The women’s basketball team split two Ivy League home games this weekend at Newman Arena, beating Dartmouth on Friday, but losing to Harvard in a rout on Saturday.Against Dartmouth, the Red (5-13, 2-2 Ivy League) had one of its best offensive performances of the season, downing the Green (4-13, 0-3), 66-55. In a season that has been characterized by inconsistent offense, the home team found its stroke early and the scoring continued throughout the night. Following the victory against Columbia a week earlier, the game represented the first consecutive wins for Cornell all season long.Freshman guard Allyson DiMagno led all scorers with 20 points, going 7-14 from the field and a perfect 4-4 from the charity stripe. She also pulled in eight boards.Sophomore forward Clare Fitzpatrick had a solid game as well, registering 15 points and seven rebounds. In all, four Cornell scorers finished the night in double-digits.With an offense that has been in flux throughout the year, freshman guard Shelby Lyman played the role of facilitator in executing the Red’s game plan, finishing with a game-high eight assists to go along with her 11 points. She also had three steals and five rebounds.Despite struggling all year long in remaining competitive in the second halves of games, the opposite proved true on this night. Going into halftime up by only one, the Red had a strong final half of play, outscoring Dartmouth by 10 and shooting an outstanding 48 percent from the field.“We really worked together and we were able to execute our offense and game plan,” said junior forward Allie Munson.Despite the momentum from the strong win, the offense had a complete collapse the following evening against Harvard (11-6, 3-0), losing in a lopsided affair, 67-36.Suffering from its familiar shooting woes, the Red connected on only 23 percent of its field goal attempts for the game, while the visiting team shot an impressive 43 percent from the field. The Red also suffered from another second half slump, making only four field goals in the period.While the home team came out playing well at the beginning of the game, the Crimson went on a crushing 21-2 run that would put the nail in the coffin before the first half had ended.“I think it’s a new concept for a lot of the girls on the team to play back to back nights and I think it was hard to go from one really great game to another right away,” Munson said. “I don’t think we were mentally prepared to take on Harvard.”Fitzpatrick and sophomore guard Taylor Flynn led Cornell with 10 points each, while Harvard’s Victoria Lippert led all scorers with 15 points in only 23 minutes of play.The Red will next take the court against Yale in yet another home game on Friday at 7 p.m. at Newman Arena. The Bulldogs are 7-11 on the year thus far, with a 3-1 record in the conference.
Original Author: Holden Steinhauer