ITHACA, N.Y. – The Cornell women's basketball team will officially return to the hardwood when it hosts Colgate at 7 p.m. on Tuesday in its season opener at Newman Arena in Ithaca, N.Y.

Game Information:

Cornell vs. Colgate
DATE/TIME: Tuesday, Nov. 9, 2021 at 7 p.m.
SITE: Newman Arena – Ithaca, N.Y.
RECORDS: Cornell 0-0, 0-0 Ivy League / Colgate 0-0, 0-0 Patriot League
BROADCAST: ESPN+ (es.pn/3GJkuXc)
STATS: cornellbigred.com (https://cornellbigred.com/sidearmstats/wbball/summary)
GAME NOTES

What's on Tap:

•   For the first time in what seems like ages, the Cornell women's basketball team will return to the hardwood when it hosts Colgate at 7 p.m. on Tuesday in the team's season and home opener at Newman Arena in Ithaca, N.Y.
•   The game 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.

For Starters:

•   The Big Red is 21-28 all-time in season openers.
•   The Big Red posted its first season-opening win since 2016-17 in 2019-20, crushing UAlbany on the road, 71-51, on Nov. 8, 2019.
•   In her collegiate debut, Ania McNicholas had a career day against the Great Danes, recording career-bests in points (7) and rebounds (4). Theresa Grace Mbanefo scored eight points on 4-of-5 shooting, and Shannon Mulroy posted five rebounds, four assists, and four points.

The Series vs. Colgate:

•   Standing at 39 meetings all-time, Cornell's series with the Raiders is the longest in Big Red women's basketball history, excluding Ivy League games.
•   The Big Red has won 10 of the last 13 games against the Raiders, holding a 22-17 lead in the all-time series.
•   Colgate has won the last two meetings, however, including a 62-58 victory over the Big Red in Ithaca on Nov. 14, 2019. The Raiders put together quite the comeback in the contest, and after trailing by as many as 17 points early in the second half, took the lead with two minutes remaining and held on to win the game.
•   Shannon Mulroy was the third-leading scorer in the contest for the Big Red with nine points.
•   Head coach Dayna Smith holds a 10-5 overall record against the Raiders, including a 5-3 mark at Newman Arena.

A Win Over Colgate Would:

•   Give the Big Red back-to-back wins in its season opener.
•   Hold off a potential three-game win streak for Colgate over the Big Red.
•   Improve Cornell to 23-17 in the all-time series.
•   Make Coach Smith 11-5 in the all-time series and 23-22 against Patriot League opponents.

Cornell vs. The Patriot League:

• Cornell is 47-63 all-time vs. the current members of the Patriot League.
• The Big Red owns the advantage in the series with Colgate (22-17).
• Cornell holds a slim advantage over Lafayette (9-8) and is tied with Loyola (Md.) (3-3).
• The Big Red has a losing mark vs. American (1-2), Army (5-6), Bucknell (5-19), Lehigh (2-6), and Navy (0-2).
• Cornell has never faced Boston University or Holy Cross in women's basketball.
• Coach Smith's record vs. the conference stands at 22-22.

Scouting Colgate:

•   Colgate ended the 2019-20 season tied for third in the Patriot League with a 19-11 overall and 11-7 conference record, but struggled during the abbreviated 2020-21 campaign, going 1-8 on the season.
•   The Raiders were selected 10th in the Patriot League Preseason Poll.
•   Colgate will be led by first-year head coach Ganiyat Adeduntan, who was hired in April of 2021 as the ninth coach in the program's Division I history.
•   The Raiders will be led this season by team captains Alexa Brodie and Alexa Naessens.
•   Brodie returns having been Colgate's leading scorer in 2020-21 at 13.0 points per game. She ranked among the top-10 in the Patriot League in scoring a season ago, while also sitting fifth in the conference in assist to turnover ratio and seventh in assists. She led Colgate in assists at 3.4 per game.
•   Lindsay Blackmore returns this season after leading the Raiders in rebounding (4.8 rpg) and ranking third on the team in scoring (8.4 ppg) a season ago.

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.

Head Coach Dayna Smith:

•   Dayna Smith, The Rebecca Quinn Morgan '60 Head Coach of Women's Basketball, enters her is in her 20th season at the helm of the program.
•   The winningest coach in Cornell women's basketball history and the fifth-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).
•   She is also fourth all-time in years served as a head coach in the Ivy League.
•   She sits at 198 career victories, just two away from the 200-win mark.

Up Next:

•   The Cornell women's basketball team will open a three-game road stretch when it battles ACC opponent Wake Forest on Friday at 4 p.m. in Winston-Salem, N.C.