Women's Basketball Tops Harvard in First Game of Ivy Playoff

Friday, March 14

New York, N.Y. (Columbia)

7:00 p.m.

Dartmouth College

Harvard

Women's Basketball Tops Harvard in First Game of Ivy Playoff

3/14/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball

By: Dartmouth

Boxscore

New York - The Ivy League Champion Dartmouth women's basketball team defeated Harvard, 68-62, at Columbia tonight in the first game of the Ivy playoff and will play Cornell on Sunday. As it has been all season, balance was the Big Green's trademark tonight, with three players in double figures and two others just shy of the 10-point mark.

After taking an 18-point lead with 6:48 left in the game, Dartmouth (15-14, 11-3 Ivy) withstood a furious Harvard (18-11, 11-3 Ivy) comeback to pull within four points of the Big Green, 60-56, with 1:04 remaining in the game. The Big Green outscored the Crimson 12-8 in the final minute to take the 68-62 victory. Junior guard Koren Schram (Batesville, Ark.) led Dartmouth with 15 points while Brittney Smith (Fort Worth, Texas) neared a double-double with 11 points, nine rebounds. Senior point guard Kristen Craft (Marshalltown, Iowa) was the backbone of it all for Dartmouth, playing steady with a career-high eight assists along with nine points and seven rebounds.

"I am really beyond proud of this young team and how far they have come and how well they play together," said Head Coach Chris Wielgus. "We're just excited to be in this position and we weren't going to squander this opportunity. Tonight, I told them if it came down to defense we would be fine and we got the stops we needed down the stretch."

Senior forward Sydney Scott (Houston, Texas) got things going early with Dartmouth's first two buckets, but Harvard's Emily Tay scored five quick points to help her team build a 9-4 lead at 16:29. The teams traded buckets and the Crimson mounted a 15-11 lead at 13:03 off a Katie Rollins' layup. Dartmouth buckled down in the next two minutes to go on a blazing 9-0 run spurred by five points from Schram to take a 20-15 lead at 11:13.

The Crimson would not be outdone, storming back to tie the game at 20-20 at 9:30 before the Big Green scored six unanswered points including four from Craft to rebuild a 26-20 advantage with 7:12 left in the half. The final minutes of the half were filled with a flurry of activity and a 13-4 Dartmouth run to close the period, started by a three-ball from Betsy Williams (Norwich, Vt.) and capped with a free-throw by Darcy Rose (Fort Collins, Colo.) to make it 42-30 at the half.

Dartmouth's 42 first-half points marked a season-high and the Green shot a blazing 68 percent from the floor, with 14 assists on 17 made buckets. Harvard hit 46.2 percent of its shots in the period.

The Big Green opened the first half much like it ended the first, maintaining its 12-points lead until Tay hit a three for Harvard to make it 46-37 at 15:58. Dartmouth got back down to business following that, as Rose sparked a 12-3 Big Green run to extend the lead to 18 points, up 58-40 at 6:48.

Harvard would not go quietly, however, as Tay and senior Lindsey Hallion combined for 12 points to lead the Crimson on an amazing 16-2 to cut the Dartmouth lead to just 60-56 at 1:04. It was all free-throws down the stretch for the Big Green, who went 8-of-10 from the line in the final minute despite hitting just 65.5 percent of its attempts on the night. Hallion certainly played like a senior, scoring Harvard's last six points on drives to the basket, but Dartmouth's defense also gave the Crimson fits late, with Williams and Schram each blocking a three-point attempt and Scott grabbing a steal all in the last 44 seconds. With a raucous crowd for both sides cheering, the Big Green held on for the 68-62 win.

Dartmouth shot a dismal 17.9 percent from the floor in the second half, but rebounding and clock maintenance carried it through. The Big Green held a 39-28 rebounding advantage, including 17 offensive boards to Harvard's nine.

Dartmouth will take on Cornell on Sunday at 2:00 p.m. to determine the Ivy League's NCAA Tournament representative. The duo, along with Harvard, had tied for the Ivy crown with identical 11-3 records.