Women's Hoops Looks to Make Statement at Ivy League Preseason Favorite Princeton

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 five-game home win streak following a 61-48 win over Dartmouth to open Ivy play.
• 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, 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.
• Cornell returns 11 athletes from last year, while adding four new faces.
• Ania McNicholas is demonstrating true defensive prowess this season currently ranking number one in the nation in steals (56), and second nationally in steals per game at 4.00 as on January 5, 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: Princeton leads, 62-21
In Princeton, N.J.: Princeton leads, 31-7
Current Streak: Princeton won nine
Last Meeting: 75-37 loss on February 4, 2022
Smith vs. Princeton: Princeton leads, 31-8
Series Notes:

• Cornell's last win over the Tigers dates back to the 2017 season when the Big Red pulled off the upset in the New Jersey.
• Cornell only has had one win since the 2007-08 season, when it earned the W twice in one season.
• Princeton is the second-most eldest Ivy opponent for Cornell. They teams first faced in the 1974-75 season where the Tigers won 51-33.

A WIN OVER PRINCETON WOULD ... 

• be the first win in the series since Feb. 25, 2017, and just the ninth all-time in under Coach Smith.
• be the 465th win in program history (464-752 in seasons, .381).

LAST TIME OUT: Cornell 54, Penn 62
GAME STORY I BOX SCORE I GALLERY

• Freshman Emily Pape led the Big Red scoring effort, tallying 14 points and 13 rebounds in a 62-54 road loss to Penn.
• Pape's double-double is the first of her career and second this season for the Big Red (Summer Parker-Hall had 11 points and 10 rebounds at Hartford on Dec. 5, 2022).
• Ingram tallied her seventh game this season tallying double-digit points with her 10.

Photos by Eldon Lindsay and Patrick Shanahan.