Opening Tip
- Lafayette looks to continue its success at Kirby Sports Center, having won the last two games at home in comeback fashion, erasing 13-point fourth quarter deficits in both to force overtime.
 
- Sophomore Olivia Martino is red hot, scoring in double-figures each of the last three games. During the stretch she is 16-of-18 from the free throw line.
 
- Last time out, the Maroon and White featured two players off the bench to score in double-figures. Freshman Jiselle Havas and senior Alex Cantwell scored 11 and 10 points, respectively, in the fourth quarter and overtime alone.
 
- A season ago, Lafayette squeezed out a 1-point victory over the Big Red as the third win of a three-game win streak.
 
- The Leopards will face just one more non-conference opponent, traveling to LIU Brooklyn on Dec. 29 before opening Patriot League play with Lehigh at home after the new year on Jan. 3.
 
Scouting Cornell
The Big Red is coming off a big 94-59 win against Delaware State after losing their previous four games. Cornell's only three victories came at home as it is 0-5 on the road this season.
 
Cornell features two players averaging 12-plus points a contest in leading scorer Laura Bagwell-Katalinich (12.6 ppg) and Samantha Widmann (12.0 ppg). Bagwell-Katalinich is also the team's leading rebounder, collecting 7.9 a game.
 
The Big Red have played a pair of common opponents with the Leopards, dropping a 72-61 contest to Binghamton to open the season and besting Albany, 48-34.
 
This is Cornell's second trip to the Lehigh Valley this season as the Big Red fell to Lehigh, 67-54 at the end of November.
 
All-Time series
The series between the Leopards and Cornell is locked at eight games a side.
 
The first meeting came in the 1982-83 season and the latest came just last season.
 
Last Meeting
Just last season, Lafayette defeated the Big Red, 59-58 in a thriller for the third win of a three-game win streak.
 
Then-senior Ellen Graham hit the game-winner with seven seconds left in regulation to give the Leopards the one-point advantage and the victory.
 
Natalie Kucowski recorded her second career double-double pulling in 14 rebounds with 15 points.

Havas a big week
Freshman Jiselle Havas had a career week against Manhattan and Monmouth in the Leopards last week of action. The Windermere, Florida native scored a then career-high seven points against the Jaspers before setting her current career best with 15 points against the Hawks.
 
In the Monmouth game, she connected on three 3-pointers and hit the game-tying free throw to force overtime.
 
A rebounding Reoccurance
Sophomore Natalie Kucowski set the Lafayette single-season rebounding record last season, ripping down 309 boards in her freshman campaign. This season, she has pulled down 103 rebounds which matches her mark through nine games last season.
 
Three's the Number
Last season's victory over Cornell was the third of a three-game win streak for Lafayette. It is the longest unbeaten streak of head coach Kia Damon-Olson's career which was matched this year when the Leopards won their first three contests of 2018-19.
 
Overtime triumphs
This is the first time since the 2008-09 campaign that Lafayette has won multiple overtime contests in the same season. The Leopards won their first overtime game since the 2012-13 season, outlasting Albany in double overtime on Dec. 1. They followed that up with another comeback win against Monmouth in extra time.
 
A Comparison
Lafayette is much improved in a number of areas compared to 2017-18, including the win column. Through nine games, the Leopards are scoring more efficiently, up from 51.3 ppg to 59.2, shooting better at the free throw line from 64 percent to 71 percent, and free throw attempts are up from 100 shots to 157 tries. Lafayette has been a top notch rebounding team, pulling in 45.1 a contest this season from 39.3 in 2017-18.
 
Last season's overall non-conference record was 4-6 which has already been topped this season with two games to play before hitting Patriot League play.
 
Free and Easy
The Leopards have shot 20-plus free throws four times already in 2018-19 compared to just one game last season. Against Delaware, Lafayette shot 29 free throws, making 22 in the game. It was the most free throws a Lafayette team attempted and made since Feb. 8, 2017 when the Leopards were 23-of-32 from the Line in an 85-70 win over Holy Cross.
 
The Comeback Kids
Lafayette has overcome 13-point fourth quarter deficits twice this season, forcing overtime in both and eventually earning victories in each. The Maroon and White has also erased a nine-point deficit in the final 1:09 against Saint Peter's, but ultimately fell on a last second bucket.
 
Classroom Success
The 2017-18 Leopards ranked No. 14 among Division I women's basketball programs for team GPA. Lafayette compiled a team GPA of 3.538 last season and were 1-of-2 Patriot League institutions to rank inside the top-25.
 
Bench Boost
Against Monmouth, the Leopards produced 35 points off the bench. It was the most bench points for Lafayette since the first round of the 2018 Patriot League Tournament against Boston U. when Lafayette set the program record for 3-pointers in a single game with 12 behind Sarah Agnello's six 3-pointers. Alexis Santarelli was also in double-figures off the bench that day with 11 while Agnello poured in 24.
 
That was also the last time the Maroon and White featured two players off the bench to score in double-digits as Cantwell and Havas were in double-figures against the Hawks.  
 
My Hero Martino
Sophomore Olivia Martino has scored in double-figures in the Leopards' previous three games, including a career-high 19 points in the double overtime win over Albany. It is the second time in her career that she has scored in double-digits for three consecutive games. Over the stretch, Martino is 16-of-18 from the free throw line.