Women's Hoops Closes First Half of Conference Play At Brown

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 fourth in the Ivy in shooting percentage at a .522 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 11th in the nation in steals (60), and ninth nationally in steals per game at 3.16 as of January 24, 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: Brown leads, 50-30
In Providence, R.I.: Brown leads, 33-14 (records do not indicate site prior to the 1980-81 season)
Current Streak: Cornell won two
Last Meeting: 68-61 win on Feb. 12, 2022
Smith vs. Brown: Cornell leads, 19-15
Series Notes:

• The last matchup against the two resulted in a close 68-61 score in Cornell's favor. It was a special night for Ania McNicholas where she set her career records that hold to this day in points and 3-pointers made.  
• The all-time record is tilted considerably in Brown's favor, but the Big Red have won the last two and five out of the last six dating back to 2019.
• The 30 wins against Brown is the second most wins in history against any team Cornell has faced behind Columbia (51).
• Brown is the eldest Ivy opponent for the Big Red, with the series dating back to the 1974-75 when it was just the second game of the season.

A WIN OVER BROWN WOULD ... 

• be the third straight win in the series.
• break the Big Red's five game losing streak.
• be the 465th win in program history (464-755 in seasons, .381).

LAST TIME OUT: Harvard 66, Cornell 53
GAME STORY I BOX SCORE I GALLERY

• Cornell dropped to 1-5 in conference play with it's 66-53 loss to Harvard at home. 
• Emily Pape and Kaya Ingram each neared double-double territory, combining for 33 points and 15 rebounds.
• Pape led Cornell in steals for the fourth time this season with three.
• For the ninth time this season, a Cornell player hit at leat three three pointers (Ingram, 3-for-5)
• Mulroy led the team in assists for the 11th time this seaosn, tallying four.

Photos by Eldon Lindsay and Patrick Shanahan.