While the student body took a vacation from Cornell’s hectic academic schedule, the women’s basketball team remained hard at work. After a short break for final exams, the squad returned to the court for nine games over a four-week span. Unfortunately for the Red, the nine-game stretch was anything but a vacation, as the team lost eight of the games to fall to 2-13 (0-1 Ivy League) on the season.
The Red lost all but one of the games to non-conference foes including St. John’s, Duquesne, Syracuse, Marist, James Madison, Drexel, and Army. The loss to Drexel was the second it had suffered to the Dragons this year.
Much of the team’s failure over this stretch can be attributed to the futility of the offensive attack. Only once was the Red able to score over 60 points, as the team averaged fewer than 50 a night. In contrast, its opponents averaged just below 64 points per game.
The most crushing loss came earlier this month in the team’s Ivy League opener at Newman Arena. Leading Columbia, 53-46, late in the second half, the Red was outscored 22-6 in the final seven minutes of regulation to fall, 68-59. Cornell was led by three freshmen, as Lindsay Krasna and Megan Hughes each scored 11 points, while Morgan Dickens added nine.
None of the team’s upperclassmen reached double-digits, as the newcomers carried the load. However, it wasn’t enough to defeat the Lions, as poor defense proved to be the team’s Achilles heel down the stretch.
However, in the team’s victory against Binghamton, strong team defense allowed the Red to prevail, 50-43. While Binghamton attempted 12 more shots, Cornell held the Bearcats to 29 percent shooting from the field and only 10 second-half points to earn a come-from-behind win. Krasna again led the team with a game-high 14 points and sophomore Katherine Stritzl added a career-high nine of her own.
The bright spot amidst the Red’s overall ineffectiveness this season has been the emergence of Krasna, who was named Ivy League Rookie of the Week for the fourth time this season.
She leads the team in scoring at 11.5 per game, which is the second highest among Ivy League freshman. Krasna is also averaging 4.0 rebounds and 2.0 assists per contest.
On Monday against Army, Krasna put together another strong performance, netting 12 points in a 51-43 loss. She kept the Red in the game well into the second half until the Black Knights went on an offensive spurt to seal the victory.
Cornell’s loss at Army marked its last non-conference game of the season. The Red will have the opportunity to start anew with 13 Ivy League games remaining on its schedule. Its next one will take place on Saturday on the road against Columbia.
Archived article by Bryan Pepper
Sun Staff Writer