Women's Basketball Seeks Third Straight Win at Hartford

STREAKS, STORYLINES & SIDEBARS 

• The Cornell women’s basketball team opened the 2022-23 season against its longest non-Ivy rival at Colgate on Monday, Nov. 7 where it fell 62-48 to the Raiders at Cotterell Court in Hamilton, N.Y.
• The Big Red have a three consecutive home win streak following the 71-48 win over Binghamton on Wednesday evening.
• Picked sixth in the Ivy League Preseason media poll, the Big Red is coming off a 9-16 season and a sixth-place finish among the Ancient Eight.
• Theresa Grace Mbanefo and Samantha Will were the lone 2022 grads for the Red, opening up new court opportunities for the returners.
• Freshman Emily Pape neared double-double territory in both of her first two collegiate outings (13 pts, 7 rebounds at Colgate; 7 pts, 10 rebounds at FDU). She tallied a remarkable 24 points in the 66-61 win over Mount St. Mary's.
• Cornell returns 11 athletes from last year, while adding four new faces.
• Ania McNicholas is demonstrating true defensive prowess this season currently ranking 11th in the nation in steals (28). 

THE SERIES 
Overall: Hartford leads, 2-0 
In Hartford, Conn.: Hartford leads, 1-0
Current Streak: Hartford won two 
Last Meeting: Hartford won, 53-50, on November 13, 2015
Smith vs. Hartford: Hartford leads, 2-0
Series Notes: 

• Monday is the first time the two will matchup since November 2015. 
• The Hawks are still looking for their first win of the season and have dropped seven straight to begin their 2022 campaign. Cornell's lone loss came at Albany in the 2009-10 season.

A WIN OVER HARTFORD WOULD ... 

• be the best 10-game start (6-4) for Cornell since the 2019-20 season (the game against Lafayette was cancelled, so it is through 10 contests, 11 scheduled games)
• be the first three consecutive wins since Nov. 16, 2019 through Nov. 27, 2019, when Cornell tallied four straight wins.
• be the 462st win in program history (461-749 in seasons, .381).

LAST TIME OUT: Cornell 53, UAlbany 45
GAME STORY I BOX SCORE I GALLERY

• The Big Red led through halftime, but UAlbany fought back in the third quarter, and built as much as a seven point lead on Cornell. A 9-0 run to close out the quarter put Cornell back on top by two, a lead Cornell grew in the fourth.
• Cornell shot its best road percentage of the season at .409, 18-for-44.
• Junior Kaya Ingram tallied 12 points in the contest for her fourth-straight game in double-digits.
• Senior captain Ania McNicholas led the team in points with 14, and tied Summer Parker-Hall in rebounds with five.

Photos by Dave Burbank, Eldon Lindsay, Patrick Shanahan and Darl Zehr