Second Half Surge Sends Princeton Past Dartmouth

Friday, March 5

Hanover, N.H.

7:00 PM

Dartmouth College

PRINCETON

Second Half Surge Sends Princeton Past Dartmouth

3/5/2010 9:00:00 PM | Women's Basketball

By: Dartmouth

Boxscore

HANOVER, N.H. - It was a tale of two very different halves for the Dartmouth women's basketball team tonight, surrendering a halftime lead to take a 64-43 loss to Princeton.

The first half played directly into Dartmouth's (11-15, 6-6 Ivy) hands, slowing the pace to keep the offensive-minded Tigers (24-2, 12-0 Ivy) at bay for a 26-21 halftime lead. Early foul trouble for the Big Green's post players and a woeful second half rebounding performance, however, allowed Princeton to turn in a 43-point period.

It was a possession affair until the final 11 minutes of play, when the Tigers went on a backbreaking run. The Tigers did not take a double-digit lead until 7:18 and did not hold one for good until 4:49 to play.

Princeton clinched a share of the 2010 Ivy League Championship with the win.

Brittney Smith (Fort Worth, Texas) had a 12 points, 10 rebounds double-double for the Big Green, while Faziah Steen (Kalamazoo, Mich.) tallied 11 points in 20 minutes. Lauren Edwards led Princeton with 16 points while Devona Allgood picked up 10 points and 10 boards.

One of the biggest difference in the game was rebounding, as Dartmouth controlled the boards, 19-12 at halftime, but was crushed in the second half, with Princeton outrebounding, 20-10. The Big Green also had 11 second half turnovers, 20 for the game, while the Tigers had just eight miscues for the game.

Princeton jumped out to a quick 9-4 led in the first half, when Naveen Rasheed dumped in an offensive putback at 15:50. The Big Green answered with four straight from Sasha Dosenko (Kiev, Ukraine) and Besty Williams (Norwich, Vt.) to make it 9-8 at 13:22. Princeton got the lead right back to five, up 13-8 two minutes later, however.

Princeton held a 15-10 lead before Steen scored five straight points with a putback and a big three to make it 15-15 at 6:36. Princeton's Krystal Hull drained a three to take the lead right back on the next possession, but Meghan McFee (Manchester, Conn.) answered with another trey for an 18-18 tie at 5:46.

The Big Green went on a 5-0 run started by its third consecutive threeball, this time from Dosenko before Williams stole the ball and got fouled, hitting both to put her team up 23-18 at 3:07. Three straight points from Micir pulled Princeton within two, but McFee hit another huge three to make it 26-21 at halftime.

The Tigers wasted no time in the second half, coming out with an impressive fire, erasing the lead in the first two minutes and sidling Dosenko and Margaret Smith (Fort Worth, Texas) with their third fouls.

Rookie Kylie Kufeld (Billings, Mont.) got the lead back for Dartmouth at the free throw line, up 28-26 at 17:37 but Edwards hit two at the other end to tie it right back up. Kufeld then found her classmate Steen for a jumper on the next Dartmouth possession to go up 30-28, at 17:04 but that would prove the Big Green's last led of the game.

Edwards hit a jumper to start a 13-3 Princeton run in which she personally scored seven points to put her team up, 41-33 at 10:46. Steen finally stopped a nearly seven minute scoring drought when she took control herself, pulling up in the lane for a jumper to make it a manageable, 41-35 deficit at 10:28.

Allgood answered right back for Princeton, however, starting and capping a 7-0 run that gave her team its first double-digit lead, up 48-37 at 7:18. Brittney Smith temporarily got it back to single digits, down 48-39 at 6:48, but after a two minute drought, Laura Johnson started a staggering 16-4 run in the final five minutes of the game. Princeton hit two threes during that timespan, braking Dartmouth's chance at a comeback and taking the 64-43 win.

The Big Green is back in action tomorrow night, senior night, when it hosts Penn at 7 p.m.