Dartmouth Hangs Tough with #25 Syracuse, Before Falling 56-42

Sunday, December 13

Syracuse, N.Y.

5:00 PM

Dartmouth College

Syracuse

Dartmouth Hangs Tough with #25 Syracuse, Before Falling 56-42

12/13/2009 6:15:00 PM | Women's Basketball

By: Dartmouth

Boxscore

Syracuse, N.Y. - The Dartmouth women's basketball team gave #25 Syracuse a fight this evening at the Carrier Dome, but the Orange remained a perfect 9-0 with a 56-42 win.

Brittney Smith scored 12 of her 13 points in the second half en route to a 13 point, 10 rebound double-double, along with four steals in a full 40 minutes. She was joined in double figures by Betsy Williams (Norwich, Vt.), who scored 13 points in a big effort off the bench.

Dartmouth's (2-5) defense was tremendous against the high-scoring Orange (9-0), holding them to just 56 points, 22 below their season average of 78.9 and forcing 26 turnovers. Poor shooting - 28.3 percent - doomed the Big Green as did Syracuse's tough rebounding, holding a 40-27 edge.

The Big Green trailed, 31-18, at halftime and Syracuse opened the second half on a 10-0 run to build a 41-18 lead just five minutes in. The Orange led by as many as 24 points with 10:23 to play but Dartmouth forced the issue all game and, with 10 players seeing action, pulled back to just a 14-point deficit.

The Big Green played a solid first half, particularly on the defensive end, forcing the Orange into 16 turnovers. The Orange jumped out to an early 9-0 lead after a Tyler Ash jumper at 17:21. Dartmouth finally got on the board with a Meghan McFee (Manchester, Conn.) trey at 16:51 before Syracuse got it right back with a lucky bounce for three.

Cuse inflated its lead to 14-6 at 15:05 before Jalea Moses (Brooklyn, N.Y.) hit a jumper with the shot clock winding down. Dartmouth buckled down and held the Orange scoreless for nearly three minutes, forcing four turnovers in that span. The Big Green got good looks from downtown but had some tough bounces and could not capitalize on its defensive success.

Syracuse had committed nine turnovers by the 7:35 mark, at which point the Big Green had cut the lead to 20-14 after a nice jumper by Williams. Dartmouth trailed by just four points, down 20-16 with 6:37 to play in the half before 6-4 Kayla Alexander used her size to explode for seven points in a four minute span. The Big Green got just one more bucket while the Orange capitalized inside, to go up 31-18 at the half.

Starting forward Sasha Dosenko (Kiev, Ukraine) was sidelined with two fouls, leaving Dartmouth with just two posts, Moses and Brittney Smith, to bear the load for the last seven minutes of the period. The Big Green shot just 26.9 percent for the half and after having just six turnovers in the first 13 minutes, coughed up nine in the final 7:35 while Syracuse had 12 for the half, shooting 51.9 percent.

Dartmouth's defense was solid again to start the second, forcing Syracuse into turnovers on four of its first five possessions. Regardless, the Orange still opened on a 10-0 run to go up 41-18 at 15:25. Williams nailed the first of back-to-back threes for Dartmouth's first score of the half at 14:55. Her second, after a Syracuse jumper, made the score 43-24 with 14:30 to play.

The Orange traded made shots with turnovers, so despite the Big Green's shooting woes, stayed just 24 points ahead up 52-28 after a Carmen Tyson-Thomas layup at 9:40. Dartmouth kept fighting and Brittney Smith went on a 7-0 run herself including a 3-3 effort at the free throw line to cut the lead to 54-28 with 3:19 to play.

The Big Green held Syracuse to just two points in the final three minutes and Smith nailed a three on the final possession off a feed from her sister, Margaret Smith (Fort Worth, Texas) to take the final to 56-42. Dartmouth ultimately outscored Syracuse, which did not go much deeper than its standard rotation, 14-6 in the last 10 minutes of the game.

Dartmouth is off to sunny California this week, traveling to USC to play in the Women of Troy Classic. The Big Green faces the host Trojans on Saturday, Dec. 19 at 4:30 p.m. pacific.