Dartmouth vs. #3 Duke Postgame Quotes

Dartmouth Head Coach Chris Wielgus

Opening statement:

“I'm delighted with the effort that these kids gave especially in the second half. I told them that this was a game of alternating currents and they were facing an enormously talented defensive team. I was pleased that they were able to make adjustments at halftime and spread the floor a little more. I know Duke had transition buckets but anytime that we forced them to under 10 seconds on the shot clock, I considered that a victory.”

On the first half and adjustments:

“I knew what had to be done and what we could do to help our team. We had a period when our spacing was bad and we were defending ourselves as well as Duke was. We had some mental lapses but we hung with them. Who would imagine that for us to not go that deep and only be outscored by six points in the second half?”

On Duke's defense

“We knew Duke's defense was effective and we hurt ourselves with too much dribbling ? once we could correct that we were able to get better spacing and get the looks we wanted. And if the ball doesn't go in the hoop, it's just a bad day at the office, it's not bad basketball. Our kids did not play bad basketball out there.”

How Duke compares to other great Dartmouth opponents:

“This team, the UConn team from the 2005 NCAA Tournament and the team from Georgia (1998-99) are the three best teams we have played. And what distinguishes them from a lot of the big-time teams we have played is they play together, play hard and play good defense. These experiences are really important for us.”

On the first back-to-back weekend:

“All we can do is get ready for this next game like every other game. I'm not afraid of anything ? this is who we are. We have competed with a seven-man rotation before, but we do have 10 players and some young ones who are coming along. When you are playing a team like Duke, you have to give experience (minutes) to young starters like Koren Schram, Darcy Rose and Sydney Scott. And Kristen Craft - God bless her - she has been working day in and day out and to come in off the bench with a performance like that to settle everyone down ? what a great job she did.

Ashley Taylor, Dartmouth senior guard

Opening 10 minutes when Duke pulled away:

“I think during that period we got a little tired which resulted in turnovers, which resulted in fast breaks. I don't think that Duke really picked up the pace, but it was more us turning the ball over and allowing them to score.”

On the record-setting crowd:

“It was really great. The last time we had a crowd like this was when we beat Kansas (in the 2003 Blue Sky Classic) but this was definitely bigger. I just can't say enough about the fans that came out to watch us play tonight ? it was amazing.”

Koren Schram, Dartmouth sophomore guard

The role that excitement/adrenaline played in the early going:

“We were prepared for the game. All of the coaches gave us a good, well-rounded scout and we came in ready to play. Like Ashley said, the turnovers shot us in the foot a little bit and Duke certainly did well in transition to get the buckets off that. Once we took care of the ball better and played our game at our pace we came back into the game.”

What the team takes from the solid second half tonight:

“It is very encouraging. Coach asked us to do certain things and I think we executed and that's the most important thing.”

Duke Head Coach Gail Goestenkors

Opening statement:

“I give Dartmouth a lot of credit. They never gave up. You look at the second half stats and I thought they played hard and stayed focused. They have a nice squad so I give them a lot of credit. I though this looked like a typical first game back for us (from break). We didn't really get into the flow of things to establish our low post game really until the second half. Overall, I am just pleased with the win and it was a great crowd so that was really nice.”

Low post game:

“Every game we want to have a good inside-outside attack and today we didn't seem to get the ball inside. We need Alison Bales to demand the ball and we need her to get it to her for us to be a great team.”

First half play (48 points):

“We were hitting our shots and getting a lot of transition points but there are going to be games when we don't get those steals that lead to lay-ups.”

Getting off to a good start against a Dartmouth program with a tradition of near upsets:

“It was really important for us to start well. We saw their game against Michigan which they played without a starter and they should have won that game. We knew we would be in for a battle and wanted to set the tone early.”

Abby Waner, Duke sophomore guard

First half play ? transition:

“The game plan was to press and trap to see how they respond and it did set the tone early for us and now we know that we can play a whole game like that.”

On Leede Arena and the atmosphere:

“I loved it, I loved the closeness of it and the Dartmouth fans were really great. Last night at the banquet we sat with Dartmouth and Boston players and they talked about the arena and how their fans are really dedicated and you could feel that tonight.”

Lindsay Harding, Duke senior guard

On scoring her 1,000^th point:

“The past two years I have really picked it up a lot and I don't really think about my stats ? it's just about what my team needs. It was exciting to know that I passed that mark though.”

Schedules

Players Mentioned

Kristen Craft

Darcy Rose

Koren Schram

Sydney Scott

Ashley Taylor

Footer

Schedules

Completed Event: Women's Basketball at UAlbany on November 10, 2025 , Loss , 41, to, 65

Completed Event: Women's Basketball versus Colby-Sawyer on November 12, 2025 , Win , 98, to, 33

Completed Event: Women's Basketball at Siena on November 16, 2025 , Win , 65, to, 55

Upcoming Event: Women's Basketball versus Merrimack on December 2, 2025 at 6:00 PM

Upcoming Event: Women's Basketball versus Central Connecticut State on December 5, 2025 at 6:00 PM

Upcoming Event: Women's Basketball versus Bucknell on December 7, 2025 at 2:00 PM