Women’s Basketball to Face off Against No. 17 DePaul at Maggie Dixon Classic

The Cornell women’s basketball team will hit the road for the first time this season on Friday night, when it travels to Chicago, Ill. to take on the No. 17 DePaul Blue Demons in the second game of the Maggie Dixon Classic. The game, which is scheduled to tip-off at 7:30 p.m. CST at DePaul’s McGrath Arena, will immediately follow the tournament’s opening matchup between the Tennessee State Tigers (0-1) and the University of San Diego Toreros (1-1) at 5:30 p.m. CST. The losers of the tournament’s first two games will meet in a consolation game on Saturday at 5:30 p.m. CST, followed by the tournament’s championship game between the two winners at 7:30 p.m. CST.

[3]Day on the parque: The women’s basketball team will face its first nationally ranked competition this season against No. 17 DePaul.

The tournament was initially referred to as the DePaul Classic, but its name was changed in honor of the late Maggie Dixon. Dixon was a former assistant coach for the Blue Demons and was later the head coach of the Army Black Knights. Dixon tragically passed away on April 6, 2006, just three weeks after leading Army to its first ever NCAA Tournament appearance.

Cornell’s (1-1) first away game of the season comes against a nationally ranked team that is predicted to finish third in the powerful Big East Conference. There are many reasons for DePaul’ (2-0) predicted success this season, but the return of star guard Deirdre Naughton is at the top of the list. Naughton, a senior this year, has amassed over 1,000 points in her career at DePaul and she is expected to have continued success this season. Leading up to this year, Naughton has received many national accolades, including being named a preseason candidate for the John R. Wooden Award, given to the best male and female college basketball player in the nation.

“[Naughton] is just an all-around player,” said Dayna Smith, head coach of the Red. “She can shoot the three and penetrate and she’s a good leader.”

Keisha Hampton is another player Cornell will need to look out for in Friday night’s game. Hampton, who was named to the preseason All-Big East team, scored 23 points in the Blue Demons season opening win against Central Michigan, 86-76, last Friday.

If Cornell wants to shut down Naughton, Hampton, and the rest of the Blue Demons’ scoring attack, the Red’s defense will need to be at the top of its game.

“We need to work on our defensive effort in transition,” Smith said. “[DePaul] is very aggressive on the offensive end and loves to push the ball.”

On offense, the Red will be looking to establish its own tempo and to execute on any opportunities it is given.

“We need to focus on our game plan and execute our plays and play Cornell basketball,” said freshman forward Clare Fitzpatrick. “If we do that I think we will have some success.”

Fitzpatrick has gotten off to a very quick start in her first season as a member of the Red, scoring 11 points and grabbing 3 rebounds in Cornell’s opening loss to Duquesne and adding 9 points and 4 rebounds in Sunday’s win against Ithaca College.

Cornell, a young team comprised of six freshmen and just four upperclassmen, will need to maintain its poise if it wants to pull of the upset of the Blue Demons this weekend.

According to Smith, her team’s composure shouldn’t be too big an issue.

“Our team is loose,” Smith said. “Our older players have been in situations like this before…and they have a pretty loose attitude. We’re hoping the freshmen can feed off of that.”

This appears to be happening already. According to Fitzpatrick, the team’s freshmen are excited and ready to take on a national powerhouse like DePaul.

“We’re excited to play them,” Fitzpatrick said of the Blue Demons. “They are ranked, but we’re going in there wanting to win and we’re going in there expecting to win.”

Win or lose, the Red will be playing again on Saturday in the second round of the tournament, something that coach Smith feels will help prepare her team for the Ivy League season; once the Ivy League season begins, Cornell will be playing two games on back-to-back days on six separate occasions.

Although Cornell won’t know which team it will be playing on Saturday until the result of Friday night’s game has been determined, the Red has a pretty good idea of what it needs to do in order to compete.

“We’re preparing for [Tennessee State and San Diego],” Smith said. “Both of them like to go up and down the court, so at least we’ll have similar styles of play to prepare against.”