The women’s basketball team played its Newman Arena opener yesterday, expecting to find some of the home court advantage its opponents enjoyed in the Red’s first three road games. However, Cornell did not receive what it expected, as 229 fans watched the team suffer a lopsided 63-42 loss to Canisius.
The 42 points was Cornell’s lowest total since November 22, 2003. The Golden Griffins’ stifling defense limited the Red to only 27 percent shooting from the field and caused a disheartening 21 turnovers — only twelve of which from steals.
Cornell has now dropped three games in a row and careless ball handling seems to be the reason. In its first game against Mt. St. Mary’s, the Red turned the ball over only 16 times. However, in the last three games — all losses — the team has committed a total of 72 turnovers, an average of 24 per game.
Canisius jumped out to an early lead, scoring 17 of the game’s first 22 points. It extended its lead to 23-8 after back-to-back second chance three pointers by Becky Zak, who finished the game with 14 points and seven rebounds. Canisius led by as many as 18 early in the first half, with the Red only shooting 23 percent from the floor in the first 12 minutes.
Cornell’s defense prevented the game from becoming a blowout, allowing the team to cut the lead to eleven by halftime. Junior Sarah Brown got the comeback run started with a running jumper from the foul line. Her bucket was followed by a reverse layup from freshman Lindsay Krasna, who was named the Ivy League Rookie of the Week earlier in the day for her 20-point, 10 rebound performance on Nov 24.
Sophomore Claire Perry then sunk a pair of free throws and Krasna added another bucket, finishing an 8-0 run by the Red to close the half.
With the Red down only 28-17, sophomore Katherine Stritzl opened up the second half with a three pointer, cutting the Golden Griffins’ lead to eight. But, that was as close as Cornell would get, as Canisius rolled off 14 straight points to make it a 42-20 game with 12:30 left to play.
Krasna finished with a team-high 14 points to go along with six boards. Sophomore Amy Lyon chipped in her first career double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds and Perry added seven points and six rebounds.
Other than Zak, the Golden Griffins boasted two other members with double digits in scoring, as Megan Lyte and Cheri Wittlieb collected 12 and 13 points, respectively. Lyte was very efficient on offense, making five shots on eight attempts.
As a team, Canisius out rebounded Cornell 50- 43. The undersized Red gave up 18 offensive rebounds.
Cornell will try to begin its climb back to .500 on Saturday, when it hosts Drexel.
Archived article by Bryan Pepper
Sun Staff Writer