The last time the women’s basketball team played Yale, it won. Since then, wins have been elusive for the Red (7-14, 1-7 Ivy), which will look to snap a four-game skid when it hosts Yale tonight and Brown tomorrow in its final home weekend of the season.
Cornell enters the weekend following a thriller against Harvard last weekend. After trailing by 17 points at halftime, the Red fought all the way back to tie the game at 71 with under a minute left to play. The Crimson finished the game with a 6-0 run to remain perfect, but the game conjured memories of last season’s thrilling double-overtime game between these two teams at Newman Arena.
Yale (4-17, 1-7), on the other hand, enters the game following a triple-overtime loss at Princeton last Saturday, the longest game in school history. Like Cornell, the Bulldogs trailed by 17 at the half and fought back to tie the game. However, Yale was able to force overtime, and even held a lead late in the second overtime before Princeton pulled out the 94-92 win.
Several Elis set career marks last weekend. Forward Christina Phillips scored 28 points against Princeton to lead all scorers. Guard Morgan Richards chipped in 16 on Saturday, also a career high. In addition, Julie Cohen set a personal best with 16 boards against the Tigers.
Phillips and forward Lindsay Page lead the team in scoring, each averaging 11.6 ppg on the season. Page is also averaging 5.8 rebounds per game to lead the team.
Tomorrow night, the Red will meet second-place Brown (12-9, 6-2), which will attempt to move up in the league standings after beating Penn last Saturday.
Center Holly Robertson led Brown against Penn, putting up her third career double-double, scoring 22 points with 10 rebounds. Nyema Mitchell is the Bears’ leading scorer, averaging 14.5 ppg. Sarah Hayes is the Bears’ leading rebounder, averaging 6.8 per game.
Prior to tomorrow’s game against Brown, Cornell will celebrate National Women and Girls in Sports Day. Before the game, members of the women’s crew, track, field hockey, lacrosse, soccer, softball, swimming, squash, volleyball and rugby teams will be on hand to meet with aspiring female athletes in the Ithaca community.
Following the game, members of the basketball team will be available to sign autographs.
For the Red, junior Karen Force will look to continue riding the hot streak she has enjoyed over the first run through the league schedule. She is averaging 21.6 points over her last five games. She ranks sixth on the Red’s career free throw list with 230 and fifth on the assists list with 295.
Senior Lynell Davis has played 101 career games for the Red through this past weekend. If she plays the season’s remaining four games as expected, she will finish her Cornell career with 105 games, the most of any Red player.
It will be crucial for the Red to continue its consistent foul shooting this weekend as well. Over the past 11 games, the Red has shot .719 from the line, for a 40-point advantage over its opponents in that stretch.
Archived article by Owen Bochner