W. Basketball Splits Weekend On the Road

Another weekend, another split for the Cornell women’s basketball team. The Red was in Chicago, Ill. this past weekend for the Maggie Dixon Classic, a four-team tournament hosted by the DePaul Blue Demons. Cornell (2-2) fell to its host, 89-50, in the opening game of the tournament on Friday evening, but bounced back with a convincing 92-73 victory against the Tennessee State Tigers the following night.

DePaul, meanwhile, went on to win the tournament with an 84-64 defeat of the San Diego Toreros in Saturday’s championship game. Cornell will be back in action at home tonight, when it faces off against IUPUI at 7 p.m. at Newman Arena.

It was an overall solid performance by the Red throughout the weekend, but the tournament was particularly special for two of the team’s stars. Senior captain Allie Fedorowicz scored 24 points on Saturday, which, combined with her team-high 14 points against the Blue Demons (4-0), was good enough to earn her all-tournament honors.

“There were some good players there this weekend and it’s nice to be recognized with them,” Fedorowicz said. “Overall, though, it was just great for our team to get that win on Saturday night.”

Fedorwicz was unstoppable in the Red’s rout of the Tigers (0-3); finishing 8 of 9 from the field, including 3 of 4 from behind the arc. The rest of the team followed suit, as Cornell went on to shoot 62 percent for the game. [4]Doing the dishes: Senior Lauren Benson set a school record for assists Saturday with 12 against Tenn. State.

“It’s always great to be making your shots,” Fedorowicz said. “I was getting great passes …and great looks from my teammates. We just worked really well together and we hit our open shots.”

One person providing most of those passes was senior captain Lauren Benson. In her first trip to her home state of Illinois since joining the Red three seasons ago, Benson set a school record for assists in a single game and recorded the team’s first double-double of the young season. Benson dished out 12 helpers to go along with 13 points in the Red’s victory over the Tigers, leaving the senior just 66 assists away from standing alone as Cornell’s all-time leader.

“Benson led us in transition and was finding open people,” Smith said. “And she backed it up with some very good shooting.”

The tournament opened for the Red on Friday night, when the team faced off against a DePaul squad that was ranked 17 in the AP poll at the time (the Blue Demons sit at No. 15 in the most recent rankings). A chance at a Cornell upset was all but erased within the first few minutes of the game, when DePaul jumped out to a 10-point lead that it refused to relinquish on its way to an 89-50 victory. Despite being outmatched both physically and athletically, though, the Red never gave up on the floor and was able to take some positives away from the contest. Fedorowicz led the team with 14 points in the loss, while freshman Clare Fitzpatrick and sophomore Allie Munson chipped in with 6 points apiece.

“We were outmatched,” said Dayna Smith, The Rebecca Quinn Morgan '60 Head Coach of Women's Basketball. “[DePaul was] bigger, stronger, and faster than us, but I liked our effort and…our focus. I thought we hung with them early.”

In the end, however, the talent and depth of the Blue Demons was too much for Cornell to handle. Katharine Harry led DePaul with a dominating double-double performance, grabbing 18 rebounds to go along with 16 points on 5 of 6 shooting from the field. Keisha Hampton added 15 points for the Blue Demons and All-American candidate Deirdre Naughton provided a balanced line of 7 points, 6 rebounds, and 5 assists.

The following night was an entirely different story for Cornell. The Red scored early and often against Tennessee State as it jumped out to a 54-38 halftime lead en route to a 92-73 victory. The 92-point performance was the largest scoring effort for Cornell since Smith took over as head coach in 2003.

“Offensively we came out in a very aggressive mode,” Smith said. “We looked for shots early and we hit a lot of shots in transition.”

Fedorowicz and Benson led a Cornell attack that resulted in five players scoring in double figures. Munson and senior captain Virginia McMunigal scored 11 and 12 points respectively, while freshman Taylor Flynn added 10 points for the Red off the bench.

The chaotic weekend, which saw Cornell play two games in less than 24 hours, was a good learning experience for the team as it continues its march towards the Ivy League season.

“Being away as a group helped us move closer on…and off the court,” Fedorowicz said. “I think we learned a lot that can help us down the road.”

The Red will try to build on what it has learned when it faces off against the IUPUI Jaguars (0-3) this evening. One element that Cornell must improve on, says Smith, is its defense under the hoop.

“We’re very young in the position, but we’re not using that as an excuse,” Smith said “We have to step up and play some low-post defense.”

This will be particularly important against a Jaguars team that is led by the low-post scoring ability of forward Kerah Nelson. Nelson, a sophomore playing in her first season with the Jaguars, is averaging a team-best 13.7 points per game. Nelson’s presence down low, combined with the scoring ability of junior guard Jessica Huffman (9 points per game) up top, will leave the Red with its hands full tonight.

“[The Jaguars’] record doesn’t indicate how tough they are,” Smith said. “They know what to look for and how to get their shots…so we have our work cut out for us.”