Dartmouth Outgunned by Hartford in Return to the Court

Sunday, December 12

Hartford, Conn.

2:00 PM

Dartmouth College

Hartford

Dartmouth Outgunned by Hartford in Return to the Court

12/12/2010 4:23:00 PM | Women's Basketball

By: Dartmouth

Boxscore

WEST HARTFORD, CONN. - The Dartmouth women's basketball team struggled in its return to the court after an 11-day exam break, taking a 74-43 loss at Hartford this afternoon.

The Hawks (2-9) are a much stronger team than their record would indicate and they showed it today, building a 29-13 halftime lead over Dartmouth (3-5) and never looking back.

Dartmouth got 13 points from Faziah Steen (Kalamazoo, Mich.) and 11 from Nicola Zimmer (Chevy Chase, Md.), who also grabbed four rebounds. Hartford had three players in double figures led by 14 from Nikkia Smith.

Everything that could go wrong went wrong for the Dartmouth women in the first half. Though the Big Green's defense held Hartford to ___ shooting, foul trouble sidelined seniors Cassie Cooper (Chelsea, Maine) and Meghan McFee (Manchester, Conn.) by the 5:38 mark and Zimmer played with two fouls for most of the half.

Though Hartford struck first, Dartmouth kept pace and a Sasha Dosenko (Kiev, Ukraine) bucket at 16:03 made it a 4-4 game. Mary Silvia opened things up with her first of three triples in the half at 14:32, starting a 13-2 run for the Hawks, who led 17-6 after a pair of free throws by Daphne Elliott at 9:13. Steen stopped the bleeding for Dartmouth with a three pointer at 8:23 that made it 17-9, but Hartford only padded its lead as the half progressed. Silvia answered with a three of her own, again jumpstarting an 11-4 run to build a 29-13 halftime lead. Dartmouth shot just 24 percent for the half but Hartford was no better at 25.7 percent.

The teams each scored four quick points in the second half, with Dartmouth getting all four of its from Steen to keep pace with a 35-17 score at 18:23. Hartford's Daphne Elliott nailed a big three on the next possession to start a 9-0 run for her team, up 44-17 at 15:14. Rookie Janelle Ross (Inglewood, Calif.) playing in her first game after an early-season injury, converted a three-point play at 13:23 to stop the bleeding for a 44-20 deficit.

The Hawks went up 49-23 at 11:53 with three points from Ruthanne Doherty following a Zimmer three. The Big Green locked down defensively and held Hartford without a bucket for the next four minutes, but only scored six of its own to make it a 49-29 deficit at 8:08. The teams traded buckets and a Meghan McFee (Manchester, Conn.) three made it 55-34 with 5:47 to play before Zimmer hit two at the line to get the lead below 20, down 55-36.

Hartford responded with a big run, however, rattling off nine unanswered points to go up 65-36 at 2:50 before a Steen layup ended the drought for Dartmouth. The Hawks outscored the Green 9-5 down the stretch with a three by Cassie Cooper (Chelsea, Maine) and a jumper by Kelsey Byrd (Saratoga, Calif.) closing out scoring for Dartmouth.

The Big Green shot a much improved 52.6 percent from the floor in the second half, but the Hawks more than equaled that with 62.1 percent shooting, ending the game at a 42.2 percent clip. Dartmouth shot 36.4 percent for the contest.

Hartford held a 39-34 rebounding advantage and had just nine turnovers to Dartmouth's 21.

The Big Green is back in action on Thursday, Dec. 16 for a date at Oakland in Steen's home state of Michigan.