Women's Hoops Begins Postseason at Vermont on Thursday

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Hanover, N.H. - The Dartmouth women's basketball team, 2008 Ivy Co-Champions, begins its fourth-straight postseason this Thursday night when it takes on Vermont in the first round of the WNIT.

The Big Green (15-15, 11-3 Ivy) takes on the Catamounts (23-8, 13-3 AE) at Patrick Gymnasium in Burlington at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday. Dartmouth just missed out on an NCAA bid after falling in the second game of a threeway Ivy Playoff, but is making its fourth-straight postseason appearance, unprecedented in the Ivy League.

DARTMOUTH - VERMONT SERIES:
Vermont leads, 14-11. Last Meeting: 1/26/02, Hanover, N.H., Vermont won, 79-53
First Meeting: 1/29/75, Hanover, N.H., Vermont won, 57-45

Dartmouth and Vermont were annual opponents in every season but one from 1983-2002, twice (1984-85 and 1985-86) meeting two times in the same season. The teams have not squared off since 2002, one year before Sharon Dawley, a longtime Dartmouth assistant, took over as the Catamounts' head coach for the 2003-04 season.

QUICK HITS:
? Dartmouth dished out a season-high 16 assists on 22 made field goals in the win over Harvard in the Ivy playoff. Free-throws proved the difference though as the Green got 20 of its 68 points from the charity stripe.
? In the playoff loss to Cornell, the Big Green attempted fewer free-throws than its opponent for just the third time this season. Dartmouth is 0-3 when it takes fewer free throws and 0-2 when it takes the same amount.
? It was a tale of two halves in the Ivy Playoff win over Harvard as Dartmouth shot 68 percent in the first half and 17.9 percent in the second. The Big Green withstood the tough shooting with defense and rebounding.
? While Harvard is known more for its depth, the Big Green's three bench players were more effective than the Crimson's, outscoring them 14 to 8.
? The Big Green has both attempted and made more free throws in all 15 of its victories.

SWEET SIXTEEN: Dartmouth picked up its 16th Ivy League Championship this season and the 11th under current head coach Chris Wielgus. It is also the third title in the last four years. The Big Green shared this year's title with Cornell and Harvard. Harvard ranks second on the championship list with 11 titles to its credit.

HOW DID WE GET HERE: Dartmouth, Cornell and Harvard were all Ivy League Champions this season with identical 11-3 conference records. Last weekend (Friday & Sunday, March 14 & 16) the three played in a three-way playoff to determine the Ivy League's NCAA Tournament auto-bid recipient. Cornell
was the winner of a random coin pull to get a bye to the Sunday game. Dartmouth topped Harvard, 68-62, in the first game on Friday but it ran out of gas on Sunday, falling to the rested Big Red, 64-47.

WHAT'S AT STAKE: The winner of tonight's first round game will square-off against ACC foe Boston College on Monday, March 24.

FAMILIAR FACES: Vermont head coach Sharon Dawley and Dartmouth head coach Chris Wielgus might be running some similar stuff on the court today. The two are good friends, with Dawley having served as an assistant and associate head coach at Dartmouth from 1993-2003. During her time she helped the Big Green to four Ivy League titles.

ALL-IVY HONORS: Three Dartmouth players earned All-Ivy accolades last week. Freshman forward Brittney Smith was the unanimous selection for Rookie of the Year after leading the league in rebounding with 8.2 per game and ranking seventh in scoring with 11.8 points per game in conference play. She was also named honorable mention All-Ivy and was a unanimous pick to the All-Rookie team. Junior guard Koren Schram was named first team All-Ivy after 11.4 points and 2.15 steals per game, sixth and second in the league, respectively. She also ranked first in the league in three point field goals made (62, 2.3 per game) and free-throw percentage. Senior Sydney Scott earned the third All-Ivy award of her career when she was tabbed honorable mention All-Ivy after posting 7.1 points and 7.2 rebounds per game for the Ivy Champs. Schram is the 34th first team All-Ivy pick in Dartmouth history, which leads the league and the Big Green now has 94 all-time All-Ivy honorees, a league best. Smith is Dartmouth's 11th rookie of the year.

SUPER SENIORS: Senior co-captains Kristen Craft and Sydney Scott will graduate from Dartmouth with three Ivy League championships and a second place finish in the non-championship season. They are also participating in their fourth-straight postseason.

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