)
• 10th in minutes played (31.8)
Danielle Jorgenson
• 10th in assists (3.1)
• Eighth in steals (1.7)
• Sixth in assist/turnover ratio (1.4)
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 48 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 will honor the program's lone senior – Samantha Clement – when it plays host to Brown at 4 p.m. on Saturday, March 3.