This past weekend, the Red hosted Harvard (8-9, 3-1 Ivy) and Dartmouth (7-13,2-2) at Newman Arena and went 1-1, losing to the Crimson, 56-65, but rallying to beat the Big Green on Saturday night, 71-58.
Cornell (11-7, 3-1) entered the weekend undefeated in the Ivy League after beating in-state rival Columbia the previous week.
The Red was coming in hot on a three-game win streak, and had yet to be beaten at Newman Arena. They boasted both the Ivy League Rookie of the Week in freshman Caroline Shelquist and Ivy League Player of the week in junior Megan LeDuc. The two were matched in the backcourt by Crimson guard Kit Metoyer, who scored the first points of the contest with a 3-pointer, and added 23 more points in the rest of the game.
Cornell’s scoring was balanced, with both LeDuc and junior forward Nia Marshall finishing with 17 points each. Throughout the first half, the Crimson and Red changed leads, but Kit Metoyer kept the visiting team ahead as the Crimson led at the end of the first half, 30-21.
Then senior guard Maddie Campbell cut the lead to one with a post move. From here it turned to strategy, with both teams taking timeouts and fouling for possession. The score was 52-49 with seconds to go. Megan LeDuc sank a three just before the buzzer sounded, and the game went to overtime.
In overtime, both teams were hacking each other up and down the court. The Crimson’s Metoyer once again proved to be a major threat; she converted on two free throws and made an assist. After regaining the ball with seconds to go, the Crimson ran out the clock and took the game, 65-56.
“This weekend had both highs and lows,” said junior forward Nicholle Aston. “We learned a lot from our tough loss on Friday.”
The next night was no less exciting when the Dartmouth Big Green came to Newman Arena Shelquist once again played outstanding and earned Ivy League Rookie honors for the second week in a row.
Aston, Campbell and junior forward Nia Marshall all scored in the double digits. Cornell’s shots were falling all night, shooting a solid .491. The Red also pressured well on defense to holding Dartmouth to only .375. Dartmouth won the turnover battle, forcing 11 Cornell turnovers while only losing the ball themselves eight times. Marshall led the scoring with 19 points, and shot .690.
“We really focused in on pushing the ball and getting assists on passes against Dartmouth because we really play our best basketball when we work off of each other,” Aston said.
The teams changed leads the entire game, but with three minutes left in the fourth quarter, LeDuc once again made her shots count. She hit a jumper and put Cornell in the lead, 54-51. Dartmouth guard Lakin Rowland hit a three and tied the score at 56-56 with under a minute to go.
After a Cornell turnover, Dartmouth got the ball and held it for a final shot from Emily Slagle. The shot did not fall and Cornell was sent to overtime for the second time in two nights. This time the Red pushed through and came out with a win.
“Two overtime games back to back are tough but we are happy that we ended the weekend on a high note,” Aston said.