Women's Basketball to Face BC, Marist at TD Bank Classic

Dartmouth Complete Game Notes (PDF)

The Dartmouth women's basketball team continues its season opening road swing with a trip to the TD Bank Classic at Vermont to face Boston College and Marist.

GAMES 3 & 4: TD BANK CLASSIC at VERMONT

GAME 3: DARTMOUTH (0-2) vs. -/RV BOSTON COLLEGE (2-0)
Date: Friday, Nov. 19, 2010 • 5:00 PM
Location: Patrick Gymnasium • Burlington, Vt.
Dartmouth-Boston College Series: BC leads, 8-0
Streak: BC +8
Last Meeting: BC 84 - Dartmouth 46, 1/7/10, Chestnut Hill, Mass.
Of Note: Boston College and Dartmouth have met just eight times including the last two seasons. The Eagles won the 2008 Blue Sky Classic when they played the Big Green for the first time since 2000.

MULTIMEDIA
Live Stats
Live Video ($)
Radio: WUVR 1490 AM

GAME 4: DARTMOUTH (0-2) vs. MARIST (1-1)
Date: Saturday, Nov. 20, 2010 • 1:00 PM
Location: Patrick Gymnasium • Burlington, Vt.
Dartmouth-Marist Series: Marist leads, 2-1
Streak: Marist +2
Last Meeting: Marist 71 - Dartmouth 35, 11/18/07, Hanover, N.H.
Of Note: Dartmouth won the first meeting between the teams in 1983, but Marist has owned the last two with both wins in a home-and-home series in 2006 and 2007.

MULTIMEDIA
Live Stats
Live Video ($)
Radio: WUVR 1490 AM

PROBABLE STARTERS (2009-10 Statistics)

#	Player	Pos	Cl	Ht	GP-S	PPG	RPG	MPG	Misc
10	Nicola Zimmer	G	FR	5-9	2-2	3.5	6.0	37.0	3.0 APG
20	Brittney Smith	F	SR	6-1	2-2	9.0	8.5	39.5	3.0 SPG
21	Meghan McFee	G	SR	5-10	2-2	6.0	3.5	28.5	40.0 3-FG Pct
24	Cassie Cooper	F	SR	6-2	2-2	7.5	3.5	30.0	50.0 FG Pct
25	Faziah Steen	G	SO	5-8	2-2	13.0	1.0	32.0	41.7 3-FG Pct

STARTING FIVE
1. Today's game is number 910 since the first varsity season in the 38th season of varsity women's basketball at Dartmouth.

2. Dartmouth got outhustled at instate rival UNH on Nov. 16. The Wildcats snapped a four-game losing streak to the Big Green by shooting better than 50 percent from the field and holding a +10 rebounding advantage.

3. The Big Green is in the midst of a four game road swing to start the season, playing two contests on a neutral court after opening with two road games. Overall, Dartmouth will play seven contests in the first 20 days of the 2010-11 campaign.

4. A bright spot for Dartmouth has been its ability to get to the free throw line — already taking 27 free throws to its opponents 15, but the Big Green has only hit 59.3 percent (16) of those.

5. Senior Brittney Smith is one of the program's all-time elite players. The 2009 Ivy League Player of the Year, Smith is on pace to graduate with 1000+ points and 1000+ rebounds.

NOT AS EXPERIENCED AS IT SEEMS
Dartmouth's opening day lineup featured four players, including three seniors who had previous starting experience — but not too much. Cassie Cooper made just her third career start, having been the sixth man for the 2008-09 Ivy Champions and missing all but two games (both starts) in 2009-10. Meghan McFee started her 29th game in 70 played and sophomore Faziah Steen remained in the starting five after starting 20 of 25 games as a rookie. Add in freshman Nicola Zimmer and the group, which also includes veteran starter Brittney Smith, has not spent much time together on the court at all.

A RARE FEAT
With her start at Northwestern on Nov. 12, freshman Nicola Zimmer became the first freshman to start her first collegiate game since Sydney Scott '08 did so in 2004. Zimmer is the first point guard to do so since Angie Soriaga, who started all 112 career games, did so in 2002.

NOT AN EASY OPENING
Dartmouth opened the 38th season of varsity women's basketball with a tough 66-37 loss at Northwestern. Though the Big Green battled and scrapped on every play, it was not enough to compete with the Wildcats' size inside.
The Big Green is 20-19 all-time in season openers, and 4-7 since 2000. Dartmouth won its season opener in 2009-10, defeating Bryant, 57-47. The Big Green has twice started with a Big 10 opponent, also falling in the opener at Iowa in 2007. Dartmouth is 1-6 all-time against Big 10 teams.

TOUGH SHOOTING START
Dartmouth has yet to find its shooting stroke in 2010-11, hitting just 31.1 percent of its shots in the first two games and shooting 25.9 percent from three. At Northwestern, the Big Green got some good looks, the squad struggled shooting just 25.5 percent from the floor and 21.4 percent from three. Things improved at New Hampshire, shooting 37 percent overall, but the Big Green's defense let it down, giving up better than 50 percent shooting to the Wildcats.

MAKING THEIR COLLEGIATE DEBUT
Of Dartmouth's four freshmen, two saw action against Northwestern. In addition to Zimmer getting the start, Eve Zelinger played for one minute and made a pass that led to a pair of free throws for Brittney Smith.

WELCOME BACK COOPER
Senior forward Cassie Cooper made her return to the Dartmouth lineup after a tough injury last season. Against Northwestern, Cooper got the starting nod and played a career-high 32 minutes. She tallied eight points, three rebounds, two assists, two steals and one block. Cooper was a critical sixth man off the bench for the 2008-09 Ivy Champions and was poised to breakout as a starter last season. However, a knee injury sidelined her after just two games, both starts, in 2009-10.

DEFENSIVE TOUGHNESS
Dartmouth has always been known for its quality defense and has made a living off of it for the past four seasons. Despite its opening losses, Dartmouth forced 17 turnovers against Northwestern and 20 at New Hampshire.

IVY LEAGUE ELITE
Dartmouth women's basketball is synonymous with unprecedented success in Ivy League women's basketball. Entering its 35th season of Ivy competition, Dartmouth has won a staggering 17 of a possible 34 Ivy League Championships. The Big Green has won four of the last six Ivy Championships (2005, 2006, 2008, 2009).

PUT A RING ON IT
Every Dartmouth class but one since 1980-2010 has graduated with at least one Ivy League Championship ring. The trend now holds true through at least 2012.

PRESEASON POLLING
After an uncharacteristic subpar season in 2009-10, the Ivy League media and sports information directors expect Dartmouth to be back among those fighting for the Ivy title. Dartmouth was picked to finish third in the league behind defending champ Princeton and rival Harvard. Dartmouth has finished lower than third in the Ivies just three times since 1993-94 and just nine times in 34 years including the first three growing pain years of Ivy competition.

SCHEDULING UP ... AGAIN
Dartmouth has once again put together an impressive non-conference schedule that includes teams from the Big 10 (Northwestern, Michigan State), Big 12 (Kansas State) and ACC (Boston College) as well as perennial mid-major powers Hartford, Marist and Vermont. The Big Green will play three of those big guns in the first two weeks of the season, playing BC and Marist at Vermont's tournament after the game against Northwestern.
On opening day, the Big Green's schedule rated sixth nationally. Dartmouth's SOS ranked as high as eighth nationally in 2009-10 and fourth nationally in 2008-09.

SENIORS PUTTING IT BEHIND THEM
Dartmouth's four seniors: Cassie Cooper, Meghan McFee, Brittney Smith and Louise Vanden Bosch have won two Ivy Championships and are eager to put last season behind them. Though they are a large class, Dartmouth is still a relatively young team with just one junior, four sophomores and four freshmen. Cooper and Smith are Dartmouth's captains this fall but all four seniors will be called upon for leadership.

MEET THE FRESHMEN
Head coach Chris Wielgus welcomes four unique and talented freshmen to her squad this year, two guards and two forwards. Point guard Nicola Zimmer, the 2010 Gatorade Player of the Year for Washington, D.C. is a projected starter and could make the most immediate impact. She is joined in the backcourt by 6-0 Eve Zelinger, a talented lefty swing guard who scores in bunches. Two post players will bolster the frontcourt, an area that should be a strength for the Big Green: Arianne Hunter, a smooth scorer and tough rebounder who has great court vision and Janelle Ross, an impressive true athlete who has great speed and can score at will inside.

SMITH HAS CLASS
Senior Brittney Smith, the 2009 Ivy League Player of the Year, has been named one of 30 national candidates for the prestigious Lowe's Senior Class Award. She is the only Ivy League student-athlete to be named a candidate on the men's or women's side. The award recognizes excellence across the four areas of competition, classroom, community and character. Impressively, Smith is the third Dartmouth player to be a candidate in the last four years, including Koren Schram '09, who was a top-10 finalist in 2009. A three-time All-Ivy honoree, Smith is on pace to graduate with 1,000+ points and 1,000+ rebounds for her career and would be just the third player in Dartmouth history and seventh ever in the Ivy League. A sociology major, Smith has studied abroad in Mexico and has volunteered for a variety of programs including Special Olympics, youth tutoring, peer mentoring, Haiti earthquake relief and the X-Mester program which exposes high school students to college life.

Schedules