Dartmouth Women Host Bryant to Open 2009-10 Campaign

Dartmouth Complete Game Notes (PDF)

The two-time defending Ivy League Champion Dartmouth women's basketball team begins the 2009-10 season this Saturday night at Leede Arena when it hosts Bryant at 7 p.m.

Game 1: Dartmouth (0-0) vs. Bryant (0-0)
Date: Saturday, Nov. 14 • 7:00 PM
Location: Leede Arena • Hanover, N.H.
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Dartmouth-Bryant Series
Series Record: Dartmouth leads, 1-0
Last Meeting: 1/24/09, Smithfield, R.I.
Result: Dartmouth W, 71-56
Streak: Dartmouth +1
This is just the second meeting ever between Dartmouth and Bryant, as the Bulldogs are in just their second season in NCAA Division I. Bryant gave Dartmouth a first-half scare last season but the Big Green rebounded behind 24 points from Brittney Smith to win, 71-56.

This Time Out: Game Number 884. Defending Ivy Champ Dartmouth opens the 2009-10 slate in the friendly confines of Leede Arena. The Big Green has not opened a season at home since 2005, when it thumped Quinnipiac, 90-42.

Last Time Out: #16 Dartmouth lost to #1 seed Maryland in the 2009 NCAA Tournament first round on the Terrapins' home court. Prior to that, the Big Green had won 15 of its last 16 regular season games to win its 17th Ivy Championship outright with a 13-1 record. Dartmouth clinched the Ivy title with a 64-51 win over Harvard in front of 1,700 fans at Leede Arena on Tuesday, March 10.

Next Time Out: Dartmouth hosts two more home games in the coming week, facing A-10 foe Temple on Thursday, Nov. 19 and Hartford on Sunday, Nov. 22. Both games are rematches of contests that Dartmouth lost last year. This also marks the first time since the 1984-85 season that the Big Green has had three straight home games to start a season.

Dartmouth Probable Starters (2008-09 Stats):
*#10 Margaret Smith • SR • G • 6-1, 6.0 ppg, 5.5 rpg, 29.6 mpg
*#20 Brittney Smith • JR • F • 6-1, 14.1 ppg, 8.2 rpg, 35.6 mpg
*#21 Meghan McFee • JR • G • 5-10, 5.4 ppg, 4.0 rpg, 26.6 mpg
#24 Cassie Cooper • JR • F • 6-2, 4.0 ppg, 2.1 rpg, 15.9 mpg
#32 Betsy Williams • SR • G • 6-0, 5.1 ppg, 2.7 rpg, 25.1 mpg
*Returning starter

Quick Hits
• Dartmouth opens the 2009-10 season on the heels of yet another Ivy Championship season in which the team went 18-11 overall and 13-1 in Ivy play. The Big Green played a non-conference schedule rated as high as fourth in the nation in strength of schedule and it paid off down the stretch when the team won 15 of its last 16 games.

• The Big Green returns nine letterwinners and three starters from the 2009-10 squad, almost identical to last year at this point. Dartmouth must replace the All-Ivy duo of Koren Schram '09 and Darcy Rose '09. Junior forward Cassie Cooper is poised to step into Rose's role in the post while senior guard Betsy Williams has plenty of experience under her belt, having started nearly half of her career games played.

• Dartmouth's seniors, Michelle Meyer, Margaret Smith and Betsy Williams, have won two Ivy League Championships and made the postseason in each of their three seasons in Hanover.

• Dartmouth is coming off a season in which defense and rebounding were the key to victory. The team went 16-1 when winning the battle of the boards and held opponents to just 55.1 points per game in the regular season.

• The Big Green's resident sisters, Margaret and Brittney Smith, have been packing a punch together for three seasons now. A senior, Margaret has been through it all including the conversion from forward to guard as a sophomore. A junior, Brittney is the reigning Ivy League Player of the Year and is a dominant force inside. They are the first set of sisters ever to play for Dartmouth.

• Other family ties to Dartmouth include Betsy Williams' five alumni family members including father, Bruce '73, Michelle Meyer's brother Jason '06, a men's basketball captain and Meghan McFee's cousin, Brian Otley '89.

START ME UP
Dartmouth opens its 37th season of varsity women's basketball tonight against Bryant. The Big Green is 19-18 all-time in season openers, but just 3-6 since 2000. Being at home to start the season for the first time since 2005 should help, as Dartmouth is 12-4 all-time when opening the season at home, but 7-14 on the road. Dartmouth's last season-opening victory came on Nov. 18, 2005, a 90-42 drubbing of Quinnipiac.

HOME SWEET HOME
Tonight's game begins the 23rd season of play at Leede Arena. Since opening the doors in 1987, the Dartmouth women are 12-10 in home-openers and 174-84 overall at home. The Big Green went 9-3 including a perfect 7-0 in Ivy play at Leede in 2008-09. Including earlier games not played at Leede, Dartmouth is 23-13 all-time in home-openers.

RAISING ANOTHER BANNER
The 2008-09 Dartmouth women's basketball team brought home the program's 17th Ivy League Championship with a near-perfect 13-1 Ivy record, 18-11 overall. The title was Dartmouth's second straight and fourth in the last five years. The banner marking the Ivy title and NCAA Tournament appearance makes its debut at Leede Arena tonight. Staffers actually had to make room for the newest banners, shifting all the previous 16 over to fit it.

RARE HOMESTAND TO START
Dartmouth opens the 2009-10 campaign with three straight home games for the first time since the 1984-85 season. Such a homestand is so rare that the Big Green has only opened with two home games twice in that span, in 1985-86 and 2002-03. A pair of mid-major heavyweights are on tap next week when Dartmouth hosts Temple on Thursday, Nov. 19 and Hartford on Sunday, Nov. 22.

BEFORE HITTING THE ROAD
The Big Green should enjoy the homestand while it lasts because the team won't be home again until it hosts the annual Blue Sky Classic on Dec. 29-30. Dartmouth has quite a road swing ahead, traveling to defending America East champ Vermont on Nov. 25 then a quick turnaround to Big East foe Cincinnati on Nov. 29. Dartmouth faces Stony Brook and Syracuse on the road after exams before heading west to the University of Southern California's pre-holiday tournament. The Big Green plays the host USC in the opening game.

SILVER ANNIVERSARY
Head coach Chris Wielgus embarks upon her 25th year at Dartmouth this season and 27th as a collegiate head coach, all at the Division I level. Wielgus coached the first Dartmouth team to compete in the Ivy League in 1976-77 and picked up 107 wins and four Ivy titles in eight seasons. She got out of coaching to raise her sons but returned just seven years later for a two-year stint at Fordham, going 37-21 and winning a Patriot League title (1991-93). She returned to Dartmouth in 1993 and has been here ever since, picking up 256 wins and eight more Ivy Championships since.

Schedules