Dartmouth Wins Thriller over Sacred Heart, 53-50

Tuesday, December 4

Fairfield, Conn.

7:00 PM

Dartmouth College

Sacred Heart

Dartmouth Wins Thriller over Sacred Heart, 53-50

12/4/2007 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball

By: Dartmouth

Boxscore

Fairfield, Conn. - Dartmouth junior guard Koren Schram (Batesville, Ark.) iced a 53-50 win over Sacred Heart with two late free-throws after senior Kristen Craft (Marshalltown, Iowa) gave the Big Green a late lead on a conventional three-point play.

The win was Dartmouth's (1-5) first of the season, snapping Sacred Heart's (3-4) three-game winning streak. Craft had 15 points, seven rebounds, four steals and two assists to lead the Big Green.

Dartmouth trailed 49-46 with just over two minutes left before Craft took over the game, scoring five-straight points to put her team up 51-50 with 1:10 left in the contest. The Big Green went to work on the defensive end and despite two offensive rebounds by the Pioneers, got a huge stop and the ball back with 18 seconds left. Craft and Schram played keep away before Sacred Heart fouled Schram with 10 seconds left.

Schram was not fazed by a Sacred Heart timeout and strode to the line, hitting both free-throws to put Dartmouth up 53-50. The defense was stifling again in the last 10 seconds, forcing the Pioneers to heave an off-balance three at the other end as time expired.

It was a possession game in the early goings, with the teams trading buckets before Sacred Heart went on a 9-2 run to go up 16-9. Michelle Meyer (Covington, Ohio) hit her first of two threes at 10:21 to get the Big Green back in it.

The Pioneers got back into their offensive rhythm to build a 21-16 lead at 6:50 before Meyer popped a long-range triple to make it 21-19 at 6:22. Sacred Heart's Stephanie Ryan answered with a three of her own to start an 8-2 run capped by a layup by Maureen Reilly at 4:58 to go up 29-21.

Craft stopped a nearly four-minute Dartmouth scoring drought with a nice jumper at 2:38 and her team buckled down defensively to hold Sacred Heart scoreless for the last 4:58, closing the half on a 6-0 run to make it 29-27, Pioneers at the half.

It was all Sowinski and Smith in the first seven minutes of the half as star center Kaitlin Sowinski had Sacred Heart's first six points of the game while Brittney and Margaret Smith combined for the Big Green's first nine points and a 36-35 lead at 13:06 after a pair of free-throws by Brittney Smith.

Schram pulled Dartmouth ahead 40-38 with her first triple of the night at 10:52. Sacred Heart would not go away and despite a bucket from Meyer to give Dartmouth the 46-44 lead at 6:51, scored three-straight to go up 49-46 at 4:37.

The Big Green's defense came through late again as it did in the first half, holding the Pioneers to just one point in the last 4:37 while ending on a 7-1 run for the 53-50 win.

Meyer did a nice job with nine points off the bench for Dartmouth while Brittney Smith and Margaret Smith each had nine points and seven rebounds each.

Sowinski and Ryan each had double-doubles for Sacred Heart, with Sowinski leading all scorers with 20 points.

Dartmouth heads into a 10-day break for final exams before heading to Stony Brook on Friday, Dec. 14.