Dartmouth Pops Penn, 56-39, for Wielgus' 200th Ivy Victory

Saturday, January 31

Philadelphia, Pa.

7:00 PM

Dartmouth College

Penn

Dartmouth's Brittney Smith Named Ivy Player of the Week

Dartmouth Pops Penn, 56-39, for Wielgus' 200th Ivy Victory

1/31/2009 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball

By: Dartmouth

Boxscore

PHILADELPHIA ? A career-high 28 points from Brittney Smith (Fort Worth, Texas) and lockdown team defense gave the Dartmouth women's basketball team a 56-39 win at Penn tonight. The victory was Head Coach Chris Wielgus' 200th Ivy League and 390th career victory.

Smith dominated on both ends with 28 points on 62.5 percent shooting along with six rebounds, four blocks and three assists. Margaret Smith (Fort Worth, Texas) added seven points and three steals while Meghan McFee (Manchester, Conn.) also tallied seven along with three assists and two steals. Dartmouth is now 8-9, 3-0 Ivy while Penn drops to 3-14, 0-3 Ivy. The Big Green is the Ancient Eight's only undefeated team.

Most impressive, however, was Dartmouth's team defensive effort, holding Penn to just 39 points on 32 percent shooting. Penn's Carrier Biemer, the Ivy League's leading scorer at 18 points per game, was held to just two points, both on free-throws. Biemer did not have a field goal in the game for the first time since Feb. 23, 2007, her sophomore year. Penn's only double-digit scorer was Kelly Scott with 13 points.

For the second-straight game, Dartmouth and its opponent engaged in a defensive struggled throughout the first half. While the Big Green forced the Quakers late into the shot clock on most possessions and held them to just 15 points, Dartmouth only converted for 21 points itself.

The Big Green opened the game with a quick 5-0 run in the first minute thanks to a pair of Brittney Smith free throws and a Schram three-ball. Penn pulled within one of that and the teams traded buckets before Margaret Smith gave Dartmouth a 9-6 lead from the charity stripe at 14:05. Both teams quieted a bit offensively and the Big Green eventually held a 14-13 lead at 7:11 off a Brittney Smith free throw.

Dartmouth proceeded to hold Penn without a field goal for the next five minutes, with the lead growing to its' largest, 20-13 off a nice move inside by Cooper at 2:33 and ultimately took a 21-15 lead into the break.

The second half started just like the first, with Dartmouth quickly building a double-digit lead off an inside move from Brittney Smith and a three by Schram to go up 26-15 at 18:44. Penn's Anca Popovic drove for two but Smith answered right back before her sister, Margaret, drained a three followed by a strong post move to make it 33-17 at 16:44. Kelly Scott hit a three of her own on the next trip down the floor for Penn before Biemer hit one free throw to get the Quakers to 21.

The teams traded buckets for the next few minutes and Darcy Rose (Fort Collins, Colo.) gave the Big Green a 39-23 lead at 11:29 with a nifty hook shot. Penn buckled down, however, and went on a 7-0 run to cut the Dartmouth lead to just 39-30 by the 9:10 mark. Brittney Smith stopped the run with a conventional three-point play at 8:23 to make it 42-30. The Quakers would not go quietly and went two for one on the Green to make it a 10 point game at the 6:00 mark, 44-34.

Brittney Smith asserted herself down the stretch, personally going on a 7-3 run to extend the Dartmouth lead to 51-37 at 2:14. Penn would ultimately be held to just five points in the final six minutes while McFee put the nail in Penn's coffin with a three-ball at 1:27. Smith scored again for the Green to seal the 56-39 win.

Dartmouth shot 45.5 percent from the floor as a team while each team pulled down 28 boards.

The Big Green is back in action next weekend, starting at Brown on Friday, Feb. 6 at 7 p.m.