ITHACA, N.Y. – The Big Red women's basketball team overcame a hot start by visiting Lehigh to get back into the contest at the half, but then let a late three-point lead slip away as the Mountain Hawks escaped Newman Arena with a 62-57 victory this evening.
 
Cornell (0-4) was led by Danielle Jorgenson's career-high 17 points on a 5-of-9 performance from the floor. Samantha Widmann and Stephanie Umeh added 10 points apiece. All 10 of Umeh's points came in the first half, including her first career 3-pointer which she hit at the buzzer ending the first quarter.
 
Freshman Elodie Fury had a game-high eight rebounds and handed out a team-high four assists, while senior Christine Ehland grabbed six boards and had four points.
 
Lehigh (2-2) was led by Quinci Mann's 19 points, while Gina Grundhoffer added 14.
 
The Mountain Hawks shot nearly 50 percent from the field (.489; 23-47) and knocked down 35 percent (7-20) from beyond the arc. Cornell connected on .393 percent overall (22-56) and just .250 percent (4-16) from 3-point range.
 
Both teams grabbed 31 rebounds and for the first time this season, Cornell finished with fewer turnovers than its opponents (18-19).
 
The Mountain Hawks came out firing in the first quarter, hitting 6-of-9 from beyond the arc to build a nine point lead (24-15) before Umeh's buzzer-beater made it a 24-18 game at the first break.  
 
Cornell slowly chipped away at the Lehigh advantage throughout the second quarter and scored the final five points on buckets from Dylan Higgins and Samantha Clement to take the 33-32 lead into halftime.
 
The teams traded leads throughout the third quarter with neither taking more than a three-point advantage before a layup from Jorgenson sent the Big Red into the final break with a 45-43 lead.
 
Cornell maintained the lead until Camryn Buhr rattled off five consecutive points to give the visitors a lead it would not relinquish with 4:39 remaining. The Big Red made it interesting, holding the visitors without a field goal for the final 2:52 of the game and forcing turnovers on consecutive Lehigh possessions with under 45 seconds on the clock to cut the lead to four points (58-54), but Mann connected on 4-of-4 free throws down the stretch to hold on for the victory.
 
The Big Red will play in its final game before the Thanksgiving break when it travels up to Buffalo to take on Canisius on Wednesday, Nov. 22 at 1 p.m.