ITHACA, N.Y. – The Cornell women's basketball team will be back on East Hill when it squares off against Brown in an Ivy League matchup on Saturday, Jan. 29 at 2 p.m. at Newman Arena in Ithaca, N.Y. before it returns to the road for its next three contests.

Game Information:

Cornell vs Brown
DATE/TIME: Saturday, Jan. 29, 2022 at 2 p.m.
SITE: Newman Arena – Ithaca, N.Y.
RECORDS: Cornell 6-10, 1-4 Ivy League / Brown 5-12, 0-5 Ivy League
BROADCAST: ESPN+ (es.pn/3H2GeNC)
STATS: cornellbigred.com (bit.ly/3bTZ3oo)
TICKETS: bit.ly/3zB0kf4
SPECTATOR POLICY  
GAME NOTES

What's on Tap:

•   After playing its last two games on the road, Cornell will return to East Hill when it squares off against Ivy League foe Brown on Saturday, Jan. 29 at 2 p.m. at Newman Arena in Ithaca, N.Y.
•   Saturday's contest against the Bears marks the only home contest for the Big Red in a six-game stretch, as Cornell will once again hit the road for its next three games after Brown.
•   Cornell enters Saturday's game hungry to get back in the win column, as it looks to snap a four-game losing streak. Brown will have its sights set on a similar goal, as the Bears have lost each of its last five games and are in search of its first Ivy win of the season.

How to Watch:

•   The game against Brown will be broadcast on ESPN+, along with Cornell's entire slate of Ivy League games for the remainder of the season. ESPN+ is available to fans in the U.S. for $6.99/month or $69.99/year (http://plus.espn.com/). A similar international platform at the same price point is available for fans outside of the U.S., featuring both live and archived games.

Last Time Out:

•   The Big Red was defeated in its pair of games last week, dropping to Columbia, 57-46, on Thursday, Jan. 20 and, most recently, Harvard, 89-47, on Saturday, Jan. 22. With the losses, Cornell fell to 6-10 on the season and 1-4 in Ivy League play.
•   After being outscored, 26-7, in the first quarter against the Lions, the resilient Big Red came storming back in the second quarter to get itself back in the ball game, outscoring Columbia, 17-3, in the frame to make it a five-point game at halftime. The Big Red would get as close as two in the third quarter after having trailed by as many as 24 points earlier in the contest.
•   Junior guard Ania McNicholas posted her first-career double-double in the loss to the Lions with 11 points and a team- and career-high 10 rebounds. McNicholas paced Cornell in points, rebounds, and assists, dishing out three helpers.
•   Senior guard Samantha Will also scored 11 points against Columbia, marking the first time this season and the second of her career that she scored in double-figures in back-to-back games after posting a season-high 14 against Yale on Jan. 15.  
•   Will, along with junior guard Shannon Mulroy and freshman guard Lexi Green, were catalysts behind the Cornell comeback, combining for 14 of Cornell's 17 points in second quarter.
•   In what was her first-career start, Green scored all of her six points against the Lions in the second quarter, also corralling a career-high seven boards in the game.
•   Senior forward Theresa Grace Mbanefo paced Cornell in its loss to the Crimson, leading the team in points (13), rebounds (12), and assists (4) and securing her fifth double-double of the season. It just so happens that Mbanefo's first-career double-double came at Lavietes Pavilion during the 2019-20 season.
•   Ania McNicholas added 12 points in the loss to Harvard, scoring 11 of her 12 points for the contest in the second quarter and 11 of Cornell's 17 points in the frame. She added six rebounds, three assists, and two steals.
•   Mbanefo and McNicholas did all they could to give the Big Red a fighting chance against Harvard, combining for 25 of the Big Red's 47 points in the contest.

The Series vs. Brown:

•   Brown holds a 53-29 advantage over Cornell dating back to 1974-75.
•   The Bears dominated the series for the first 20 years, with Cornell winning only three times prior to the 1994-95 season.
•   Since then, the series has been neck-and-neck, with Cornell and Brown dead-locked at 26-26 from that point forward.
•   Cornell and Brown split its pair of meetings during the 2019-20 season, with both teams picking up wins on their home court. Cornell emerged victorious by a score of 74-63 on Jan. 31, 2020 in Ithaca, N.Y. before Brown won the most recent matchup, 77-73, on Feb. 22, 2020 in Providence, R.I.
•   Shannon Mulroy scored 22 points in Cornell's victory over Brown at Newman Arena during the 2019-20 campaign, marking the second-straight game the freshman had surpassed the 20-point plateau. She added a career-high seven assists while only committing two turnovers.
•   While the most recent meeting in Providence, R.I. came down to the final minute of play, Brown's 3-point shooting in the first half was what put them in a position to emerge victorious in the first place. The Bears made 15 3-point baskets in the contest, including 12 in the first half, finishing the game just one 3-pointer away from tying its program record. 
•   Shannon Mulroy paced Cornell in scoring the last time the Big Red faced Brown, tallying 15 points, all of which came in the first half. Samantha Will added 13 in what was her first-career start. The contest marked Theresa Grace Mbanefo's first-career start as well.
•   While the Bears' victory snapped a three-game winning streak for Cornell over Brown, the Big Red has won four of the last six meetings between the two schools.

Scouting Brown:

•   Brown enters Saturday's contest in search of its first Ivy League victory, sitting at 5-12 overall and 0-5 in conference play.
•   The Bears are currently on a 5-game losing streak, having fallen to Columbia, 60-52, in its most recent outing on Jan. 22 in Providence, R.I.
•   As a team, Brown ranks second in the Ivy League and among the top-50 teams nationally in steals per game (10.00). Kyla Jones has led this effort for the Bears, averaging 2.6 steals per game, a mark which ranks second in the Ivy League and 40th in all of Division I.
•   The Bears are led in scoring by Isabella Mauricio's 13.1 points per game. Mauricio is Brown's primary 3-point threat, as she averages 2.5 made 3-pointers per game, a mark which sits third in the Ivy League. She's shooting .341 from deep so far this year, a percentage which ranks fourth in the conference.
•   Jones is also averaging double figures at 11.5 points per game.
•   Amanda Latkany leads Brown in rebounding, averaging 6.9 boards per game, while Charlotte Jewell paces the Bears in assists with 2.6 helpers per game.
•   Mya Murray has provided Brown with a solid defensive presence in the paint, as her 1.7 blocks per game ranks third in the Ivy League. Murray also ranks second on the Brown squad in rebounding, corralling 5.3 per game.
•  The Bears are led by head coach Monique LeBlanc, who is in her first season and second year at the helm of the Brown program.

A Win Over Brown Would:

•   Snap a four-game losing streak for Cornell, improving the Big Red to 7-10 overall and 2-4 in conference action.
•   Be the Big Red's fifth victory over Brown in the teams' last seven meetings.
•   Be Cornell's fourth-straight victory over the Bears at Newman Arena in Ithaca, N.Y.

Ivy League Preseason Predictions:

•   The Big Red was predicted to finish sixth overall in the conference this season, per the 2021-22 Ivy League Preseason Media Poll. Cornell received a total of 41 voter points.
•   The 2019-20 Ivy League Regular Season Champion Princeton was once again picked as the favorite to win the league this year, collecting 12 of a possible 16 first place votes and 122 points.
•   Penn, who returns the 2019-20 Ivy League Rookie of the Year and first team All-Ivy selection Kayla Padilla, was chosen second with three first place votes and 108 points.
•   The race for third, fourth, and fifth was close from there, with Columbia being picked third (87 points), Yale being chosen fourth (82 points), and Harvard's single first place vote helping the Crimson come in fifth (81 points).
•   Dartmouth (29 points) and Brown (27 points) rounded out the poll in seventh and eighth, respectively.

Big Red Blurbs:

•   Each of the Big Red's six wins this season have come when Cornell has limited its opponents to less than 60 points. The Big Red holds a 6-2 record on the year when doing so.
•   Ania McNicholas has been the definition of "filling the stat sheet," this season, as the junior guard is averaging 8.4 points, 5.9 rebounds, 2.5 steals, and 2.5 assists per game so far this year.
•   While McNicholas ranks among the top-15 of the conference of three of those categories (rebounds, steals, and assists), her pesky, turnover-inducing defense stands out, as her 2.5 steals per game ranks third in the Ivy League and sits 49th in all of Division I. McNicholas has collected multiple steals in 11 of 15 games so far this season.
•   If McNicholas can keep up this pace for the remainder of the season, her 2.5 steals per game would rank fourth all-time in program history for a single season.
•   The duo of Shannon Mulroy (3.0) and Ania McNicholas (2.5) has done a great job of distributing the basketball so far this season, ranking fourth and eighth, respectively, in the conference in assists per game.
•   Mulroy also ranks among the top-five of the conference in assist to turnover ratio (1.0), sitting fourth.
•   The Big Red has done a good job of keeping its opponents off the boards this season, ranking third in the Ivy League as a team in rebounding defense (35.8 rebounds per game).
•   Theresa Grace Mbanefo (7.8) and Olivia Snyder (7.3) both rank among the top-10 of the Ivy League in rebounds per game, sitting fourth and sixth, respectively.
•   The pair of Mbanefo and Snyder also represents the Big Red's two top-scoring presences, with Mbanefo averaging 11.3 points per game and Snyder averaging 9.3. Either Mbanefo or Snyder has led Cornell in scoring in 11 of the Big Red's 16 contests this season, while leading Cornell in rebounding in 10 of Cornell's 16 games.
•   Mbanefo has also been a blocking machine, as her 1.9 blocks per game ranks second in the conference and 39th nationally. Olivia Snyder sits among the top-10 of the Ivy League in blocks as well, as her 0.6 blocks per game ranks 10th.
•   If Mbanefo continues to stuff shots at this pace, her 1.9 blocks per game would rank second all-time in Cornell women's basketball history for a single season. The single season record of 2.1 was set by Lynell Davis during the 2001-02 season.
•   Mbanefo has scored in double figures in 10 of 15 games so far this season and is currently shooting .493 from the floor, a percentage which sits second in the Ivy League.

The Big 2-0-0:

•   Dayna Smith, The Rebecca Quinn Morgan '60 Head Coach of Women's Basketball, who is in her 20th year at the helm of the program, notched her 200th career victory on Nov. 17 with the Big Red's 67-57 victory over Binghamton in Vestal, N.Y.
•   With her 200th victory, Smith became only the sixth coach in Ivy League women's basketball history to amass 200 career victories at an Ivy school.
•   The winningest coach in Cornell women's basketball history and the sixth-winningest in Ivy League history, she is the second-longest tenured active women's basketball coach in the conference (Harvard's Kathy Delaney-Smith, 40 years).
•   She is also fourth all-time in years served as a head coach in the Ivy League.
•   Smith's record sits at 204-303 for her career.

Team Leaders:

•   Points – Theresa Grace Mbanefo, 11.3 points per game
•   Field Goals Made – Theresa Grace Mbanefo, 4.9 per game
•   Field Goal Percentage – Theresa Grace Mbanefo, .493
•   3-point Field Goals Made – Samantha Will, 1.0 per game
•   3-point Field Goal Percentage – Samantha Will, .356
•   Free Throw Percentage – Olivia Snyder, .769 (20-of-26)
•   Rebounding – Theresa Grace Mbanefo, 7.8 rebounds per game
•   Assists – Shannon Mulroy, 3.0 assists per game
•   Assist-to-Turnover Ratio – Shannon Mulroy, 1.0
•   Blocks – Theresa Grace Mbanefo, 1.9 blocks per game
•   Steals – Ania McNicholas, 2.5 steals per game
•   Minutes – Samantha Will, 30.6 minutes per game

A Look Back in Time:

•   The last season the Big Red was in action in 2019-20, Cornell finished the year with a 10-16 overall record and a 3-11 mark in conference play, finishing seventh in the Ivy League.
•   The Big Red will look to get back to the Ivy League Tournament this year for the first time since the 2018-19 season, when the team qualified for its first conference tournament after its creation in 2016-17.

Starting from (Almost) Scratch:

•   The Cornell women's basketball team has a new look this season, returning only 27 percent of its minutes, 27 percent of its scoring, and 22 percent of its rebounding from the 2019-20 season.
•   Of the 14-player roster, eight suit up for the Big Red for the first time in the 2021-22 campaign.

Oh Captain, My Captain (s):

•   Senior forward Theresa Grace Mbanefo, senior guard Samantha Will, and junior guard Shannon Mulroy have been elected as tri-captains of the team for the 2021-22 season.
•   Mulroy is the team's top returning scorer from 2019-20 when she averaged 8.3 points, 2.5 assists, and 2.1 rebounds per game. She appeared in all 26 games and made 23 starts while averaging 25.2 minutes of playing time per game, the most among all returners. She led the Big Red in 3-point makes (35) and shooting percentage from behind the arc (33.0) in her rookie season. She also ranked second on the team in assists and free throw percentage (.750) in 2019-20.
•   A guard with a calming presence on the floor, Will came into her own at the end of the 2019-20 season when she scored double-digits in back-to-back games for the first time of her career against Yale on Feb. 21, 2020 and Brown on Feb. 22, 2020.
•   Mbanefo is one of two forwards that returns from the 2019-20 roster. She played in all 26 games as a sophomore, making four starts and averaging 18.2 minutes per contest. She led Cornell in blocks (18) and ranked third on the team in rebounding, averaging 5.5 points and 4.9 rebounds per contest.

The Lay of the Land:

•   In addition to Mbanefo, Mulroy, and Will, junior guard Ania McNicholas, junior guard KC Carter, and junior forward Anna Hovis return invaluable collegiate experience to a roster that is laden with newcomers.
•   Junior transfer Olivia Snyder adds an offensive mentality and knack for scoring the basketball to the Big Red roster.
•   Sophomore guards Mia Beam, Val Garcia-Martinez, and Kaya Ingram, as well as freshmen Jada Davis, Lexi Green, Arianna Linoxilakis, and Summer Parker-Hall all take the floor for Cornell for the first time this season.

Up Next:

•   The Cornell women's basketball team will open a three-game road stretch when it plays back-to-back contests next weekend at Princeton on Feb. 4 at 7 p.m. at Jadwin Gymnasium in Princeton, N.J. and Penn on Feb. 5 at 4 p.m. at The Palestra in Philadelphia.