GAME INFORMATION
Game #15: Cornell at Columbia
Tipoff: Saturday, Jan. 21, at 4:30 p.m.
Site: Levien Gymnasium (2,500), New York, N.Y.
2016-17 Records: Cornell (10-4, 1-0 Ivy); Columbia (10-4, 0-1 Ivy)
Series Record: Cornell leads, 47-24
Last Meeting: Cornell won, 77-70, on Jan. 14, 2017 (Ithaca, N.Y.)
Live Video
Live Stats

Game Notes (PDF)
 
THE MATCHUP: The #PathToThePalestra continues this weekend as the Big Red women's basketball team travels to New York City to take on Columbia at Levien Gymnasium on Saturday, Jan. 21 at 4:30 p.m.  Cornell enters the game riding a three-game winning streak and with a 10-5 record overall (1-0 Ivy), including a victory over the Lions last weekend at Newman Arena. The game is the first of a double-header with the men's team and will be simulcast live on the Ivy League Digital Network and on ESPN3.
 
STORY LINES
• With 10 wins, Cornell needs just one more to get off to its best start through 15 games in the history of the program … The Big Red has started a season at 10-5 twice before – 1999-2000 and 2014-15.
• Cornell is undefeated in the month of January (3-0) and is riding its longest winning streak of the season at three games.
• The game with Columbia opens up a five-game road trip for Cornell.
 
#PATHTOTHEPALESTRA: The inaugural Ivy League men's and women's basketball tournaments will take place Saturday and Sunday, March 11-12, 2017, at the Palestra in Philadelphia. The top four teams will earn berths to the tournament, with the semifinals on Saturday and the championships on Sunday. All six games will be broadcast live on ESPN's networks. For more information, visit www.IvyMadness.com
 
THE SERIES VS. COLUMBIA: Cornell's rivalry with Columbia began in the 1975-76 season when the team represented Barnard College (the Columbia-Barnard Athletic Consortium was organized in 1984-85, at which time the team began playing under the name Columbia). Cornell holds a 47-24 record in the all-time series, thanks largely to the fact that it dominated the series throughout the `90s. The teams met 20 times from 1990-91 to 1999-2000, with Cornell winning 17 of those meetings, including 12 straight from 1993 to 2000. Currently, the Big Red has won 11 of the last 12 outings, including SIX straight … Head coach Dayna Smith is 18-11 all-time vs. the Lions.
 
LAST TIME VS. THE LIONS: Nicholle Aston registered her first double-double of the season, and five Cornell players reached double-digits, as the Big Red downed Columbia, 77-70, last Saturday at Newman Arena. Aston finished the game with 16 points and 11 rebounds, while Nia Marshall led the Big Red with 18 points. Janee Dennis tallied a career-high 13 points, going 5-of-6 overall and 3-of-4 from beyond the arc, while Kerri Moran had 12 points and eight assists. Megan LeDuc finished with 10 points. Columbia was led by Camille Zimmerman's 24-point, 10-rebound double-double, while Emily Surloff and Paulina Koerner chipped in 12 and 11 points, respectively. Both teams were extremely efficient on offense with Cornell connecting on .468 percent from the floor (29-62) and .600 percent from 3-point range (6-10), with the Big Red assisting on 20-of-29 baskets. The Lions were an identical .412 percent overall (28-68) and beyond the arc (7-17). Both teams also took care of the basketball with Cornell posting two fewer turnovers (5) the visitors (7). The teams battled through seven ties and eight lead changes through the first 16 minutes of the contest before Cornell closed the second quarter on a 12-2 run, featuring back-to-back treys from Dennis, to go up 47-37 at the half. The Big Red controlled the majority of the contest and led by eight points in the opening moments of the fourth quarter when a trey from LeDuc made it a 63-55 advantage. Columbia responded with an 11-2 run to take its first lead in nearly 20 minutes of game time, when Zimmerman completed a three-point play to put the visitors up, 66-65. That's when the Big Red used a run of its own, scoring six unanswered points to take a lead it would not relinquish. Zimmerman pulled the Lions back within one-point once more, but Cornell scored the final six points of the contest, including four straight free throws from Moran, to seal the 77-70 victory.
 
SCOUTING THE LIONS: Columbia finished the non-conference portion of its schedule at 10-3 (.769),  marking the highest non-conference winning percentage in program history, but fell to the Big Red in its Ivy League opener last weekend. The team is led by Camille Zimmerman, who is averaging nearly a double-double at 20.7 points and 9.6 rebounds per game, while Tori Oliver is chipping in 11.9 points and 6.8 rebounds per contest. The Lions shoot better than 40 percent from the floor and hold a +13.5 rebounding margin.
 
A WIN WOULD:
• improve Cornell to 11-4 this season (2-0), giving the team its best start through 15 games in the history over the program.
• give the Big Red a four-game winning streak, its longest since winning six straight from Dec. 30, 2014 to Jan. 30, 2015.
• be the seventh straight by the Big Red over the Lions and improve Cornell to 47-24 in the all-time series.
• improve Coach Smith to 19-11 all-time vs. the Lions
• be the Big Red's 12th win in the last 13 meetings with Columbia and its third in a row in New York City.
• make Cornell 6-3 on the road this season.
 
GET A GRIP: Cornell turned the ball over just five times last weekend vs. Columbia, matching the second fewest turnovers in a single game in program history (at Penn, Feb 6, 2015). The Big Red set the school record a year ago with a mere four turnovers vs. Yale on Feb. 6, 2016.
 
IVY OPENERS: Since Ivy League round robin play began in the 1982-83 season, Cornell has posted a 19-16 record in conference openers. The Big Red has faced Columbia more than any other team, opening the season against the Lions 18 times. Head Coach Dayna Smith's record is 8-7 in the first game of Ancient Eight play.
 
NON-CONFERENCE WINS:
• With its 9-4 record in non-conference game, the Big Red secured a winning non-conference record for the fifth consecutive season, the longest streak in program history.
• The 2016-17 squad also matched the school record for the most non-conference wins in program history (9), set twice before (2007-08; 2014-15).
• In total, the Cornell women's basketball program has posted eight or more non-conference wins 10 times, more than half (6) have come during head coach Dayna Smith's tenure.
 
STRONGEST START:
• Through the first 10 games of the season, the Big Red posted a 7-3 record, matching the best start in program history.
• The 7-3 start was the best ever under head coach Dayna Smith.
• Cornell has posted a 7-3 record to start a season twice before – 1972-73 and 1999-2000.
 
PLAYER OF THE WEEK NOTES:
• Nia Marshall has been named the Ivy League Player of the Week (POW) twice this season (Dec. 19, 2016; Jan. 2, 2017), giving her eight POW awards in her career.
• Marshall's eight POW awards are a Cornell record, surpassing Allyson DiMagno and Mary LaMacchia, who previously held the record with six honors apiece.
• Marshall now ranks ninth in Ivy League history for conference POW honors.
• Megan LeDuc (Jan. 18, 2016) and Nicholle Aston (Jan. 26, 2015) are the only current Big Red players other than Marshall to be named Ivy POW.
• In addition to Marshall's POW honors, she was named the Ivy Rookie of the Week (ROW) five times during the 2013-14 season, giving her 12 total Ivy weekly awards to her credit, passing Jeomi Maduka who was honored 10 times by the conference (seven ROW; three POW).
• Marshall was named Ivy League POW four times in 2014-15 (Dec. 22, Dec. 29, Jan. 12, Feb. 15), becoming the first Big Red women's basketball player to be named Ivy POW four times in a single season since Allyson DiMagno did so during the 2012-13 campaign.
• Nia Marshall was also named POW on Feb. 3, 2014, to become the first-ever Cornell freshman to take home the honor.
 
ROOKIE OF THE WEEK NOTES:
• Danielle Jorgenson was named the Ivy League Rookie of the Week on Dec. 19 after helping the Big Red defeat Youngstown State, 80-75.
• Samantha Widmann was named the Ivy League Rookie of the Week on Nov. 14 after scoring 14 points to help the Big Red comeback to defeat Loyola, 58-50.
• Danielle Jorgenson and Samantha Widmann become the first pair of Cornell freshman to win the award in the same season since Allie Munson and Allison Abt did so during the 2008-09 campaign.
• Caroline Shelquist was one of just eight Cornell women's basketball players to win Rookie of the Week honors twice in a career.
• Last season, Shelquist became the Big Red's first repeat Rookie of the Week winner since Nia Marshall took home the award on Feb. 3 and Feb. 10, 2014.
 
IVY HONOR SWEEP: Nia Marshall and Danielle Jorgenson were named the Ivy League Player and Rookie of the Week, respectively, on Dec. 19 to give Cornell its first Ivy League honors sweep since Marshall took home both awards on Feb. 3, 2014.  
 
COACHING TENURE: Head coach Dayna Smith, in her 15th season at the helm of the Big Red program, ranks fourth overall in Ivy League women's basketball history in years served as a head coach in the conference. Only one active coach, Harvard's Kathy Delaney-Smith (34th season), ranks ahead of Cornell's Smith.
 
HOLDING THE LEAD: Over the past two seasons, the Big Red is 17-1 when leading at halftime, with the lone blemish coming in its double-overtime loss to Stony Brook on Dec. 30, which snapped a 14-game winning streak.
• Cornell was a perfect 9-0 last season and began the 2016-17 campaign at 5-0 when leading at the half.
• Cornell is currently 8-1 this season when leading at halftime.
 
SCHOOL RECORD IN SIGHT: Nia Marshall enters the game ranked second in Cornell history, and 29th in the Ivy League rankings, with 1,486 career points. She needs just 164 points to break the school record, currently held by Karen Walker (1987-91).
 
TOP 10 ASSISTS:  Arguably the best backcourt duo in Cornell history, Kerri Moran and Megan LeDuc enter the week ranked fifth and eighth, respectively, in career assists. They are just the third pair of four-year teammates in Ivy League history to finish in the top 10 of their team's assist record list. The other Ivy duos are Brown's Julie Amato and Vita Redding (1995-99) and Dartmouth's Ashley Taylor and Fatima Kamara (2003-07).  
 
CORNELL CAREER TOP 10:
Nia Marshall
Points (2nd; 1,486) – 165 pts to move into 1st
Field goals made (2nd; 563) – 77 FG to move into 1st
Defensive rebounds (2nd; 437) – 154 defensive rebs to move into 1st
Free throws made (3rd; 352) – 4 FT to move into 2nd
Blocked shots (4th; 91) – 13 blocks to move into 3rd
Steals (4th; 190) – 3 steals to move into 3rd
Starts (4th; 97) – 10 start to move into 3rd
Rebounds (5th; 618) – 104 rebounds to move into 4th
Offensive rebounds (8th; 181) – 2 offensive rebs to move into 7th
Kerri Moran
Assists (5th; 371) 22 assists to move into 4th
Career games started (8th; 89) – 2 starts to move into 7th
Megan LeDuc
3-Point FG (6th; 114) – 7 3FG to move into 5th
Assists (8th; 301) – 35 assists to move into 7th
 
TEAM NCAA RANKINGS: Entering the week, the Big Red ranked among the top 100 in the nation in …
• Assist/Turnover Ratio – 100th (0.95)
• Assists per game – 98th (14.9)
• Fewest fouls – 16th (235)
• Fewest turnovers – 25th (221)
• Scoring defense – 70th (59.5)
• 3-point field goal defense – 70th (28.7)
• 3-point field goal percentage – 8th (39.4)
 
INDIVIDUAL NCAA RANKGINGS: Entering the week, here's how Cornell players stack up nationwide …
Nia Marshall
• Field goal percentage – 184th (43.2)
• Points per game – 161st (15.4)
• Steals per game – 93rd (2.21)
Megan LeDuc
• Assist/Turnover Ratio – 191st (1.46)
• Assists per game – 178th (3.9)
• Minutes played per game – 148th (33.79)
• Steals per game – 147th (2.00)
• 3-point field goals per game – 221st (1.93)
Kerri Moran
• Assist/Turnover Ratio – 57th (2.16)
• Assists per game – 65th (4.8)
• Minutes played per game – 108th (34.43)
 
WELL ROUNDED: Nia Marshall is the only player in Cornell women's basketball history to record 1,300 points, 500 rebounds, 100 assists, 100 steals and 50 blocked shots in a career.  
 
LOW PERCENTAGE SHOTS: Since the beginning of the 2012-13 season, the Big Red has held 67 of its 120 opponents (56 percent) to below 40 percent, including 8-of-14 games so far this season (57 percent).
 
150 WINS AND COUNTING: Head Coach Dayna Smith is the winningest coach in Cornell history, and reached the 150-win mark for her career with the team's overtime victory vs. Dartmouth on Jan. 30, 2016. She currently stands at 163 career victories.
 
CLOSE CALLS: Since the beginning of the 2010-11 season, the Big Red has had 65-of-175 games (37 percent) decided by eight points or fewer. In those games, Cornell has posted a 35-32 record (.522).
 
STARTING STREAK: Senior Nia Marshall has the longest starting streak on the team, standing at 72 games. Marshall has started every game of her career, with the exception of the Big Red's Senior Day on March 1, 2014.
 
UP NEXT: The Big Red continues its road trip when the squad heads to Harvard and Dartmouth next weekend. Cornell will face the Crimson on Friday, Jan. 27 at 7 p.m., before taking on the Big Green on Saturday, Jan. 28 at 6 p.m.