Brown Comes to Town To Face 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 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.
• 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 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 a 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, and second at Brown with 27 points and 11 rebounds.
• Ania McNicholas is demonstrating true defensive prowess this season currently ranking 12th in the nation in steals (68), and 10th nationally in steals per game at 3.09 as of February 7, 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: Brown leads, 50-31
In Ithaca, N.Y.: Series tied, 17-17 (records do not indicate site prior to the 1980-81 season)
Current Streak: Cornell has won the last three meetings
Last Meeting: 66-61 win on Jan. 28, 2023
Smith vs. Brown: Cornell leads, 20-15
Series Notes:

• The Big Red played the Bears a couple weeks ago in a tightly contested matchup. Cornell went into the fourth quarter up by only a point, but a sturdy defensive fourth quarter allowing only 14 points sealed the deal, 66-61. 
• Freshman Emily Pape made a strong case for Ivy League Rookie of the Year in that game, going 65% from the field for 27 points and 11 rebounds. She was awarded the honor for the second time this year on the Monday following the contest. 
• Brown is looking for their first win in Ithaca since the 2016-17 season. Cornell has won the last four at home and 8 of the last 10. 

A WIN OVER BROWN WOULD ... 

• allow Cornell to pass the Bears in the current Ivy League standings.
• increase the Big Red's win streak against Brown to four. 
• be the 466th win in program history (465-759 in 52 seasons, .380).
   

LAST TIME OUT: Cornell 54, Penn 67
GAME STORY I BOX SCORE I GALLERY

• Cornell, coming off a tough night against Princeton on Friday, dropped the second leg of their back-to-back to Penn with a final count of 67-54. Pape and Parker-Hall had 12/5 and 11/5, points/rebounds respectively.
• The Big Red gave up the lead early on, getting outscored by 9 in the first quarter. They bounced back well in the second, holding Penn to only 33% from the field.
• Penn came out of the tunnel after halftime with a renewed energy and headed into the fourth up 56-32. From there, they only needed to keep Cornell from having a record-breaking final 10 minutes to secure the win.
   

Photos by Eldon Lindsay and Patrick Shanahan.