Balanced Attack Sends Dartmouth Past Vermont, 66-51

Wednesday, November 24

Hanover, N.H.

7:00 PM

Dartmouth College

VERMONT

Balanced Attack Sends Dartmouth Past Vermont, 66-51

11/24/2010 9:19:00 PM | Women's Basketball

By: Dartmouth

HANOVER, N.H. - The Dartmouth women's basketball team is thankful for its first win of the season after an effort that featured four players in double figures and a dominant effort from Brittney Smith.

Smith posted a double-double with 21 points and 11 rebounds but also snagged a career-high seven steals and dished out three assists. She was joined in double-figures by classmates Cassie Cooper (Chelsea, Maine) and Louise Vanden Bosch (Kettering, Ohio) with 11 points each and Faziah Steen (Kalamazoo, Mich.), who added 12 points and three steals.

The Dartmouth women (1-4) were happy to share the ball with each other as well, with four players dishing out three assists each. Dartmouth shot 43.1 percent overall, 50 percent from three and outrebounded Vermont, 40-30.

Vermont (0-5) advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament last season.

The teams traded buckets in the early goings of the game at sat tied at 6-6 before a Cooper three opened up a 9-0 Dartmouth run for a 15-6 lead at 14:12. The Big Green kept the pressure on defensively, which led to offense and built a 22-10 advantage after a Meghan McFee (Manchester, Conn.) triple at 10:27.

Vermont answered back with a 13-4 run fueled by Lauren Buschmann, who finished with 18 points, to cut the lead to 26-23 at 3:09. The teams kept pace with each other for the balance of the half and Dartmouth took a 32-27 lead into halftime.

Dartmouth started the second half with steals on the first two Vermont possessions and translated its defensive intensity into offense, opening on a 10-0 run to build a 42-27 lead at 16:23 including back-to-back threes from Vanden Bosch. The Big Green kept the pressure on and ultimately opened on a 16-5 run over the first eight minutes to build a 48-32 lead at 12:17 after three straight points from Sasha Dosenko (Kiev, Ukraine).

The Big Green kept at it and inflated the advantage to 19 points with a 57-38 lead after a Smith jumper at 8:59. The Catamounts scored four unanswered by the 6:24 mark but Cooper responded with four straight to make it 61-42 at 5:38. Vermont managed to cut the lead down to 14 after a Lauren Wheeler layup at the 4:00 mark, but a Steen three-ball made short work of the Catamounts confidence on the next possession. Dartmouth held tight down the stretch to take the eventual 66-51 win.

The Big Green is back in action on Sunday when it travels to Bryant for a 2 p.m. start.