ITHACA, N.Y. – The Cornell women's basketball team will close out a three-game road stretch when it travels to nearby Binghamton for a mid-week nonconference tilt on Wednesday at 7 p.m. at Dr. Bai Lee Court at the Events Center in Vestal, N.Y.
Game Information:
Cornell at Binghamton
DATE/TIME: Wednesday, Nov. 17, 2021 at 7 p.m.
SITE: Dr. Bai Lee Court at Events Center – Vestal, N.Y.
RECORDS: Cornell 1-2, 0-0 Ivy League / Binghamton 2-0, 0-0 America East
BROADCAST: ESPN+ (es.pn/3qXMMbp)
RADIO: WYOS (1360binghamton.com/listen-live/)
STATS: bubearcats.com (bit.ly/30wcyYL)
GAME NOTES
What's on Tap:
• Cornell will play its final game of a three-game road stretch when it travels to nearby Binghamton for a mid-week nonconference road tilt on Wednesday at 7 p.m. in Vestal, N.Y.
• Dayna Smith, the Rebecca Quinn Morgan '60 Head Coach of Women's Basketball, sits at 199 career victories, just one away from the 200-win milestone.
How to Watch:
• The game against Binghamton will be broadcast on ESPN+, along with all of Cornell's home contests and its entire slate of Ivy League games over the course of the season. ESPN+ is available to fans in the U.S. for $4.99/event, $6.99/month, or $69.99/year (http://plus.espn.com/). A similar international platform at the same price point is available for fans outside of the U.S., featuring both live and archived games.
• Fans will also have the option to listen to the game on WYOS (1360binghamton.com/listen-live/).
Last Time Out:
• Cornell headed south for its last two contests against ACC foe Wake Forest on Friday, Nov. 12 and ETSU on Sunday. Nov. 14. The Big Red were defeated in both outings, falling to the Demon Deacons, 64-42, and the Bucs, 66-54, to drop to 1-2 on the young season.
• The Big Red held its own for three quarters against Wake Forest, but the Demon Deacons continually extended its lead, culminating with a 21-point fourth quarter, to pull away from Cornell.
• ETSU shot the lights out against Cornell to come out on top, shooting 46.2 percent from the floor and 50.0 percent from deep (11-of-22).
• Juniors KC Carter and Ania McNicholas recorded career-highs in scoring in back-to-back contests, both notching eight points against Wake Forest and netting 12 and 11, respectively, against ETSU.
• The pair was two of four scorers in double figures for Cornell against the Bucs, being joined by Olivia Snyder (12) and Theresa Grace Mbanefo (10). This marks the second time in three games that the Big Red has placed four in double digits.
• Ania McNicholas stuffed the stat sheet against ETSU, adding eight boards and four assists to her 11 points, both of which were team-highs and career-bests.
• The Big Red utilized tough defense to hang in the contest against Wake Forest, blocking seven shots, with Theresa Grace Mbanefo (3) and Olivia Snyder (3) combining for six of them. Mbanefo has now notched three blocks in two of Cornell's three contests so far this season.
The Series vs. Binghamton:
• Wednesday's matchup will be the 19th meeting between the two teams, with Binghamton holding an 11-8 advantage dating back to the 1977-78 season.
• The Bearcats won four straight meetings from 2008-09 to 2011-12, but Cornell regained its footing, winning four consecutive games from 2012-13 to 2016-17.
• Binghamton has had Cornell's number as of late, winning the last three matchups, including a 59-56 victory over Cornell the last time the two teams met on Dec. 5, 2019 in Ithaca, N.Y.
• The Big Red lost on a Kai Moon buzzer-beater two seasons ago, as Moon hit a game-winning step-back 18-footer with 15 seconds left after hitting buzzer-beating 3-pointers at halftime and the end of the third quarter to keep the Bearcats' record unblemished at 9-0.
• Head Coach Dayna Smith owns a 6-10 record against Binghamton.
Cornell vs. the America East:
• Cornell holds a 27-30 all-time record against current members of the America East.
• Binghamton will be the first of three America East opponents for the Big Red this season, as Cornell is set to square off against UAlbany on Nov. 24 and UMass-Lowell on Dec. 1.
• Overall, the Big Red has a winning record vs. Albany (7-1), UMass Lowell (3-0), and UMBC (2-0).
• Cornell has a losing record vs. Binghamton (8-11), Hartford (0-2), Maine (0-1), New
Hampshire (1-5), Stony Brook (2-4) and Vermont (4-6).
• Coach Smith is 17-20 all-time vs. the America East.
Scouting Binghamton:
• Binghamton sits at 2-0 on the season after posting wins over Siena, 59-55, in its season opener on Nov. 9 and Canisius, 73-56, on Nov. 13.
• The game between the Bearcats and Big Red is the third game of a five-game home stand to open the season for Binghamton.
• The Bearcats have been led in scoring through two games by Denai Bowman, who ranks second in the America East conference at 17.5 points per game.
• Bowman leads Binghamton in assists (3.5 apg) and steals (3.0 spg) as well, the latter of which sits fourth in the America East conference.
• Claire Traeger (14.5 ppg) and Genevieve Coleman (10.0 ppg) are also averaging double-digit points in the early going. Traeger is leading the team in rebounding at 9.5 per game, a mark which ranks second in the America East so far this season.
• As a team, Binghamton has been tough on defense, limiting its opponents to an America East-best .310 shooting percentage from the floor, including .184 from 3-point range.
A Win Over Binghamton Would:
• Even Cornell's record at 2-2 on the season.
• Snap a three-game winning streak for Binghamton against the Big Red.
• Hand the Bearcats its first loss of the season.
• Give head coach Dayna Smith her 200th-career victory.
On the Cusp of a Milestone:
• Dayna Smith, The Rebecca Quinn Morgan '60 Head Coach of Women's Basketball, who is in her 20th year at the helm of the program, sits at 199 career victories, just one away from the 200-win milestone.
• The winningest coach in Cornell women's basketball history and the sixth-winningest in Ivy League history, she is the second-longest tenured active women's basketball coach in the conference (Harvard's Kathy Delaney-Smith, 40 seasons).
• With her 200th victory, Smith will become only the sixth coach in Ivy League women's basketball history to amass 200 career victories at an Ivy school.
• She is also fourth all-time in years served as a head coach in the Ivy League.
Notable Team Statistical Rankings:
• Cornell leads the Ivy League and ranks 31st in all of Division I as a team in blocked shots (15), while ranking second in the conference and 60th in the nation in blocked shots per game (5.0).
• Cornell is holding its opponents to an Ivy League-best 35.0 rebounds per game.
• The Big Red ranks third in the conference in assists (38) and steals (24), which breaks down to 12.7 assists and 8.0 steals per game, marks which sit fourth and fifth, respectively, among its Ivy League counterparts.
• The Big Red has limited its opponents to just 54.7 points per game, a mark which ranks third in the conference.
NCAA Individual Rankings:
• Theresa Grace Mbanefo ranks 16th in blocked shots (7), 32nd in double doubles (1), 53rd in rebounds (24), and 59th in blocked shots per game (2.3).
• KC Carter ranks 44th in 3-point field goal percentage (.600).
• Samantha Will ranks 60th in minutes played (98:02).
Ivy League Individual Rankings:
• Theresa Grace Mbanefo ranks third in the conference in rebounds per game (8.0) and fourth in blocks per game (2.3).
• KC Carter ranks fourth in the conference in 3-point field goal percentage (.600).
• Shannon Mulroy ranks fifth in the conference in assists per game (3.3), seventh in assist to turnover ratio (0.9), and 10th in minutes played per game (31.7).
• Ania McNicholas ranks fifth in the conference in steals per game (2.0) and 10th in assists per game (2.7).
• Samantha Will ranks eighth in the conference in minutes played per game (32.3).
• Olivia Snyder ranks ninth in the conference in minutes played per game (32.0).
Team Leaders:
• Points – Theresa Grace Mbanefo, 10.7 points per game
• Field Goals Made – Theresa Grace Mbanefo, 4.7 per game
• Field Goal Percentage – Theresa Grace Mbanefo, .538
• 3-point Field Goals Made – KC Carter, 2.0 per game
• 3-point Field Goal Percentage – KC Carter, .600
• Free Throw Percentage – Samantha Will, .750 (3-of-4)
• Rebounding – Theresa Grace Mbanefo, 8.0 rebounds per game
• Assists – Shannon Mulroy, 3.3 assists per game
• Assist-To-Turnover Ratio – Shannon Mulroy, 0.91
• Blocks – Theresa Grace Mbanefo, 2.3 blocks per game
• Steals – Ania McNicholas, 2.0 steals per game
• Minutes – Samantha Will, 32.3 minutes per game
A Look Back in Time:
• The last time the Big Red was in action in 2019-20, Cornell finished the season with a 10-16 overall record and a 3-11 mark in conference play, finishing seventh in the Ivy League.
• Cornell notched a historical win over Harvard that season, defeating the Crimson, 55-47, at Lavietes Pavilion on Feb. 29, 2020 for the team's first win over Harvard in Cambridge, Mass. in program history. Theresa Grace Mbanefo posted her first-career double-double in the contest with 11 points and 12 rebounds.
• The Big Red will look to get back to the Ivy League Tournament this year for the first time since the 2018-19 season, when the team qualified for its first conference tournament after its creation in 2016-17.
Starting from (Almost) Scratch:
• The Cornell women's basketball team will have a new look this season, returning only 27 percent of its minutes, 27 percent of its scoring, and 22 percent of its rebounding from the 2019-20 season.
• Of the 14-player roster, eight will suit up for the Big Red for the first time in the 2021-22 campaign.
Oh Captain, My Captain (s):
• Senior forward Theresa Grace Mbanefo, senior guard Samantha Will, and junior guard Shannon Mulroy will serve as tri-captains of the team for the 2021-22 season.
• Mulroy returns as the team's top scorer from 2019-20 when she averaged 8.3 points, 2.5 assists, and 2.1 rebounds per game. She appeared in all 26 games and made 23 starts while averaging 25.2 minutes of playing time per game, the most among all returners. She led the Big Red in 3-point makes (35) and shooting percentage from behind the arc (33.0) in her rookie season. She also ranked second on the team in assists and free throw percentage (.750) in 2019-20.
• A guard with a calming presence on the floor, Will came into her own at the end of the 2019-20 season when she scored double-digits in back-to-back games for the first time of her career against Yale on Feb. 21, 2020 and Brown on Feb. 22, 2020.
• Mbanefo is one of two forwards that returns from the 2019-20 roster. She played in all 26 games as a sophomore, making four starts and averaging 18.2 minutes per contest. She led Cornell in blocks (18) and ranked third on the team in rebounding, averaging 5.5 points and 4.9 rebounds per contest.
The Lay of the Land:
• In addition to Mbanefo, Mulroy, and Will, junior guard Ania McNicholas, junior guard KC Carter, and junior forward Anna Hovis return invaluable collegiate experience to a roster that is laden with newcomers.
• Junior transfer Olivia Snyder will add an offensive mentality and knack for scoring the basketball to the Big Red roster.
• Sophomore guards Mia Beam, Val Garcia-Martinez, and Kaya Ingram, as well as freshmen Jada Davis, Lexi Green, Arianna Linoxilakis, and Summer Parker-Hall will all take the floor for Cornell for the first time this season.
Ivy Preseason Rankings:
• The Big Red was picked sixth overall in the 2021-22 Ivy League Preseason Media Poll with 41 voter points.
• The 2019-20 Ivy League Regular Season Champion Princeton was once again picked as the favorite to win the league this year, collecting 12 of a possible 16 first place votes and 122 points.
• Penn, who returns the 2019-20 Ivy League Rookie of the Year and first team All-Ivy selection Kayla Padilla, was chosen second with three first place votes and 108 points.
• The race for third, fourth, and fifth was close from there, with Columbia being picked third (87 points), Yale being chosen fourth (82 points), and Harvard's single first place vote helping the Crimson come in fifth (81 points).
• Dartmouth (29 points) and Brown (27 points) rounded out the poll in seventh and eighth, respectively.
Up Next:
• The Cornell women's basketball team will return home to host Fairleigh Dickinson on Saturday, Nov. 20 at 1 p.m. at Newman Arena in Ithaca, N.Y.
