Saturday Set For Senior Day for Women's Hoops

STREAKS, STORYLINES & SIDEBARS 

• The Cornell women’s basketball completed a season sweep over Dartmouth for the first time since 2014 with a 53-40 victory on Friday, February 17. The lone other conference victory came at Brown on January 28.
• 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. The Big Red will end the home stretch with a win against Yale on Senior Night.
• 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 second in the Ivy in shooting percentage at a .529 clip from 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 27-points in the 66-61 win at Brown, the most by an active Cornellian since Shannon Mulroy, who also scored 27 in her freshman year. Pape earned her first career double-double at Penn with 14 points and 13 rebounds, second at Brown with 27 points and 11 rebounds, and third at Dartmouth with 14 points and 10 rebounds.
• Ania McNicholas is demonstrating true defensive prowess this season currently ranking 14th in the nation in steals (71), and 12th nationally in steals per game at 3.09 as of February 13, 2023. She earned the first triple-double for the Big Red since 1988 against Clarion this season (13 pts, 13 rbs, 10 stls).

THE SERIES 
Overall: Yale leads, 73-14
In Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell leads 16-13 (records do not indicate site prior to the 1980-81 season)
Current Streak: Cornell lost five
Last Meeting: 68-56 loss on Jan. 14, 2023
Smith vs. Yale: Yale leads, 21-18
Series Notes:

• The Bulldogs played host to the Big Red earlier this year in New Haven where they ended up winning 68-56.
• Last time out, Ania McNicholas led the Big Red in scoring with 16 points and Emily Pape led in rebounds, collecting nine in total.
• Cornell's last win against Yale in Ithaca came almost four years ago when the Big Red outscored the Bulldogs 66-56.
• Cornell is looking to end its five game losing streak agianst Yale.

A WIN OVER YALE WOULD ... 

• Break the 5 game losing streak Cornell has against Yale.
• Mark Coach Smith's 100th Ivy League win.
• Allow Cornell to tie with Brown in the current Ivy League standings.
• Be the 467th win in program history (466-760 in 52 seasons, .380).
   

LAST TIME OUT: Cornell 59, Harvard 86
GAME STORY I BOX SCORE I GALLERY

• The Big Red opened the game strong, leading the Crimson 14-12 after the first quarter, but the Harvard offense found its rhythm, never scoring fewer the 21 points per quarter the rest of the game.
• Emily Pape, Ania McNicholas, and Summer Parker-Hall each had 12 points.
• Both offenses exploded in the second half, but the Big Red's 36 was outshone by Harvard's 53, leading the the 27-point loss.
   

Photos by Eldon Lindsay and Patrick Shanahan.