Dartmouth Drops Hot-Shooting Heartbreaker at Denver, 67-61

Wednesday, December 19

Denver, Colo.

9:00 PM

Dartmouth College

Denver

Dartmouth Drops Hot-Shooting Heartbreaker at Denver, 67-61

12/20/2007 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball

By: Dartmouth

Boxscore

Denver - Despite shooting a season-high 46.9 percent from the field, the Dartmouth women's basketball team could not pull it out in the end, falling 67-61 to the University of Denver tonight.

The Big Green drops to 1-7 while the Pioneers improve to 4-5.

Junior guard Koren Schram (Batesville, Ark.) led all scorers with 19 points including five threes along with five steals and four rebounds. Rookie Brittney Smith (Fort Worth, Texas) posted 14 points, seven rebounds, four assists and three blocks in a team-high 33 minutes of play.

Dartmouth jumped out to an early 6-3 lead off a Schram triple at 17:15 before Nnenna Akotaobi hit a triple at 15:21 to start an 11-1 Denver run. The Pioneers led 14-7 at 11:06 before Smith hit a layup to stop the bleeding.

Denver's lead ballooned to 12 points at 7:52, up 25-13. Dartmouth would not give up and slowly chipped away at the lead, going on an 8-2 run to cut it to 36-30 at 2:15 after a Smith layup. Brooke Meyer hit a three to put the Pioneers back up by nine, but Schram and senior Kristen Craft (Marshalltown, Iowa) combined for six-straight to close the half. Denver led 39-36 at the break after both teams shot better than 50 percent for the half.

Denver opened the second half on a 7-2 run to take a 46-38 lead at 16:32 after a layup by Akotaobi. Dartmouth would not lie down, however, and Schram opened up an 11-0 run with a jumper at 16:10. The Big Green held the Pioneers scoreless for five minutes, taking a 49-46 lead until Brooke Meyer hit a three to tie it at 49-49 at 11:19.

Smith answered with back-to-back buckets to bring the Dartmouth lead to 53-49 at 10:21. The Big Green's momentum was short-lived however, as Denver tore off a 14-0 run, holding Dartmouth scoreless for over eight minutes and leading 63-53 before Schram hit a triple to cut it to 63-56 at 2:19. Schram then stole the ball and hit another three to cut the Denver lead to four, 63-59, with just under two minutes remaining.

The Big Green only managed one more basket in the closing minutes while the Pioneers went 4-of-6 from the free-throw line to seal the win, 67-61.

Freshman Jacky Nikic (Longwood, Fla.) came off the bench as a great spark for the Green with 10 points and three rebounds. Craft finished with five points, five rebounds and five assists.

Akotaobi led Denver with 17 points while Meyer had 11 points, seven assists and six rebounds.

Dartmouth shot an impressive 46.9 percent from the field while Denver shot 43.9 percent. Each team had 32 rebounds, but Denver's 14 offensive boards were a big boost.

The Big Green continues its road swing when it heads to Boulder to face the University of Colorado on Friday at 7:00 p.m.