Dartmouth Drops Heartbreaker at Quinnipiac

Sunday, November 26

Hamden, Conn.

12:00 p.m.

Dartmouth College

Quinnipiac

11/26/2006 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball

By: Dartmouth

Boxscore

Hamden, Conn. ? The Dartmouth women's basketball team played with a tremendous fire late in the game to fight back from a 21-point deficit, but it was not enough as the Big Green fell to the Bobcats, 77-70. The loss drops Dartmouth to 0-4 while Quinnipiac improves to 4-1.

Dartmouth trailed Quinnipiac by 21 points, down 68-47 at the 6:25 mark, but a triple by sophomore guard Koren Schram (Batesville, Ark.) at 5:30 started a 14-3 Dartmouth run that would cut the lead to 10. Dartmouth employed a stifling pressure defense to limit Quinnipiac's touches, but could only bring the lead down to five, 75-70 after an Ashley Taylor (Cookeville, Tenn.) triple with 15 seconds remaining. A pair of made free throws by Brianna Rooney gave the Bobcats the 77-70 win.

Taylor led the squad with a season-high 20 points along with four assists, continuing to improve her scoring output each game. Schram was all over the court both offensively and defensively in an inspired performance off the bench. She posted career-highs in points with 19, steals with five and assists with three. All five of her steals resulted in Dartmouth scores including two fast-break lay-ups of her own.

Quinnipiac got on the board early and never looked back, opening on a 7-0 run that it extended to a 13-3 lead at the 15:52 mark. Junior Sydney Scott (Houston, Texas) hit a lay-up to make it 13-5, but the Bobcats scored seven unanswered points to extend their lead.

Taylor came out of a 30-second timeout to score five-straight points, but her team could not get into a rhythm offensively. Dartmouth managed to cut Quinnipiac's lead to eight, down 31-23 late in the half after four-straight points by Scott. Megan Barnum answered with a triple and the Bobcats soon took a 36-25 lead into the locker room.

The second half was more of the same as each time the Big Green got on the board, the hot-shooting Bobcats answered with a bucket of their own. After a frustrating first 10 minutes, Dartmouth went on a 7-2 mini-run that included five points from sophomore Darcy Rose (Fort Collins, Colorado), taking it to 62-47 at the 8:27 mark.

After Quinnipiac's Courtney Kaminski gave her team the 68-47 lead, the stage was set for a Dartmouth comeback, but there was not enough time to get it done.

For the first time this season, Dartmouth had four players score in double figures, including Taylor, Schram, Rose and senior Fatima Kamara (Carrollton, Texas). Kamara had a complete game, posting 12 points, seven boards and six assists. Scott was just shy of a double-double with a game-high 11 rebounds and nine points.

Monique Lee led the Bobcats with 21 points while Erin Kerner did damage with 16 points and six assists. Quinnipiac shot a sizzling 54% from the field.

After four turnovers in the first five minutes of the game, the Big Green settled down and had just 13 miscues on the night while forcing 18 by the Bobcats.

Dartmouth will be in action again on Wednesday when it takes on Maine in its home-opener at 7:00 p.m. at Leede Arena.