Coming off a 1-2 start to the season, the women’s basketball team (2-2, 0-0 Ivy) looked to rebound and pick up a win against the Mount St. Mary’s Mountaineers (1-2, 0-0 Metro Atlantic).
The Red jumped out to a quick 3-0 lead after knocking down three free throws from the line. Minutes later, Mount St. Mary’s guard Jo Raflo buried a three-pointer to tie the game.
As sophomore forward Emily Pape and senior guard Mia Beam combined to score the next 12 points for Cornell, Raflo’s shots did not stop finding the basket as she hit five total three-pointers in the first quarter. The Red led 18-15 after the first 10 minutes with Raflo accounting for all of the Mountaineers’ points.
A low-scoring second quarter came next, with both teams struggling to continue their hot starts to the game. After senior guard Kaya Ingram picked up two points off a jumper within the first few minutes, both teams went scoreless for 3:30. Turnovers, missed shots and fouls made up the scoring drought.
Following a Raflo foul drawn on junior forward Summer Parker-Hall, the Red matched its largest lead of the game as Parker-Hall shot two free throws. Freshman guard Clarke Jackson added on with a bucket of her own, and Cornell led by nine with three minutes to go in the half.
Jackson’s shot would account for the Red’s last points of the half as the team ended the quarter with four turnovers, allowing the Mountaineers the chance to cut the lead to four going into halftime.
Raflo and Parker-Hall traded layups in the first minute of the third quarter before more Cornell turnovers led to made shots by forward Isabella Hunt and guard Jessica Tomasetti to tie the game.
After Beam hit a three-pointer a minute later, Raflo found her hot hand from the first quarter and knocked down back-to-back three-pointers to give the Mountaineers the 32-30 lead. Hunt added one of her own and the lead was five.
Head coach Dayna Smith subbed in fresh legs midway through the third quarter, which paid off as Cornell finished on a strong 10-3 run led by Ingram’s five points. This allowed Cornell to retake the lead 40-38 with 10 minutes left to play.
The fourth quarter looked similar to the second quarter, with missed jumpers and turnovers creating a three minute scoring lag from both teams. After being fouled on two separate occasions, Ingram was successful on all four of her free throws to grow the lead to six.
One more Raflo three-pointer late in the quarter cut Cornell’s lead to two, but they hung on for a 52-47 victory on the road. Ingram led the Red with 15 points while Raflo’s big first quarter helped her pick up 26 points on the day to lead all scorers.
The Red will look to build off of the win as they play their first home game of the season against University at Albany (3-1, 0-0 America East) at 2 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 22. The game will be broadcasted on ESPN+.