Dartmouth Downs First-Place Cornell in Comeback Thriller, 46-44

Friday, February 29

Hanover, N.H.

7:00 pm

Dartmouth College

CORNELL

Dartmouth Downs First-Place Cornell in Comeback Thriller, 46-44

2/29/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball

By: Dartmouth

Boxscore

Hanover, N.H. - Dartmouth rookie Brittney Smith (Fort Worth, Texas) scored the biggest basket of her young career with three seconds left to give the women's basketball team the go-ahead score in a do-or-die 46-44 win over Cornell tonight.

Smith's bucket and Dartmouth's late defensive stand kept its Ivy Championship hopes alive as the Green improved to 11-14, 8-3 Ivy. Cornell dropped to 17-7, 9-2 Ivy and into a tie for first place with Harvard (9-2 Ivy), who it plays tomorrow night.

The teams were deadlocked at 44-44 after Koren Schram (Batesville, Ark.) hit a pair of big free throws at 2:02. Things really heated up in the final 40 seconds. The Big Red took possession with 48 seconds left and called a quick timeout to set up its offense. Lacey Workman spotted up for an open three but missed long and Dartmouth senior guard Kristen Craft (Marshalltown, Iowa) crashed the boards and fought her way out of a scrum to secure the ball for the Green.

With 20 seconds left, Dartmouth opted to run its motion offense without calling a timeout and it worked perfectly. After running the clock down, Craft threaded the needle with a pass into Smith, who kept her cool in the crowded post and put in the eventual game-winner with three seconds remaining.

Dartmouth then used its final timeout to set its defense and then things got even more interesting. Cornell's Gretchen Gregg opted to throw a long pass intended for a streaking Jeomi Maduka, but Dartmouth senior Sydney Scott (Houston, Texas) picked it off. Scott was then called for a travel with 1.9 seconds remaining, with Dartmouth up 46-44. Cornell opted to go for two inside, but the Big Green's post defense smothered Maduka and came out with the win.

Defense was the key for Dartmouth tonight, as Cornell scored just two points in the last six minutes, both on free-throws.

At the start of the game, Cornell came out of the gates raring to go, with three triples by Gregg in the first seven minutes to help build a 15-7 lead at 12:21. Darcy Rose (Fort Collins, Colo.) stopped the bleeding for Dartmouth with a jumper at 11:33 to make it 15-9. The Big Red came back however, with an answer for every Big Green point to mount a 26-18 lead at 9:21 off a three from Lauren Benson.

Dartmouth managed a slight 6-4 advantage in the final nine minutes to make it a 30-24 Cornell lead at halftime. The Big Green shot 50 percent from the floor to the Big Red's 46 percent, but 11 Darmouth turnovers and six made threes for Cornell proved the difference.

Cornell opened the second by scoring four quick points to inflate its lead to nine points, the largest of the half, up 34-25 at 17:54. The Big Green did not wilt though, instead it regrouped and pumped out an inspired 11-0 run started by rookie Louise Vanden Bosch (Kettering, Ohio) to take a 36-34 lead at 10:46.

The Big Red proved why it was the Ivy's first-place team, however, going on a 6-0 run of its own to take a 42-36 lead at 6:12 off a Moina Snyder jumper.

Once again Dartmouth remained calm and relied on its defense. Scott scored four-straight points to cut the lead to two, 42-40 at 4:27. On its next two trips down the court, Cornell got to the free-throw line but hit just two of four attempts to go up 44-42 after Margaret Smith (Fort Worth, Texas) hit a jumper for the Big Green.

Schram hit the game-tying free-throws before Smith nailed the game-winner, all as part of an 8-2 Dartmouth run in the final six minutes. Cornell was held without a field goal for that timespan and was without a made three for the second half.

Dartmouth shot a solid 47.5 percent from the floor while Cornell finished at 37.8 percent after hitting just 26.3 percent in the second half. The Big Red was held well-below its Ivy scoring average of 69.5 points per game.

The Big Green had no player in double figures, but Scott and Brittney Smith scored nine points each while Craft added eight points and three assists. Scott added a team-high nine rebounds to her tally.

Maduka finished with 13 for Cornell while Gregg had 12, all in the first half.

Dartmouth is back in action tomorrow night when it hosts Columbia at 7:00 p.m.