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Cornell's Season Ends at Hands of #1 UConn
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Credit: Cornell Sports Information
The Cornell women's basketball team closed out its memorable 2007-08 season with an 89-47 loss to No. 1 Connecticut on Sunday evening at the Arena at Harbor Yard in the first round of the 2008 NCAA women's basketball tournament. The Ivy League champion Big Red closed its season with a 20-9 record, while the Huskies advanced to Tuesday's contest against the winner of the Texas/Minnesota game and improved to 33-1.
"I'm so proud of this team," said Head Coach Dayna Smith. "Obviously UConn is the number one team in the country and they're a difficult team for us to face in our first-ever NCAA tournament. Still, with what this team accomplished this year - all the records we broke and winning the Ivy League championship - is something that made this a lot of fun and I am so proud to be the coach of this team."
Cornell got eight points each from Allie Fedorowicz and Gretchen Gregg. The senior added six rebounds. Ivy League Player of the year Jeomi Maduka tallied seven points and nine rebounds, while Kayleen Fitzsimmons also scored seven. The Big Red was held to 21 percent shooting from the field, but connected on 16-of-19 from the free-throw line. Cornell held its own against the bigger Huskies on the boards, (44-35), but allowed UConn to shoot 54 percent for the game.
The Huskies put four players in double figures, led by Maya Moore's 17 points and eight rebounds. Charde Houston came off the bench for 14 points and four of the team's 22 assists, while Brittany Hunter notched 11 points and Renee Montgomery posted 10.
The Big Red got stops on its first two possessions defensively, but couldn't convert on the other end with a missed layup and a turnover. An offensive board and putback 1:19 into the game by McLaren made it 2-0. A conventional three-point play a minute later for McLaren pushed the advantage to 5-0.A Gregg 3-pointer at the 16:35 mark got the Big Red on the board as the Cornell fans had its first chance to get out of its seat. Another defensive stop and a nice pass inside from benson to Maduka got the junior a pair of free throw attempts. Maduka canned both to get the Big Red back within 7-5 by the first media timeout.
Thue Huskies went on an 9-2 run in the first 1:11 after the media timeout and extended the run to 15-2 to put Connecticut up 22-7 in the blink of an eye. A 30-second timeout didn't stem the tide, as the Huskies got a 17-foot jumper from Charde Houston and a 19-foot shot from Renee Montgomery to extend the lead to 26-7. In the end, the run was 28-4 for a 35-9 lead for the Big East champions.
Cornell scrapped, with free throws by Virginia McMunigal, Lacy Workman and Kaylee Fitzsimmons getting the lower-sweeded Big Red back to within 39-16 with 5:19 left in the half. A 3-pointer by Fitzsimmons and a basket underneath by Snyder pulled the Big Red back within 43-21 at the final media timeout of the half. A defensive stop and a basket down low by Snyder made it 43-23 and provided another surge from the pro-Cornell crowd. The Huskies went on another 10-0 mini-spurt to end the half with a 53-23 edge.
The Huskies held a decisive 24-15 edge on the backboards in the first half, including 10-5 on the offensive glass. Cornell was also charged with 14 turnovers in the first 20 minutes. Both Fitzsimmons and Gregg led Cornell with five points apiece.
UConn controlled the second half with outstanding passing, extending the lead to 46 (78-32) before Virginia McMunigal drilled a trey from the top of the key. The teams traded baskets for much of the final 10 minutes as the reserves for both teams saw significant time. The highlight of the final minutes came when senior Megan Hughes hit from the top of the key for her first career 3-pointer in the final minute of her careerto cap Cornell's scoring.
The Big Red closes its 2007-08 season with a school record 20 wins in addition to its first Ivy League championship and NCAA tournament berth in program history. Cornell also set records for most conference wins in a season (11), as well as most points scored (1889), 3-pointers made (199) and assists (436) in one campaign.The Cornell women's basketball team closed out its memorable 2007-08 season with an 89-47 loss to No. 1 Connecticut on Sunday evening at the Arena at Harbor Yard in the first round of the 2008 NCAA women's basketball tournament. The Ivy League champion Big Red closed its season with a 20-9 record, while the Huskies advanced to Tuesday's contest against the winner of the Texas/Minnesota game and improved to 33-1.
"I'm so proud of this team," said Head Coach Dayna Smith. "Obviously UConn is the number one team in the country and they're a difficult team for us to face in our first-ever NCAA tournament. Still, with what this team accomplished this year - all the records we broke and winning the Ivy League championship - is something that made this a lot of fun and I am so proud to be the coach of this team."
Cornell got eight points each from Allie Fedorowicz and Gretchen Gregg. The senior added six rebounds. Ivy League Player of the year Jeomi Maduka tallied seven points and nine rebounds, while Kayleen Fitzsimmons also scored seven. The Big Red was held to 21 percent shooting from the field, but connected on 16-of-19 from the free-throw line. Cornell held its own against the bigger Huskies on the boards, (44-35), but allowed UConn to shoot 54 percent for the game.
The Huskies put four players in double figures, led by Maya Moore's 17 points and eight rebounds. Charde Houston came off the bench for 14 points and four of the team's 22 assists, while Brittany Hunter notched 11 points and Renee Montgomery posted 10.
The Big Red got stops on its first two possessions defensively, but couldn't convert on the other end with a missed layup and a turnover. An offensive board and putback 1:19 into the game by McLaren made it 2-0. A conventional three-point play a minute later for McLaren pushed the advantage to 5-0.A Gregg 3-pointer at the 16:35 mark got the Big Red on the board as the Cornell fans had its first chance to get out of its seat. Another defensive stop and a nice pass inside from benson to Maduka got the junior a pair of free throw attempts. Maduka canned both to get the Big Red back within 7-5 by the first media timeout.
The Huskies went on an 9-2 run in the first 1:11 after the media timeout and extended the run to 15-2 to put Connecticut up 22-7 in the blink of an eye. A 30-second timeout didn't stem the tide, as the Huskies got a 17-foot jumper from Charde Houston and a 19-foot shot from Renee Montgomery to extend the lead to 26-7. In the end, the run was 28-4 for a 35-9 lead for the Big East champions.
Cornell scrapped, with free throws by Virginia McMunigal, Lacy Workman and Kaylee Fitzsimmons getting the lower-sweeded Big Red back to within 39-16 with 5:19 left in the half. A 3-pointer by Fitzsimmons and a basket underneath by Snyder pulled the Big Red back within 43-21 at the final media timeout of the half. A defensive stop and a basket down low by Snyder made it 43-23 and provided another surge from the pro-Cornell crowd. The Huskies went on another 10-0 mini-spurt to end the half with a 53-23 edge.
The Huskies held a decisive 24-15 edge on the backboards in the first half, including 10-5 on the offensive glass. Cornell was also charged with 14 turnovers in the first 20 minutes. Both Fitzsimmons and Gregg led Cornell with five points apiece.
UConn controlled the second half with outstanding passing, extending the lead to 46 (78-32) before Virginia McMunigal drilled a trey from the top of the key. The teams traded baskets for much of the final 10 minutes as the reserves for both teams saw significant time. The highlight of the final minutes came when senior Megan Hughes hit from the top of the key for her first career 3-pointer in the final minute of her careerto cap Cornell's scoring.
The Big Red closes its 2007-08 season with a school record 20 wins in addition to its first Ivy League championship and NCAA tournament berth in program history. Cornell also set records for most conference wins in a season (11), as well as most points scored (1889), 3-pointers made (199) and assists (436) in one campaign.
- A.S.
