2022-23 Season Concludes at Columbia

STREAKS, STORYLINES & SIDEBARS 

• The Cornell women’s basketball team beat last season nine win record by notching 10 with a 53-40 victory over Dartmouth on Friday, February 17.
• 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 sits at seventh heading in to the final weekend.
• 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 20th in the nation in steals (75), and 17th nationally in steals per game at 2.88 as of February 28, 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: Columbia leads, 51-30
In New York, N.Y.: Cornell leads, 24-11 (records do not indicate site prior to the 1980-81 season)
Current Streak: Cornell lost three
Last Meeting: 91-64 loss on Jan. 16, 2023
Smith vs. Columbia: Cornell leads, 22-17
Series Notes:

• The Big Red hosted Columbia in this year's celebration of Martin luther King, Jr. Day, where the Lions ended up winning, 91-64.
• Last time out, Emily Pape led the Big Red in scoring with 16 points and Ania McNicholas led in rebounds, collecting six in total.
• Cornell's last win against Columbia came in Ithaca came three years ago when the Big Red outscored the Columbia in overtime, 80-77.

A WIN OVER COLUMBIA WOULD ... 

• Break the two-game Big Red slide.
• Mark Coach Smith's 100th Ivy League win.
• Allow Cornell to tie with Brown in the current Ivy League standings, barring a Brown loss.
• Be the 467th win in program history (466-761 in 52 seasons, .380).
   

LAST TIME OUT: Cornell 42, Yale 63
GAME STORY I BOX SCORE I GALLERY

• The second half effort for the Big Red fell short to the Bulldogs on Saturday, February 25.
• Emily Pape lead Cornell in scoring with 18 points. She  was the only Big Red player to tally double-digits, while Yale had four double-digit scorers.
• Pape neared a double-double with nine rebounds.
• Yale outscored the Big Red, 40-23, in the first half. Cornell was only outscored by four in the third quarter, but both teams went cold in the fourth quarter, each scoring just seven points.

Photos by Eldon Lindsay and Patrick Shanahan.