Dartmouth Women Open Season with 57-47 Win over Bryant

Saturday, November 14

Hanover, N.H.

7:00 PM

Dartmouth College

BRYANT

Women?s Basketball Announces 2010-11 Team Captains

Dartmouth Women Open Season with 57-47 Win over Bryant

11/14/2009 10:05:00 PM | Women's Basketball

By: Dartmouth

Boxscore

HANOVER, N.H. - The Dartmouth women's basketball team opened the 2009-10 campaign with a 57-47 win over Bryant at Leede Arena.

The Big Green led by as many as 14 and the Bulldogs never led in the contest. Junior Cassie Cooper (Chelsea, Maine) led all scorers with 14 points and seven rebounds in her first collegiate start. She was joined in double-figures by Dartmouth teammates Brittney Smith (Fort Worth, Texas), who tallied 12 points, eight boards and Betsy Williams (Norwich, Vt.), who scored 10 and added four assists. Senior Margaret Smith (Fort Worth, Texas) led the team's 49-rebound effort with 12 caroms.

Dartmouth opened the game on a 12-0 run and seemed destined for a blowout before Bryant made some defensive changes to slow the pace. Williams scored the first five points of the game before a Brittney Smith layup and five from Cooper to go up 12. Courtney Schermerhorn got Bryant on the board with back-to-back threes, cutting the lead to 12-6 at 12:19.

The Big Green responded with a 7-0 run sparked b Sasha Dosenko (Kiev, Ukraine) off the bench and the lead inflated to 19-6 at 8:20. Dartmouth's hot-shooting slowed as the half wound down and Bryant capitalized with Brittney Smith on the bench with two fouls just seven minutes into the game. Margaret Smith nailed a three to put her team up 14, 24-10, at 5:49 but the Bulldogs pulled within 10 off a Danielle Douglas layup at 3:02.

Dosenko twice answered a Bryant bucket in the waning minutes to keep the Big Green's lead at 12, entering the half up, 28-16. Dartmouth held Bryant to a woeful 16.7 percent shooting in the first.

Schermerhorn opened the second half with a big three for Bryant to cut the lead to single digits, down 28-19 The Big Green responded with four straight free throws made by Williams and Cooper to reinflate the advantage to 32-19 at 18:13.

The Bulldogs cut the lead back down to eight just a minute later but Meghan McFee (Manchester, Conn.), Cooper and Michelle Meyer (Covington, Ohio), all hit jumpers to make it 38-24 at 13:53. Bryant soon came to rely on the threeball and it served them well as Lekia Cowen and Lindsey Hudspeth got the lead down to 41-35 at 10:55 with an 11-3 run.

McFee and Brittney Smith pulled the lead back to 10 at 9:28 but in the blink of an eye Bryant pulled within two possessions, down just 45-40 at 8:34 after a Cowen trey. Dartmouth responded with a 7-0 run capped by a Margaret Smith layup to go up 52-40 at 4:26.

Bryant got within nine on the next possession, but never really threatened down the stretch as Dartmouth built a 13-point lead with just under two minutes to play and held on for the 57-47 win.

It was a physical game particularly inside, with Bryant whistled for 22 fouls to Dartmouth's 11. The Big Green held the slim advantage on the boards, 49-45, with plenty of rebounding opportunities created on both sides. Dartmouth shot just 31.6 percent while holding Bryant to 26.2 percent from the floor.

Schermerhorn and Cowen finished with 14 and 11 points, respectively, for Bryant.

Dartmouth's Meyer made her return to the court after an injury cost her all of last season, playing 12 minutes off the bench while rookie Kylie Kufeld (Billings, Mont.) logged 13 minutes in her collegiate debut.

The Big Green is back in action at Leede Arena this Thursday Nov. 19 when it hosts Temple at 7 p.m.