Kansas State Pulls Away Late to Top Dartmouth, 69-48

Wednesday, December 29

Hanover, N.H.

8:00 PM

Dartmouth College

KANSAS STATE

Kansas State Pulls Away Late to Top Dartmouth, 69-48

12/29/2010 10:39:00 PM | Women's Basketball

By: Dartmouth

Boxscore

HANOVER, N.H. - After trailing by just five at halftime, the Dartmouth women's basketball team was unable to pull off the upset over Big 12 foe Kansas State, as the Wildcats used a big second half to take a 69-48 win tonight.

The game was part of the 34^th annual Blue Sky Classic Tournament. Wagner topped Vermont, 68-40, in the first game of the evening. The matchups were predetermined and Vermont will face Kansas State tomorrow at 4 p.m. and Dartmouth will host Wagner at 7 p.m.

Kansas State's Brittnay Chambers poured in 26 points including 20 of her team's 37 second-half points to spur her squad to victory. Dartmouth (3-8) had three players in double figures led by rookie Nicola Zimmer (Chevy Chase, Md.) with 12, Faziah Steen (Kalamazoo, Mich.) with 11 points and five rebounds and senior Cassie Cooper (Chelsea, Maine) with 10 points. Freshman Janelle Ross (Inglewood, Calif.) had the finest outing of her young career with nine rebounds and six points in 16 minutes of work.

Kansas State (9-3) opened the game with a 4-0 run but the Big Green responded with seven straight points capped by a Steen three to go up 7-4 at 16:20. Both teams cooled off a little and the Wildcats used a 10-0 run over the next six minutes to take a 14-9 lead at 10:44 before a Kelsey Byrd (Saratoga, Fla.) jumper got the Big Green back on the board.

Kansas State had another good run, outscoring Dartmouth 8-2 capped by a Mariah White three to go up 22-13 before Byrd worked hard to get an offensive putback to cut the lead to seven. A Branshea Brown three-point play gave a 10-point lead right back to the Wildcats, their largest of the half, up 25-15 at 5:32.

Zimmer and Steen gave the Big Green a shot in the arm with back-to-back three pointers to make it a 25-21 game with 4:59 to play. Brown and Zimmer each scored for their teams on the next two possessions before Jalana Childs put KState up, 30-23 with 2:52 to play. Senior Cassie Cooper (Chelsea, Maine) provided a layup and an assist on a Sasha Dosenko (Kiev, Ukraine) bucket to help Dartmouth keep pace down the stretch and Kansas State held just a 32-27 halftime lead.

Dartmouth opened the second half with solid defense, grabbing four steals in the first four minutes along with three blocked shots by Dosenko, who finished with five swats. That defense helped the Big Green keep pace despite missing some shots, making it a 40-35 game after a Dosenko free throw at 14:52. The Wildcats responded with an 8-0 run to go up 48-35 after a Brittnay Chambers three at 12:11.

Zimmer put Dartmouth on her back, scoring four straight points to cut the lead to nine, down 48-39, but Kansas State responded with a 6-2 run to go up 54-41 off a Chantay Caron jumper at 6:40. Cooper got the Big Green back within 11 points, down 54-43 at 4:45.

The Wildcats put together a 7-0 run before Steen hit a big three to make it a 61-46 deficit at 3:09 but the momentum was short-lived as Chambers hit two tough turnaround jumpers in the post to put the game out of reach. Each team hit two free throws at in the closing 1:08 to take the final to 69-48, Kansas State.

Dartmouth shot just 25.9 percent in the second half after hitting 40 percent in the first. Kansas State held a 52-35 advantage in rebounding.