Women's Basketball Drops Non-League Game to Holy Cross

Sunday, January 4

Hanover, N.H.

2:00 PM

Dartmouth College

Holy Cross

Women's Basketball Drops Non-League Game to Holy Cross

1/4/2009 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball

By: Dartmouth

Boxscore

HANOVER, N.H. ? Turnovers in the first half and poor shooting in the second doomed the Dartmouth women's basketball team to a 57-45 loss to Holy Cross in its final home game until mid-February.

The Big Green (3-9) was in need of a victory heading into Ivy play, which opens this Saturday at Harvard, but after letting Holy Cross (4-10) inflate a three-point halftime lead to 14 points early in the second, it could never catch up.

Brittney Smith (Fort Worth, Texas) was Dartmouth's only player in double figures with 11 points and eight rebounds while her sister, Margaret Smith (Fort Worth, Texas) had a solid outing with nine points and seven boards. Holy Cross' leading scorer, Briana McFadden, got hers, pouring in 18 points and seven rebounds.

Despite coughing up 15 first half turnovers, Dartmouth trailed just 27-24 at the break. The Big Green opened the game with a big three from Betsy Williams but did not score again until Darcy Rose (Fort Collins, Colo.) hit a pair of free throws at 15:20 to make it 6-5, Holy Cross. The teams traded threes for twos as Koren Schram (Batesville, Ark.) hit back-to-back threes to make it 11-10 Dartmouth at 12:25. Unfortunately for Dartmouth, those would be the only points from its leading scorer on the day.

The teams kept pace with each other and a pair of Williams free throws was followed by a layup by Holy Cross' Elizabeth Campbell to tie the game at 20-20 at 5:09. The Crusaders opened a 7-0 run with five points from McFadden to take a 27-20 lead on the Big Green before Sasha Dosenko (Kiev, Ukarine) and Brittney Smith each scored inside to cut the advantage to 27-24.

The Big Green shot 38 percent from the floor in the first while the Crusaders connected on 40.7 percent of their attempts. After holding Holy Cross scoreless in the final three minutes of the first, Dartmouth looked to have some momentum going into the second half.

That potential was short-lived as Holy Cross opened the second on a 13-2 run, holding Dartmouth scoreless for the first 3:27 whit Brittney Smith cut the lead to 37-26. The Crusaders inflated the advantage to 40-26 at 13:02 with a McFadden free throw before Dartmouth closed the gap to 10 points, down 40-30, at 11:28. The Big Green took momentum from a Dosenko jumper and pushed Holy Cross into the final ticks of the shot clock on the next possession, only to see Jessica Pearson connect on an off-balance jumper at the buzzer.

Bethany O'Dell hit her only three of the day to give the Crusaders their largest lead of the game, up 45-30 at 10:16. Dartmouth did not give up, however, getting key defensive stops while slowly chipping away, cutting the lead to 11, down 46-35 at 6:32 after a layup by Rose. Just when it seemed the Big Green was poised for a comeback it was Pearson again, this time banking in a three-pointer off the glass late in the shot clock to rebuilt the lead to 14.

Dartmouth never got within single digits and Holy Cross went 6-of-6 from the free throw line in the final two minutes to seal the Big Green's fate in the 57-45 defeat.

While the Big Green took care of the ball in the second half, committing just four turnovers - 19 for the game - it shot just 25.9 percent from the floor while the Crusaders shot a solid 47.4 percent. Holy Cross also held a 34-31 advantage in rebounding for the game. Brittney Smith added three steals and two assists to her statline while Schram, despite being held to a season-low six points, added three helpers and three steals.

Dartmouth will have to regroup this week before its trip to Harvard this Saturday, Jan. 10 at 2 p.m. The Crimson and the Big Green shared the Ivy title with Cornell last season.