Women's Basketball Closes Out Road Swing at Yale and Brown

Complete Dartmouth Game Notes

Fresh off the 300th Ivy win in program history, the Dartmouth women's basketball team heads to Yale and Brown in search of its first Ivy weekend sweep, looking to shake the overtime losses that marred the last two weekends. The Big Green is just two overtime losses away from being firmly in the Ivy title race.

GAMES 24 & 25: DARTMOUTH (10-13, 5-4 Ivy) at YALE & BROWN

GAME 24: DARTMOUTH (10-13, 5-4 Ivy) at YALE (11-13, 6-4 Ivy)
Date: Friday, Feb. 26, 2010 • 7 PM
Location: Lee Amphitheater • New Haven, Conn.
Dartmouth-Yale Series: Dartmouth leads, 50-15
Last Meeting: 2/13/10 • Hanover, N.H.
Result: Yale W, 70-66 (2OT)
Streak: Yale +1
The Big Green has won nine of the last 11 outings against Yale. Unfortunately for Dartmouth, Yale snapped a five-game losing streak in the series with a win just two weeks ago in double overtime.

GAME 25: DARTMOUTH (10-13, 5-4 Ivy) at BROWN (7-17, 4-6 Ivy)
Date: Saturday, Feb. 27, 2010 • 7 PM
Location: Pizzitola Center • Providence, R.I.
Dartmouth-Brown Series: Dartmouth leads, 47-19
Last Meeting: 2/13/10 • Hanover, N.H.
Result: Dartmouth W, 67-63
Streak: Dartmouth +8
Dartmouth has won the last eight meetings and 11 of the last 13 against Brown. The Bears made it interesting in the most recent meeting, with a late comeback before the Green put them away, 67-63.

MULTIMEDIA
Dartmouth Radio (WUVR 1490 AM) (Both Games)

Yale Livestats
Yale Live Video ($)

Brown Livestats
Brown Live Video ($)

THIS TIME OUT
Games Number 907 & 908. Dartmouth once again looks for its first weekend sweep of the Ivy season, an uncharacteristic position for the Big Green. Overtime again was not kind to the Green last week, as the extra five minutes at Columbia continued to keep a weekend sweep elusive for Dartmouth this year. A trip to Yale and Brown will be no easier, as Dartmouth battled both of those teams in Hanover two weeks ago, emerging with a win over Brown and 2OT loss to Yale.

DARTMOUTH PROBABLE STARTERS
*#10    Margaret Smith   G • SR • 6-1 • 6.2 ppg, 5.6 rgg, 82.4 FT Pct.
*#20    Brittney Smith    F • JR • 6-1 • 12.3 ppg, 10.4 rpg, 2.0 bpg
#25    Faziah Steen      G • FR • 5-8 • 8.9 ppg, 2.5 rpg, 2.1 spg
#32    Betsy Williams   G • SR • 6-0 • 7.7 ppg, 3.5 rpg, 1.2 apg
#34    Sasha Dosenko   F • SO • 6-3 • 7.9 ppg, 5.8 rpg, 1.2 bpg
*Returning starter

QUICK TAKE ON THE BIG GREEN

• Dartmouth committed a season-low seven turnovers at Cornell, holding onto the ball and only allowing one steal by the Big Red.

• According to the Sagarin RPI ratings, Dartmouth has played a whopping seven teams in the RPI top-50, more than twice the next closest Ivy school at three.

• Sasha Dosenko has been on a tear of late, averaging a double-double of 13.8 points and 10.3 rebounds in the last four games. Ironically, she has actually only achieved an in-game double-double once in her career - at Cornell on Feb. 20.

• Dartmouth had four players score in double figures for the first time this season in the win at Cornell on Feb. 20.

• Eight of Dartmouth's wins have come when either holding a lead at the half or tied, standing at 8-0 with a halftime advantage. Just twice, against Cornell and Brown, has Dartmouth overcome a halftime deficit.

FIRST TO 300
With its victory at Cornell on Feb. 20, 2010, Dartmouth became the first Ivy League women's basketball program to reach 300 conference wins. The Big Green is 300-125 all-time against Ivy opponents. Dartmouth beat Ivy rival Harvard to the mark by just seven games (Harvard has 293).

PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Sophomore Sasha Dosenko was named the Ivy League Co-Player of the Week on Feb. 22 for her efforts against Columbia and Cornell. Dosenko continued playing at a torrid pace, averaging 15.5 points and 9.5 rebounds per game in a tough split. After tallying a career-high 19 points and nine rebounds at Columbia, Dosenko finally collected her elusive first career double-double on 12 points and 10 rebounds at Cornell. The 6-3 sophomore shot nearly 50 percent from the floor and added three blocks at Columbia, two at Cornell and two assists per game.

OVERTIME'S NOT OUR TIME THIS YEAR
In program history, Dartmouth has only played to overtime 15 times against Ivy opponents, with four of those coming in the last two seasons. This season, on Feb. 13, the Big Green played just its third ever double-overtime Ivy game, a 70-66 loss to Yale. It was the first double-overtime Ivy game since a March 2, 1996 win over Brown (61-52) and Dartmouth's first double-overtime loss. Last weekend, on Feb. 19, Dartmouth played its second straight overtime game, losing 66-59 at Columbia. It marked just the third time in program history that Dartmouth has played consecutive overtime games. Last season (2008-09), Dartmouth played a program-record four overtime games, including back-to-back contests against Michigan State (one OT) and Vermont (three OT).

A SENIOR & A FRESHMAN COME UP BIG
Senior Margaret Smith and freshman Kylie Kufeld each gave the Big Green a boost in the win at Cornell on Feb. 20. Smith matched her career-high with 14 points, including eight in the second half, along with six rebounds and two steals. Kufeld played 13 minutes, the most time she's seen this calendar year, and scored five points including a bold, game-tying three-pointer.

FREE THROWS MAKE THE DIFFERENCE
At Columbia and Cornell, Dartmouth proved what a difference free throws can make. In its overtime loss at Columbia, the Big Green hit just 13-of-24 from the line (54.2 percent), a game in which one point would have assured a regulation win. Though it was little consolation, Dartmouth locked in at Cornell to hit 16-of-18 at the line in another close game, this time a win. Margaret Smith led the Big Green by going 8-for-8.

LEADING THE LEAGUE AT THE LINE
As evidenced by her performance at Cornell, Ivy opponents would do best to keep senior Margaret Smith off the free throw line. In conference play, she leads the league in free throw percentage at 91.4 percent, converting on 32-of-35 attempts. She ranks second in the overall rankings at 82.4 percent. Though she and younger sister Brittney Smith bear a striking resemblance to one another, Margaret has the leg up on the 2009 Player of the Year Brittney at the line. The younger Smith shoots just 61.4 percent at the line.

BRITTNEY HITS 1,000
Junior forward Brittney Smith became the 15th player in program history to reach the 1,000-point mark during the Feb. 13, 2010 game against Yale. Smith did so during a flurry in which she single-handedly tied the game by scoring seven points in less than three minutes. Of the 15 players to reach the milestone, Smith did so the seventh-fastest, taking just 81 games. Smith is the fourth player since 2005 to reach the mark, the eighth to do so prior to her senior year and just the first post player since Katharine Hanks '03 did so in 2001.

NOT THE ONLY MILESTONE
Smith also reached the 700-rebound plateau against Yale, making her just the sixth player in program history to have recorded 1,000 points and 700 rebounds. She has also passed 125 career assists, 125 career steals and is fifth all-time with 115 blocks.

IN THE CLASSROOM AND ON THE COURT
Senior guard Betsy Williams has earned a spot on the CoSIDA Academic All-District I second team. Williams was chosen based on her prowess both in the classroom and on the basketball court. For women's basketball, 10 student-athletes were voted to the two all-district teams out of a pool of nearly 40 nominees. A psychology major with a French minor, Williams maintains an impressive 3.71 grade point average and studied abroad in France during the spring of her sophomore year.

HOME COOKING ISN'T ALWAYS BEST
After going a perfect 7-0 in Ivy play at home last year, Dartmouth is just 3-2 against Ivy foes at Leede Arena this year. Those games have been well-attended, however, with an average of 932 fans at Ivy games including a season high of 1,619 for the win over Harvard and 1,013 for the Pink Zone game against Yale.

STUCK ON 17
Senior Betsy Williams scored a season and career high 17 points in the win over Brown, marking the fourth time in her career that she has hit that number exactly. The last time she had reached 17 was in triple overtime at Vermont on Nov. 23, 2008.

BIG SISTER GETS IT DONE TOO
Margaret Smith is getting the job done in Ivy play, having the best conference season of her career. Smith currently averages 8.0 points and 6.0 rebounds per game and is shooting 91 percent from the free throw line.

STEEN HOLDING STEADY
Freshman Faziah Steen has really upped her numbers since the start of Ivy League play, averaging 10.7 points, 3.2 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 2.4 steals per game. She has also reached double-figures in scoring in six of the last seven games. Not a point guard by trade, Steen is running the point often for the Big Green this season.

KEEPING IT CLEAN
Dartmouth currently ranks second in the nation in fewest personal fouls committed per game, with an average of just 13.0, but has been first for much of the season. Undefeated UConn ranks first with 12.7 per game. A big part of the Big Green's disciplined defense is not giving up points when the clock is stopped. Dartmouth was whistled for a season-low five fouls against Boston College and had only 10 in the win over Harvard on Jan. 16.

Schedules