Women's Basketball Sinks Cornell, 58-51

Saturday, February 21

Ithaca, N.Y.

6 pm

Brown University

10-14, 4-6

Cornell

15-9, 6-4

Brown

Cornell

2/21/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

ITHACA, N.Y. – Natalie Ball (Orlando, Fla.) netted 14 points and the Brown women's basketball team recorded 10 players in the scoring column in a 58-51 victory over Cornell at Newman Arena on Saturday night.

The Bears (10-14, 4-6 Ivy) score their first win in Ithaca since 2011, dropping the host Big Red to 15-9 (6-4 Ivy).

"I'm ecstatic and proud of the way our team responded after a disappointing result last night," said Head Coach Sarah Behn. "The starters for tonight's game were indicative of the team-first mentality we want to have and our 2-3 zone accomplished our goal of making things hard on Cornell."

Ball also hauled in six rebounds and connected on a crucial jumper with shot clock expiring, putting the Bears up four points with 52 seconds left.

Cornell responded out the gate in the second half with a 10-2 run in a span of three minutes to put the Bears into a 37-31 hole.

The Brown defense went into shutdown mode, holding the host Big Red without a field goal for nearly 10 minutes, but the Bears couldn't mount a charge offensively during that stretch.

Jordin Alexander (Fishers, Ind.) finished the night with 12 points, including a pair of second half treys that gave the Bears a two-possession lead with two minutes to play. Prior to that, Sophie Bikofsky (Newton, Mass.) sank a clutch trey to give Brown its first lead since the opening minutes. The senior captain finished the night with eight points and now sits 16 points shy of 1,000 for her career.

Rebecca Musgrove (Plainview N.Y.) had five points, but three of them loomed large in the final minutes, as the sophomore point guard connected on a jumper in the lane and a free throw in the waning seconds.

The Bears featured a completely revamped starting five, as Christine Rush (Hinsdale, Ill.), Nelly Weledji (Overland Park, Kan.), Emily Dinger (Sunnyvale, Calif.), and Maxine Offiaeli (South Windsor, Conn.) all recorded their first career starts.

The move paid dividends, with Rush and Offiaeli each recording their first collegiate field goals, as the teams were knotted at seven at the under-16 timeout.

After the timeout, Cornell seized momentum with a 12-2 run that was capped by Nicholle Aston's jumper, lifting the Big Red to 23-13 lead with 7:54 to play. The Bears counterpunched with an 8-0 run of their own thanks to Ball and Bikofsky, who each cashed in with treys to bring Brown back within two.

Nia Marshall's jumper gave the Big Red a five-point cushion once again, but Kennedy Martin (Los Angeles, Calif.) and Ball led a strong charge in the final minutes to give Brown a 29-27 lead heading into the locker room. Martin finished the night with seven points, six rebounds, and the first two assists of her career.

Freshman Janie White (Clarksville, Tenn) posted a career high four assists on Saturday, as the Bears shot 45.1-percent from the field. Aston posted a double-double for the Big Red, notching 12 points and 10 rebounds, while Marshall tallied a game high 16 points.

Up next, Brown continues its four-game road swing at Penn and No. 16 Princeton next weekend.

Tickets for all Brown women's basketball games can be purchased online, calling the Brown Athletics Ticket Office at (401) 863-2773, or walking up to the Box Office located in the Pizzitola Sports Center, open Monday-Friday, 9 a.m. - 4 p.m.