Columbia women use fourth-quarter firepower to defeat Cornell, 76-66

Columbia’s three-point shooting was as cold as the snow-filled campus over the game’s first 35 minutes, but a late surge from downtown lifted the Lions to a 76-66 victory in the conference opener against Cornell.

The Light Blue (10-4, 1-0 Ivy) tried to deny the inside early against the Big Red, one of the nation’s top rebounding and two-point shooting teams.  Cornell (7-6, 0-1 Ivy) foiled that plan by taking a 10-7 lead on the boards and hitting three of six shots from beyond the arc.  Thanks to a strong 47% shooting effort, Columbia was able to finish the first 10 minutes with the score tied at 20.

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Cornell finishes nonconference play on high note with win over ETSU

Cornell women’s basketball finished the nonconference portion of its schedule strong Saturday with a 71-43 victory over the visiting ETSU Buccaneers.

The Big Red got off to a rough start as they turned the ball over six times and trailed by three at the end of the first quarter.

“We were not executing on offense, missing shots, and rebounding is our thing and we had five [offensive] boards in the first half and that’s not much, [we] gotta get second chances,” coach Dayna Smith said.

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Cornell women left with plenty to work on, including shooting, after loss to Duquesne

ITHACA – The Cornell women’s basketball team dropped its second straight game Tuesday, this time falling 82-72 to Duquesne, a team that has now won eight straight.

The Big Red (5-4) got off on an 8-2 run with senior forward Laura Bagwell-Katalinich scoring all eight points. After that run, she only scored nine more points on the night.

“She got tired. She was exerting a ton of energy,” coach Dayna Smith said. “They didn’t really make a change on her, they weren’t doubling her. [Duquesne was] playing behind her a lot in the post, making her work and do some combo move.”

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What each Ivy women’s team’s fans should be thankful for this Thanksgiving season

It’s Thanksgiving weekend, which means it’s time to take stock of what followers of each Ivy women’s team should be thankful for at this point of the season:

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Cornell bests Niagara wire to wire, 82-59

ITHACA, N.Y. – Cornell never trailed on Thursday as they took down the Niagara Purple Eagles 82-59, ending a three-game homestand and winning their second game in a row.

The Big Red took a 20-13 lead after the first quarter and led 43-32 at halftime. They limited the Purple Eagles to just nine in the third quarter and led 63-41 with 10 minutes remaining.

The Purple Eagles did get off to a quick 8-0 run to begin the quarter, but the Big Red quickly regained control and won the game with ease.

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Ivy women’s hoops roundup – Nov. 20, 2019

Princeton (4-0)

No Abby Meyers against Rider (#3 preseason MAAC) – no problem
No Meyers and Bella Alarie for the 4th quarter at GW – no problem
No Meyers and Alarie for the entire game at Seton Hall (#3 preseason Big East) – no problem
No Meyers and Alarie for three quarters and Carlie Littlefield for the second half against FGCU (#1 preseason ASUN) – no problem

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Cornell women blow second-half lead to Colgate, lose 62-58

Much like the men’s game the night before, the Cornell women’s squad jumped out to a sizable halftime lead but failed to close it out as they lost to the Colgate Raiders, 62-58.

The Big Red held the Raiders to just 28% shooting in the first half, including 22% in the first quarter while Cornell shot over 50% in the first half. Cornell took a 15-point advantage into the locker room at the half.

Samantha Widmann scored a layup just six seconds into the third quarter, but after that it was all Colgate. They cut a 41-24 Cornell lead to just three points with 3:42 remaining in the third quarter. The Big Red made just two shots in the third quarter. However, they were still clinging onto a three-point lead going into the fourth quarter.

The Big Red led by eight with seven minutes left in the game, but it didn’t seem to matter to the Raiders, who went on a 11-1 run and took a one-point lead with 2:55 remaining in the game.

But Kate Sramac hit an enormous three-pointer with 1:36 left to put Cornell back on top by one. Then the Big Red got a much needed stop but couldn’t take advantage of it as Widmann was called for an offensive foul with 52 seconds remaining.

Colgate went down on their end and Haley Greer drilled a three with 37 seconds left, and that was the shot that put the Raiders ahead for good. Colgate made four free throws in the final 25 seconds, and that would be about it.

The Big Red scored just 19 points in the second half and made just five field goals.

“They (Colgate) didn’t change anything (in the second half). We stopped executing our offense, we rushed shots, we didn’t get second chances with boards, we let the refereeing get in our heads, we didn’t finish when there was contact, and we didn’t really get stops on the defensive end,” said Cornell coach Dayna Smith. “We’ve gotta dig down, we get some of those defensive rebounds and not give up five (offensive rebounds) in one possession.”

Despite the fact the Big Red lost, they won the rebound margin (47-34), but allowed 16 offensive rebounds. They gave up nine of those offensive rebounds in the final five minutes of the third quarter.

“I just expect more out of our upperclassmen, our captains, our veterans; they played a lot of minutes (and) there was no putting a foot down and carrying our team over that emotional ride they (Colgate) were on,” Smith said.

The Big Red did a nice job of guarding the Raiders star Rachel Thompson in the first half. She was limited to just four points on 2-for-7 shooting. Abby Schubiger led the Raiders with 11 points in the first half but was contained in the second stanza. Thompson went off, scoring 17 second-half points.

Widmann and Laura Bagwell-Katalinich led the way for the Big Red, scoring 15 and 14 points respectively. Bagwell-Katalinich also had 11 boards, and Widmann had seven. Also chipping in was Shannon Mulroy with nine points, and Kate Sramac and Dylan Higgins with six apiece.

The Big Red continue their three-game homestand on Saturday when they host the NJIT Highlanders. Game time will be at 1 p.m. ET on ESPN+.

Ivy women’s hoops weekend roundup – Nov. 8-10, 2019

Fri., Nov. 8

Harvard (2-0) 56 vs California (0-1) 53

Cornell (1-0) 71 at Albany (1-1) 51

Cornell opened the 2019-20 season with a dominant road win against Albany, which beat Columbia by four points in overtime on Tuesday.  As opposed to the run-and-gun game against the Lions, the Great Danes would be forced into a halfcourt contest by the defense-oriented Big Red.

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Ivy League women’s basketball preseason power rankings

Ivy Hoops Online’s writing staff voted on where all eight Ivy women’s and men’s basketball teams would end up for the 2019-20 season. Our projected order of finish for the women:

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