Dartmouth Women Down Columbia, 55-43, For Eighth Straight Win

Friday, February 13

Hanover, N.H.

7:00 PM

Dartmouth College

Columbia

Dartmouth Women Down Columbia, 55-43, For Eighth Straight Win

2/13/2009 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball

By: Dartmouth

Boxscore

HANOVEBR, N.H. -- Defense and rebounding were the difference again as the Dartmouth women's basketball team extended its winning streak to eight games with a 55-43 win over Columbia tonight.

Dartmouth (11-9, 6-0 Ivy) employed a balanced scoring attack but its dominance on the boards, 43-30, proved critical as Columbia (10-11, 3-4 Ivy) was leading the Ivy League with 41.2 rebounds per game. Junior guard Margaret Smith (Fort Worth, Texas) had a huge impact on the boards, pulling down a career-high 13 rebounds in a career-high 37 minutes, both numbers leading all players.

Senior guard Koren Schram (Batesville, Ark.) was solid all around for Dartmouth, filling the statsheet with 15 points, seven rebounds, four assists and five steals for the second-straight game. Brittney Smith (Fort Worth, Texas) was just shy of a double-double on 14 points, nine rebounds and four blocks - three on Columbia's Judie Lomax, who Dartmouth contained to 11 points and 11 rebounds.

Dartmouth came out of the gates hard, scoring the first four points of the game in less than a minute and a half. Things slowed down a bit for the Big Green before Schram found Brittney Smith in the paint for two. Columbia did not get on the board until 15:27 when Lauren Dwyer buried a long jumper to make it 6-2. The Lions went on an 8-2 run during the next five minutes to take a 10-8 lead at 10:43 off a Katrina Cragg three.

Schram took the lead right back with a triple of her own 24 seconds later and Dartmouth held onto the advantage for the rest of the game. That bucket started a 9-0 Big Green run that led to a 17-10 Dartmouth advantage at 5:07. The Big Green would only get three more points in the half but took a 20-14 lead into the break. Neither team was burning the nets in the half, as Columbia shot just 20 percent from the floor and Dartmouth, 30 percent.

The Big Green opened the second half with just as much intensity, going on an 11-0 run sparked by Smith and Darcy Rose (Fort Collins, Colo.) and capped by a Betsy Williams (Norwich, Vt.) three before Columbia got its first field goal at 5:18 to make it 31-16.

Williams responded to a Lomax bucket with a conventional three-point play to maintain the Dartmouth lead, up 34-18 at 13:21. Columbia answered right back by going on a quick 9-0 run during a two minute span to cut the Green's lead to just 34-27 at 11:25. Meghan McFee (Manchester, Conn.) converted an offensive putback but Kathleen Barry drained a three for Columbia to make it 36-30 at 10:41.

The Lions would not go quietly, however. After Margaret Smith extended the lead to eight with a pair of free throws, Lomax responded with a driving layup to make it 38-32 at 9:45. After a battle inside on the next possession, Brittney Smith finally got to the line and hit both free-throws, followed by a big three from Schram in the midst of a 6-0 Dartmouth run to build a 44-32 lead at 7:56.

The game grew increasingly physical as time wore on, but Dartmouth kept calm and a conventional three-point play by Schram at 6:29 made it 47-35, Dartmouth and kept the lead in double-figures for good. With McFee on the bench with four fouls, the Big Green was bothered a bit by Columbia's press, but managed to hold off the Lions despite. Brittney Smith iced the win from the free-throw line by going 4-of-4 in the final two minutes and Dartmouth held on for the 55-43 victory.

As a team, the Big Green finished with 11 steals and a season-high nine blocked shots, with five different players tallying a rejection. Dartmouth did turn the ball over 24 times to Columbia's 22.

First place continues to be on the line for Dartmouth tomorrow night when it hosts Cornell at 7 p.m. The game is a rematch of last year's Ivy playoff game in which the Big Red got the better of Big Green. Cornell (7-12, 3-4 Ivy) took a loss at second-place Harvard (13-7, 5-1 Ivy) tonight.