Harvard Comes to Town to Take On Women's Hoops

STREAKS, STORYLINES & SIDEBARS 

• The Cornell women’s basketball team opened the 2022-23 conference play by hosting Dartmouth on Sunday, Jan. 1 where it won 61-48.
• The Big Red's five-game home win-streak was snapped by Columbia when the Lions took down Cornell 91-64 on MLK Jr. Day.
• 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.
• Cornell swept Ivy League weekly awards on January 3rd for the first time since the 2019-20 season when Shannon Mulroy won both Rookie and Player of the Week. This time around, Emily Pape won Rookie of the Week and Ania McNicholas took home the Player of the Week honor. Pape is one of the best shooters in the league, ranking fifth in the Ivy in shooting percentage at a .497 clip form the field.
• 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, the most by an active Cornellian since Shannon Mulroy tallied 27 in her freshman year. Pape earned her first career double-double at Penn with 14 points and 13 rebounds.
• Ania McNicholas is demonstrating true defensive prowess this season currently ranking sixth in the nation in steals (59), and ninth nationally in steals per game at 3.28 as of January 17, 2023. She earned the first triple-double for the Big Red since 1988 in the outing against Clarion (13 pts, 13 rbs, 10 stls).

THE SERIES 
Overall: Harvard leads, 72-14
In Ithaca, N.Y.: Harvard leads, 28-12 (records do not indicate site prior to the 1980-81 season)
Current Streak: Cornell won one
Last Meeting: 52-49 win on Feb. 19, 2022
Smith vs. Columbia: Harvard leads, 33-5
Series Notes:

• The first contest between these two foes dates back to the 1974-75 season, when Cornell took down Radcliffe 36-20. (Radcliffe was the all-women's coordinate institution to the all-male Harvard College).
• Though the record leans heavily in favor of the Crimson, Cornell has won two of the last three meetings, including one home and one on the road.
• Harvard has earned the Ivy League Championship title 11 different times over the programs history.

A WIN OVER HARVARD WOULD ... 

• be the second straight win in the series.
• move the Big Red one game below .500
• be the 465th win in program history (464-755 in seasons, .381)

LAST TIME OUT: Columbia 91, Cornell 64
GAME STORY I BOX SCORE I GALLERY

• Cornell fell to NR/RV Columbia, 91-68, on MLK Jr. Day.
• Emily Pape's 16 points led the Corneel scoring charge for the third time out of the past four contests.
• Columbia shot 63.0% from the field, and 47.4% from behind the arc.
• McNicholas tied her season-high made three pointers with three.
• For the first time in League play this season, Cornell had three players tally double-digit points.

Photos by Eldon Lindsay and Patrick Shanahan.