Dartmouth Women Fall to Hartford in Preseason WNIT

Friday, November 10

West Hartford, Conn.

7:00 p.m.

Dartmouth College

Hartford

Dartmouth Women Fall to Hartford in Preseason WNIT

11/10/2006 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball

By: Dartmouth

Boxscore

Postgame Quotes

West Hartford, Conn. ? The Dartmouth women's basketball team dropped a hard-fought, 62-45 decision to Hartford in the first round of the Preseason WNIT tonight.

“First games are like pop quizzes, you figure out what you need to work on and you move on. This is a process, this is not something where you step on the court and abracadabra everything goes your way," said Head Coach Chris Wielgus. "It takes young people time to learn and there is nothing you can simulate in practice that compares to coming into a place like this and playing a game."

Hartford jumped out to an early 5-0 lead in the first two minutes, but Dartmouth got on the board at 17:58 after Sydney Scott (Houston, Texas) made a nice move in the post for two points.

The Hawks kept the pressure on, going on an 8-3 run in which four different player scored to take a 15-7 lead at the 10:00 mark. Junior guard Kristen Craft (Marshalltown, Iowa) stopped the bleeding with a nice drive and layup at 9:54. The Big Green got a much-needed defensive stop and Darcy Rose (Fort Collins, Colo.) worked hard in the paint to get a score for the Big Green, taking it to 15-11 at 8:48.

The Hawks would not back down, scoring on consecutive possessions, including a trey by Mar Schaefer to go up 20-11 at 7:03. Dartmouth struggled to find a steady offensive rhythm for the balance the half, finding itself down 26-17 before Ashley Taylor (Cookville, Tenn.) hit a layup at 3:11 to cut the lead to seven.

The teams closed out the last three minutes of play with four points apiece, and Kraft nailed a pair of late free throws to send the Big Green into the locker room on a positive note, down 30-22.

The teams played a rather sloppy first period, with 16 total fouls, including 10 on Hartford. The Big Green outrebounded the Hawks 23-16, but had seven costly turnovers.

The Big Green came out on fire in the second, opening up with back-to-back buckets by Scott and Rose, cutting the Hawks' lead to 30-26 at the 19:00 mark. Dartmouth continued to outpace Hartford for the first five minutes, cutting the lead to as little as three after two made free throws by Fatima Kamara (Carollton, Texas). Katie Kelly scored next for the Hawks before Scott kept it in reach with a layip, taking it to 34-31 at 15:13.

That would be the last big moment for Dartmouth, as the Hawks turned it up a notch to go on a 7-2 run, up 41-33 at 11:47. The Big Green struggled to get into an offensive rhythm, and the Hawks continued to extend their lead.

After an offensive foul against the Big Green with under four minutes left, Head Coach Chris Wielgus implemented a full-court press, which proved immediately effective when Taylor snagged the inbound and was fouled driving to the lane. She made both free-throws and then grabbed another steal on the next possession, leading to a fast-break lay-up by Kraft, cutting the lead to 55-44 at 3:01.

Dartmouth would not back down late in the game, but was unable to cut the lead, ultimately falling, 62-45.

“I honestly think our problem was twofold, turnovers and missed free throws and those were things that we did to ourselves ? those are fixable," said Wielgus.

Despite getting the line 23 times, the Big Green struggled to make its free throws, going just 13-23 from the stripe.

Wielgus saw several positives and was not overly concerned, noting "these kids persevered throughout the entire game and never gave up and we will be fine. I have enormous faith in this team.”

Scott led Dartmouth with 12 points and five rebounds while Craft had a solid night, posting 10 points, six rebounds and two steals in her first collegiate start.

The Big Green will be back in action on November 18 when it heads to #13 Vanderbilt.