Dartmouth Women's Basketball Clinches Ivy Title with 78-63 Triumph Over Princeton

Saturday, March 5

Hanover, N.H.

TBA

Dartmouth College

PRINCETON

Dartmouth Women's Basketball Clinches Ivy Title with 78-63 Triumph Over Princeton

3/4/2005 7:00:00 PM | Women's Basketball

By: Dartmouth

March 5, 2005

Box Score | Photo Gallery

HANOVER, N.H. -- The Dartmouth women's basketball team clinched its first Ivy League title since the 1999-2000 season with a 78-63 triumph over Princeton on Saturday evening at Leede Arena. Elise Morrison (Franklin, Mich.) had 22 points and seven rebounds to lead three Big Green players in double figures. Point guard Angie Soriaga (College Station, Texas) dished out a season-high 11 assists with only one turnover and finished with 17 points. Forward Ashley Taylor (Cookeville, Tenn.) celebrated her birthday with 14 points, four rebounds and four assists. Princeton's Becky Brown recorded a double-double with 21 points and 17 rebounds.

"I'm so proud of these kids," said Big Green head coach Chris Wielgus. "I'm so proud to be their coach. It was a total team effort tonight and it had to be."

Dartmouth improves to 16-9 on the season and 12-1 in the Ivy League and owns at least a share of the Ivy crown, while Princeton concludes its season with a 13-14 record and a 5-9 Ivy mark. The Big Green has one regular season contest remaining, a Tuesday date at Harvard. Currently the Crimson stands in second place in the Ancient Eight with an 11-2 mark. A Big Green victory would secure the outright championship and earn Dartmouth a trip to the NCAA tournament.

After a 35-35 tie at the half, Dartmouth raced out of the gates in the second period with a 9-0 run. Soriaga hit a three-pointer 15 seconds in and after a Tiger miss, Morrison hit a jumper in the paint. Soriaga and Morrison connected on the next two plays to build a 44-35 lead with 18:01 left. Soriaga threaded two passes to Morrison who finished both plays with easy layups.

The Tigers' Ali Pritchard hit two three-pointers sandwiched around a jumper from Fatima Kamara and Princeton trimmed the deficit to five points. The Big Green went on a 12-2 spurt to push the lead to 15 points with 12:54 left. Taylor started the run with a three-pointer at 15:00, hit a layup at 13:50 and closed the spurt with another triple.

Brown hit a jumper for Princeton, but Dartmouth scored the next 10 points to build a 23-point lead with 7:21 left. Princeton got no closer than 13 points the rest of the way.

While the Tigers shooting in the first half was a solid 55.6 percent, the Dartmouth defense clamped down in the second stanza, limiting Princeton to 37.9 percent accuracy. Meanwhile, the Big Green shot just 36.4 percent in the first period, but connected on 53.3 percent of its attempts in the second half to put the game away. The Big Green forced 22 Tiger turnovers while committing just eight, providing Dartmouth with a 23-12 advantage in points off turnovers.