GAME INFORMATION
GAME #26: Cornell vs. Princeton
GAME TIME: Saturday, March 16, at 6:00 p.m.
GAME SITE: Lee Amphitheater (New Haven, Conn.)
SERIES RECORD: Princeton leads, 57-21
LAST MEETING: Princeton, 68-64 (2/2/19 in Princeton, N.J.)
2018-19 RECORDS: Cornell (12-13, 6-8 Ivy); Princeton (20-9, 12-2 Ivy)
LIVE STATS: http://statb.us/c/ivy/251728
LIVE VIDEO: https://es.pn/2F9YVBs
 
Full Game Notes (PDF)
 
THE MATCHUP: For the first time in the three-year history of the Ivy League Women's Basketball Tournament, the Big Red women's basketball team will be part of the field as Cornell snagged the fourth seed with its win over Dartmouth in the regular season finale for both teams last Saturday. The Big Red will take on top seed Princeton in the first semifinal at 6 p.m. on Saturday, March 16 at Lee Amphitheater in New Haven, Conn. Princeton has won 10 in a row and comes into the contest with a record of 20-9 overall and 12-2 in Ivy League play.  
 
WHERE WE STAND: By winning three of its final four Ivy League contests, the Big Red managed to finish the season tied for fourth in the conference standings with Dartmouth and Yale.
• Cornell, picked to finish eighth in the Ivy League Preseason Media Poll, earned its first berth into the conference tournament by virtue of its sweep of the Bulldogs, and its season split with the Big Green.
 
QUICK HITS:
• Princeton won both regular season games against the Big Red to run its current streak in the series to three straight victories.  
• In the teams' meeting on Feb. 22, Cornell erased a 21-point deficit in the fourth quarter to get within two points with 34 seconds to play but couldn't find the equalizer as the Tigers won, 68-64.  
• The game features three Ivy League alumni on the team benches – Big Red assistant coach Shelby Lyman (Cornell, 2014), Princeton head coach Courtney Banghart (Dartmouth, 2000) and Princeton assistant coach Addie Micir (Princeton, 2011).
 
ALL-IVY ACCOLADES: Laura Bagwell-Katalinich was named first-team All-Ivy when the teams were announced on Wednesday afternoon. The junior forward takes home just the 11th first-team selection in Big Red women's basketball history.
 
IN RARE COMPANY:  Laura Bagwell-Katalinich enters Saturday's contest needing just three points and five rebounds to move into the top 10 in Cornell history for points and rebounds in a single season.
• Only two other players in Cornell history have ever finished in the top 10 in both categories in the same year – Rhonda Anderson (1982-83: third – 462 points; second – 287 rebounds) and Nia Marshall (2014-15: fourth – 455 points; 10th – 205 rebounds).
  
CHARTING BAGWELL-KATALINICH: Laura Bagwell-Katalinich is putting together one of the best seasons in Big Red basketball history and is on pace to finish in the top 10 in points, field goals made, and rebounds …
• 13th in season points (310) … Needs three more to reach the top 10.
• Eighth in season FG made (163) … Needs three more to move into seventh place.
• 15th in season rebounds (200) … Needs five more to reach the top 10.
 
SEASON NOTES TO KNOW:
• Cornell is 12-2 when allowing less than 60 points.
• The Big Red is 11-3 when making more free throws than its opponents.
• Cornell is 8-1 when leading at halftime.
• Danielle Jorgenson and Samantha Widmann have started 52 straight games.
• Laura Bagwell-Katalinich has scored in double-digits in 21 consecutive games.  
• Laura Bagwell-Katalinich has lead Cornell in scoring in 17 consecutive games.
• Samantha Widmann has scored in double-digits in seven of the last nine games.  
• Bagwell-Katalinich and Widmann have combined to lead Cornell in scoring in 24-of-25 games.
 
THE SERIES VS. PRINCETON: Cornell's rivalry with the Tigers began during the 1974-75 season with a 51-33 Princeton victory.
• Following that first meeting, the teams did not meet again until the 1979-80 season.
• The schools have met every year since 1979-80.
• Cornell snapped a series-high 17-game winning streak by the Tigers with a 55-44 victory in 2016-17.
• The teams have never met at a neutral site.
• The teams have never met in the Ivy League Tournament.
 
A WIN WOULD:
• snap a three-game skid to Princeton.
• even the Big Red's record at 13-13.
• propel Cornell into the Ivy League Women's Basketball Tournament championship game
 
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 currently stands at 188 career victories.
 
NCAA STATS:
• Cornell ranks inside the top 100 in fewest fouls (17th – 422), field goal percentage defense (54th – .372); scoring defense (51st – 58.8); steals per game (59th – 9.4), 3-point field goal defense (28th – .283), and turnovers forced (72nd – 17.72).
• Laura Bagwell-Katalinich ranks 122nd in field goal percentage (.467), 42nd in free throw percentage (.848), 116th in points per game (16.4), and 128th in rebounds per game (8.0).
• Samantha Widmann ranks 246th in the nation in rebounds per game (7.0)
• Danielle Jorgenson ranks 171st in assist/turnover ratio (1.50).
 
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 (58.8), fourth in field goal percentage defense (.372), second in 3-point field goal percentage defense (.283), first in rebounding defense (36.1), and first 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 (16.4)
• Third in rebounding (8.0)
• Seventh in field goal percentage (.467)
• First in free throw percentage (.848)
• 11th in steals (1.4)
• Third in offensive rebounds (3.3)
• Ninth in defensive rebounds (4.7)
Samantha Widmann
• 18th in scoring (10.8)
• Eighth in rebounding (7.0)
• Eighth in field goal percentage (.463)
• 10th in free throw percentage (.663)
• Seventh in steals (1.6)
• Eighth in offensive rebounds (2.3)
• 10th in defensive rebounds (4.7)
Danielle Jorgenson
• Ninth in assists (3.1)
• Seventh in steals (1.6)
• Sixth in assist/turnover ratio (1.5)
Theresa Grace Mbanefo
• Fifth in blocks (0.8                 
 
SMARTY PANTS: Laura Bagwell-Katalinich was named to the 2018-19 Google Cloud Academic All-District Women's Basketball Team, selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA). She is the Big Red's first selection since Nicholle Aston in 2015-16, and one of two Ivy League student-athletes, joining Brown's Erika Steeves.
 
STARTING STATS: The Big Red has used five different starting line-ups this season.
• Samantha Widmann and Danielle Jorgenson lead the team with 52 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 winner of the Princeton/Cornell contest will play the winner of Penn/Harvard in the Ivy League Women's Basketball Tournament championship game at 4 p.m. on Sunday, March 17.