Williams Drives Dartmouth Past Brown, 67-63

Friday, February 12

Hanover, N.H.

7:00 PM

Dartmouth College

BROWN

2/12/2010 10:00:00 PM | Women's Basketball

By: Dartmouth

Boxscore

HANOVER, N.H. — Senior Betsy Williams (Norwich, Vt.) scored five points in the final 17 seconds to pull the Dartmouth women's basketball team ahead of Brown, 67-63, tonight in front of a spirited crowd at Leede Arena.

Dartmouth (9-11, 4-2 Ivy) was led by Williams with a career-high 17 points and sophomore Sasha Dosenko (Kiev, Ukraine) who had a tremendous outing with 17 points and nine rebounds. Brittney Smith (Fort Worth, Texas) picked up her fifth double-double of the last six games with 11 points and 14 rebounds, reaching double-digit rebounds for the seventh straight contest.

Brown (6-15, 3-4 Ivy) battled back from what looked like a permanent deficit late in the half thanks to 14 points from Aileen Daniels —10 in the second half, and 15 from Hannah Passafuime. The Bears had trailed by seven points with six minutes to play but scored eight points in one minute to erase the deficit and start a back-and-forth end to the game.

Dartmouth commanded the boards, outrebounding Brown, 44-33 and shooting 39 percent from the floor to Brown's 33 percent.

The final 1:10 of the game was full of drama, with Brown taking a 62-59 lead at that point off two free throws from Passafuime. Rookie guard Faziah Steen (Kalamazoo, Mich.) grabbed a bold offensive rebound on the ensuing Dartmouth possession, was fouled and hit two free throws to pull her team within one.

The Big Green employed a pressure defense on every Brown touch on its next trip down the court, ultimately forcing Courtney Lee into a tough shot that Margaret Smith (Fort Worth, Texas) rebounded and got to a streaking Williams. Williams drove the paint, getting to the bucket just a second before Lee could get set, scoring and converting a conventional three-point play for a 64-62 Dartmouth lead.

Dosenko was called for a tough foul on Brown's ensuing possession, but Passafuime hit just one free throw, leaving her team down one. Brittney Smith drained one of two from the line on the next possession and then, with the help of Williams, picked off Brown's long inbound pass after the make. Williams corralled the ball and was fouled and hit both free throws to ice the 67-63 win.

Brittney Smith opened the game with a nice move in the paint for a 2-0 Dartmouth lead after winning the opening tip. It was a stalemate for the next three minutes before Passafuime finally got Brown on the board, 2-2, at 16:22. That would actually start a 10-0 Bears run as Dartmouth went ice cold for a nine minute stretch before Steen finally stopped the bleeding to make it 10-2 at 11:46.
That started an 8-2 Dartmouth run to pull within 12-10 after a Williams layup at 8:22.

The teams traded buckets for the next four minutes, with Brown answering every Dartmouth bucket to maintain the lead. Dosenko made it a 21-19 Brown lead at 3:50 before Steen converted a three-point play to finally take the lead back for Dartmouth, up 22-21 at 2:14. It would be short-lived as Passafuime did exactly the same for Brown to go ahead, 24-22, on the next possession. The Big Green outscored the Bears 4-2 in the final two minutes to knot it at 26-26 at the half.

Neither team hit a single three pointer in the first half of play, but that would prove a very different story in the second half.

Margaret Smith (Fort Worth, Texas) hit Dartmouth's first shot of the second half for a two-point lead but Passafuime finally broke the seal from downtown, hitting a three to pull Brown ahead, 29-28 at 19:17. That opened the gates for the Big Green as well, as Dosenko and Smith hit consecutive three-pointers to give Dartmouth a 34-29 lead at 17:20. Meghan McFee (Manchester, Conn.) hit a third straight two possessions later to put the Big Green ahead 37-32 at 15:32.

After a steal and drive by McFee put Dartmouth up 39-34 at 14:04, Brown's Lindsay Nickel got an offensive putback followed by a steal that led to a Daniels bucket, slicing the lead to 39-38 at 12:15. The Big Green managed to keep a small edge on the Bears, and Dosenko opened and closed a 7-2 run including a Williams three to take its largest lead of the game, up 47-40 at 9:08.

It was score-for-score during the next three minutes and Dartmouth maintained its seven-point lead, 52-45, after a Brittney Smith putback at 5:53. Passafuime and the Bears refused to lie down, however, and back-to-back threes followed by a fast-break bucket gave Brown an impressive eight points in just one minute to steal the lead back, up 53-52 at 4:47. Dosenko finally hit one of two at the line to stop the run.

Dartmouth furiously kept would either tie or trail Brown for the next 4:30 of the game until Williams' dramatic drive and one took back the lead for good.

Brown ultimately fouled Dartmouth 25 times in the game while the Big Green, which leads the nation in fewest personal fouls per game averaging 12.3, had 14.

The Big Green kept its Ivy Title hopes alive tonight, but cannot afford to slip up again. Dartmouth hosts Yale, in what is always a physical match-up, tomorrow night at 7 p.m. for the annual Pink Zone breast cancer awareness game. Fans wearing pink will receive $1 admission.