Women's Basketball Hosts Yale and Brown for Pivotal Ivy Weekend

Dartmouth Game Notes
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The entire season has been building to this point. The Dartmouth women's basketball team returns to Leede Arena for three games that will determine the 2008-09 Ivy League Championship.

First place Dartmouth (15-10, 10-1) heads into the weekend in control of its own destiny, one game ahead of rival Harvard (9-2). The Big Green hosts Yale (11-15, 4-8 Ivy) on Friday, Brown (3-23, 1-11 Ivy) on Saturday and the Crimson this Tuesday, March 10 at 7 p.m.. Harvard will also face Brown and Yale this weekend. Should Dartmouth sweep the weekend, a win over Harvard on Tuesday would secure the league's NCAA Tournament bid. A loss to the Crimson, if it also sweeps the weekend, would force a playoff.

Regardless, two wins in the next three games will ensure at least a share of the program's 17th Ivy Championship.

PROBABLE STARTERS:
#10 Margaret Smith, JR, G, 6-1: 6.2 ppg, 5.6 rpg
#20 Brittney Smith, SO, F, 6-1: 13.7 ppg, 8.2 rpg, 1.5 bpg
#21 Meghan McFee, SO, G, 5-10: 5.2 ppg, 4.0 rpg, 1.8 apg
#25 Darcy Rose, SR, F, 6-2: 8.9 ppg, 7.0 rpg
#33 Koren Schram, SR, G, 5-7: 11.9 ppg, 4.4 rpg, 2.4 spg, 2.4 apg

QUICK HITS
? Dartmouth will close out the season with three-straight home games, its second-longest homestand of the year. The Big Green has a home record of 6-3, with two of the three losses against an ACC and Big East opponent.
? The Big Green is 13-1 when outrebounding or matching its opponent on the glass. Dartmouth has has fewer rebounds in a win just twice this season - over Princeton and Columbia.
? Dartmouth took just six free throws in the win over Princeton, marking just the third time all season the Big Green has not taken more attempts from the line than its opponent.
? Brittney Smith and Darcy Rose combined for seven blocked shots at Cornell, four from Smith and three from Rose.
? Of the 30 points she scored at Cornell and Columbia last weekend, Koren Schram netted 28 in the second half.

DID YOU KNOW
? Margaret and Brittney Smith are the first set of sisters to play for Dartmouth
? Meghan McFee has been known to entertain the group by tickling the ivories when there is a piano in the room - sometimes at pregame meal
? Betsy Williams could team up for a concert with McFee, as she sings in a campus a capella group
? Koren Schram's older brother, Dylan, played college basketball at Westminster (Mo.) but also got most of the family height. A forward, he stands at 6-7, a full foot taller than his sister, a guard.
? Freshman Jalea Moses is only 17 - she skipped a grade so that she and her sister, who is 18 and attends Penn, could be in the same class
? Conversely, her classmate, Sasha Dosenko, is 19 and will turn 20 in June, just 20 days after Moses turns 18
? Michelle Meyer's older brother, Jason '06, was captain of the men's basketball team at Dartmouth in 2006-07

WHAT'S AT STAKE
As to be expected in the Ivy League, it's all coming down to the final weekend. The overtime loss at Cornell will make things a bit more interesting for Dartmouth (10-1), who holds just a one-game lead over Harvard (9-2). The Big Green can clinch at least a share of the Ivy title with two wins this weekend, while the Crimson must win both this weekend and Tuesday night's head-to-head match-up to force a tie.

SENIOR NIGHT
Dartmouth's two seniors, Darcy Rose and Koren Schram, will get an extended celebration this week when they play their final three home games. The pair will be honored formally before the Brown game, but their last game at Leede Arena will be Tuesday against Harvard. Rose is having her best season yet, averaging 8.9 points and 7.0 rebounds
per game and is high on the all-time list with 110 games played. Schram is closing in on 1,000 career points, needing 36, and averages 11.9 points, 4.4 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 2.4 steals in a do-everything senior year.

MOST STREAKS DO COME TO AN END
At Cornell last weekend, the Big Red stunned Dartmouth with a barrage of three-point shooting including huge threes at the end of both regulation and overtime to take a 66-61 win. The loss was the Big Green's first since Jan. 4, snapping an 11-game overall winning streak and a seven-game road winning streak.

MILESTONES APPROACHING
As the numbers on page three suggest, several Dartmouth players are nearing some impressive marks. Koren Schram is just 36 points away from 1,000 and 11 threes away from 200 for her career. With 110 games played and three regular season contests left, Darcy Rose should tie Ashley Taylor '07 for second place all-time, but likely won't reach Sydney Scott's record mark of 116. Sophomore Brittney Smith is on pace for some serious career numbers, now just 24 shy of 700 points and 48 rebounds away from 500.

SHE ROSE TO THE OCCASION
Against Cornell and Columbia, senior Darcy Rose played well above her average to pace the Big Green. She finished the weekend averaging 16.5 points and 12.5 rebounds after posting her fifth and sixth career double-doubles. Almost all of her work at Cornell was done in the second half and overtime, posting 15 points and 15 rebounds. The next night, she sealed a close win at Columbia by getting herself to the line to hit 9-of-10 in the final six minutes en route to 17 points and 10 rebounds.

FIRE AND ICE
Seniors Koren Schram and Darcy Rose earned some new nicknames from teammate Jacky Nikic on Saturday. The duo led Dartmouth to its comeback win at Columbia but each in different ways. Schram went off, torching the nets for 15 second-half points including three deadly triples. Conversely, Rose had icewater in her veins as she converted 9-of-10 free throws in the last 6:46, including five in the final minute, to ice the win. Just one of the fouls committed on Rose by Columbia was intentional.

COMEBACK KIDS
In its games against Cornell and Columbia last weekend, Dartmouth found itself in the unfamiliar position of trailing at halftime. At Cornell, it was the first time since Jan. 30 at Princeton that the Big Green was behind at the break. Uncharacteristically, the Big Green gave up 30 first half points in both games, yet in both contests, made successful comebacks bolstered by the play of its veterans.
Against Cornell, the Big Green erased an eight-point deficit, outscoring the Big Red, 35-27, in the second. The comeback resulted in a 57-57 regulation tie, but Cornell hit some big shots in overtime to steal the win back, 66-61.
At Columbia, Dartmouth opened up a 13-4 run, but foul trouble put Brittney Smith on the bench, opening up the lane for a 27-6 Columbia run in the final 10 minutes. The Lions led, 31-19, at halftime. Dartmouth quickly erased the deficit and would not be denied. It took until 4:37 to gain its first lead but the Big Green outscored the Lions, 44-30, for a 63-61 win.

GETTING IT DONE AT THE LINE
As a team, Dartmouth takes an average of 20.6 free throws per game to its opponents 11.6, committing just 14.1 fouls per game which ranks 16th in the nation. Dartmouth has made more free throws (359) than its opponents have attempted (291). Overall, the Big Green connects on 69.8 percent of its attempts while its opponents also only hit 70 percent.
In Ivy play the Big Green has improved its free throw shooting numbers to 72.6 percent while its opponents dropped to 68.6 percent. Meghan McFee would lead the league in accuracy from the line, missing only twice for a 90.5 percentage but she has not taken enough free throws to be ranked. Margaret Smith is hitting hers at an 88 percent clip, which puts her first in the conference.

DOMINATING DEFENSE
Dartmouth has been getting it done with defense this season, giving up 55.9 points per game. In conference play, Dartmouth leads the Ivy League with a paltry average of just 46.7 points allowed and a staggering .327 field goal percentage defense and .259 three-point percentage defense. Dartmouth's season low 27 points given up to Brown on Feb. 6 marked the lowest opponent point total since a 68-23 win over Columbia on Feb. 4, 1995.

WE'D LIKE TO SCORE SOME MORE
With a defense like Dartmouth's, who needs offense? Still, the Big Green averages just 56.0 points per game overall and 57.0 points in Ivy play. The 43 points scored against Princeton marked a season low for offense in a victory.
While the numbers are not gaudy, the Big Green truly benefits from a balanced attack, with Brittney Smith and Koren Schram averaging 13.7 and 11.9 points per game, respectively. Dartmouth is one of just two teams to have multiple players in the Ivy's top-10 in scoring.

CRASHING THE BOARDS
Dartmouth continues to rely on its rebounding ability and every player on the team is expected to contribute. In Ivy League play, four of Dartmouth's starters rank in the league's top-20 for individual rebounding, with four in the top 10. Brittney Smith ranks second with 8.3 boards per game while Darcy Rose is fifth with 7.5, Meghan McFee is eighth with 5.5 and Margaret Smith is 12th with 5.0.

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