Hot Shooting Crusaders Top Big Green, 60-52

Monday, January 14

Worcester, Mass.

7:00 PM

Dartmouth College

Holy Cross

Brittney Smith Earns Second-Straight Ivy Rookie of the Week Award

1/14/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball

By: Dartmouth

Boxscore

Worcester, Mass. - A tough shooting night plagued the Dartmouth women's basketball team in a 60-52 non-conference loss at Holy Cross tonight. The Big Green hit just 30.9 percent of its shots while the Crusaders connected on 46.8 percent of theirs to take the win.

Dartmouth (4-10) once again held a rebounding advantage, 41-34, but a 2-of-20 effort from behind the arc compared to Holy Cross' (8-8) 7-of-15, helped the Crusaders earn their first-ever win over the Big Green in five tries.

Dartmouth rookie Brittney Smith (Fort Worth, Texas) had a career-high 17 points along with eight rebounds, six steals and three blocks. Betsy Williams (Norwich, Vt.) joined her in double figures while senior Sydney Scott (Houston, Texas) had a game-high 13 rebounds and eight points. Holy Cross had three players in double figures, capped by Brianna McFadden's 15, Elizabeth Campbell's 14 and Bethany O'Dell's 13. McFadden and O'Dell each hit three triples.

It was a possession game in the early going, with the game tied at 9-9 at 12:36 after a jumper by Margaret Smith (Fort Worth, Texas). Holy Cross took over, however, with McFadden starting an 11-2 run to go up 20-11 at 8:19 after a Campbell layup.

The Big Green regrouped and got a boost from Michelle Meyer (Covington, Ohio) off the bench to close the half on a a 14-6 run capped by a last-second offensive putback by Brittney Smith to pull within one at the half, down 26-25.

Dartmouth got off to a good start in the second, with four quick points from Scott to take a 29-28 lead at 16:33. Holy Cross freshman Whitney Fremeau answered with a jumper to regain the lead that the Crusaders would not surrender for the rest of the game. Holy Cross opened up an eight-point lead after an O'Dell triple, up 38-31 at 13:23. Dartmouth answered with back-to-back buckets from the Smith sisters to pull within three, but the same pattern continued.

Each time the Big Green managed to cut it to two possessions, the Crusaders came up with a big shot to extend their lead. Williams had the Green within six, down 56-50 at 1:57, but HC senior Laura Aloisi scored her team's final four points to clinch the win.

Holy Cross took 18 free-throws to Dartmouth's 11, and hit only 9-of-18 from the line and also had 18 turnovers to Dartmouth's 13. The Big Green's inability to hit shots, despite taking 68 to the Crusaders' 47, proved its undoing.

Dartmouth is back in action on Sunday when it heads to ACC foe Virginia Tech for its final non-conference game. Tip off is set for 2:00 p.m. on Sunday, Jan. 20.