Women's Hoops Takes on Big East Foe Cincinnati in Sunday Matinee

Complete Dartmouth Game Notes

The Dartmouth women's basketball team will bring its two Ohio natives, Michelle Meyer and Louise Vanden Bosch, home this Sunday as they face the University of Cincinnati on the Bearcats' home court at 2 p.m.

Game 5: Dartmouth (1-3) at Cincinnati (3-2)
Date: Sunday, Nov. 29 • 2:00 PM
Location: Fifth Third Arena • Cincinnati, Ohio

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Dartmouth-Cincinnati Series
Series Record: Cincinnati leads, 1-0
Last Meeting: 12/17/94 • Columbus, Ohio
Result: Cincinnati W, 66-60
Streak: Cincinnati +1
Dartmouth and Cincinnati have met just once on the basketball court, on Dec. 17, 1994 when the Bearcats took a 66-60 win at the Ohio State Tournament. That was head coach Chris Wielgus' second season back at Dartmouth after returning in 1993. The Big Green went on to a 16-11 overall mark and won its second straight Ivy Championship at 12-2.

THIS TIME OUT
Game Number 888. Dartmouth plays just its second road game of the season today. The Big Green is bringing two Ohio natives home today as Michelle Meyer and Louise Vanden Bosch both hail from the Dayton area. This marks the seventh straight season that Dartmouth has played a Big East team, including postseason play.

LAST TIME OUT
Dartmouth saw an improved effort overall but an early second half run was the difference maker as America East favorite Vermont stayed unbeaten with an 83-59 win over the Big Green.

NEXT TIME OUT
This is Dartmouth's fifth game in 16 days to open the 2009-10 campaign with a bang. It is also the last game before a 12 day break for final exams. Dartmouth resumes at Stony Brook and Syracuse (Dec. 11-13) and at the USC tournament before its holiday break.

Dartmouth Probable Starters:
*#10    Margaret Smith   G • SR • 6-1 • 6.3 ppg, 6.5 rgg, 80.0 FT Pct.
*#20    Brittney Smith    F • JR • 6-1 • 10.3 ppg, 9.5 rpg, 2.0 BPG
*#21    Meghan McFee    G • JR • 5-10 • 6.5 ppg, 2.5 rpg, 1.3 SPG
#32    Betsy Williams    G • SR • 6-0 • 5.3 ppg, 2.0 rpg, 75.0 3FG Pct.
#34    Sasha Dosenko   F • SO • 6-3 • 5.0 ppg, 4.8 rpg
*Returning starter

QUICK TAKE ON THE BIG GREEN

• Dartmouth is playing just its second road game of the season today at Cincinnati. Typically the Big Green would have played at least two contests on the road by the Thanksgiving holiday.
• The Big Green has picked up where it left off last season by getting to the free throw line often and keeping its opponents away from it. In just four games, Dartmouth has taken 93 free throws to its opponents 47. The Green could stand to improve on its percentage from the line, hitting 67.7 percent to its foes 66.0.
• Dartmouth has had three different starting lineups in four games this season. To show the contrast, the Big Green used just two different lineups last season and the season before.
• With two players yet to dress due to preseason injuries, Dartmouth has now used all 11 of its available players in the first three games.
• Sophomore Sasha Dosenko made good on her first collegiate start, coming up just one point shy of a double-double with 11 rebounds and nine points in an efficient 27 minutes.
• 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, having started nearly half of her career games played.

WELCOME HOME
Today's game marks a homecoming for senior Michelle Meyer (Covington, Ohio) and junior Louise Vanden Bosch (Kettering, Ohio), who both hail from the Dayton area, about an hour away. With 13 players from 11 states and the Ukraine on this year's roster, Dartmouth is truly a national institution. As part of her program's mission, Coach Wielgus tries to ensure that each player will have the opportunity to play a game in her home state and as close as possible to her hometown. In the last four years, Dartmouth has taken such homecoming trips to play teams including: Vanderbilt, Michigan, Iowa, Colorado, Arkansas, Southern Methodist and this year at Cincinnati. The Big Green visits Southern California later this year, home state of Kelsey Byrd.

CAN WE SHARE OUR STATLINE?
Dartmouth's starting post players were each just one number away from a double-double at Vermont. Brittney Smith, who tallied 13 points and nine rebounds, could have lent a point or two to Sasha Dosenko, who could have shared a rebound with Smith after tallying 11 boards and nine points.

SCHEDULE IS NO SLOUCH
Once again, Dartmouth is playing a challenging non-conference schedule to prepare itself for a run at the Ivy League title. The Big Green's strength of schedule currently ranks at 28th in the nation with an RPI of 102 despite a 1-3 record. All of Dartmouth's last three opponents - Temple, Hartford and Vermont - were receiving votes in the latest Top-25 coaches poll and each had defeated at least one team from a BCS conference. At one point last season, the Big Green's strength of schedule rated the fourth most difficult in the country. This year, with Syracuse, USC and Boston College still on the slate, the Big Green could easily move up higher than 28th.

GETTING BACK THE SHOOTING TOUCH
Dartmouth junior guard Meghan McFee led the Big Green with 16 points against Vermont, for her highest scoring output of the season. McFee had been off to an uncharacteristically slow start, but made up for that Wednesday with two threes and some big drives to the hoop. She paced Dartmouth to a 42.3 percent shooting effort in the second half, its most accurate 20 minutes of the season so far. Rookie Faziah Steen poured in nine points against the Catamounts as well, for the highest scoring tally by a Dartmouth freshman so far this season.

NOT OFTEN ALLOWING 80
Dartmouth gave up 83 points to Vermont on Nov. 25, marking just the fourth time since 2006 that the Big Green has allowed that many points, with two of those coming in overtime and triple overtime games. Dartmouth allowed 82 points to #1 Maryland in the NCAA Tournament last season and to UConn (95) in the 2005 NCAA Tournament.

THE BIG GREEN WANDERERS
Dartmouth plays its second road game of the season today, in the midst of a stretch of 36 days without a home game. The Big Green will not be back at Leede Arena until the Blue Sky Classic on Dec. 29-30. Last season, Dartmouth endured a stretch of 40 days without a road game. Dartmouth faces Stony Brook and Syracuse on the road after exams (Dec. 11 & 13) before heading west to the University of Southern California's pre-holiday tournament (Dec. 19 & 20). The Big Green plays the host USC in the opening game.

READY FOR A REST
But for some tests ... Because of Dartmouth's long Ivy League exam period, the Big Green is forced to cram an extra game into its first two weeks, before a layoff from Nov. 30 - Dec. 10. The Big Green is capping off a stretch of five games in 16 days to open the season. The team gets back to it with a bang, playing Stony Brook and Syracuse just one day apart, on Dec. 11 and Dec. 13, respectively.

Schedules