Chapter 68: Dartmouth Opens Ivy Play at Rival Harvard on Saturday

Dartmouth Complete Game Notes (PDF)

The Dartmouth women's basketball team opens its quest for an 18th Ivy title on Saturday night in Cambridge when it squares off against rival Harvard in the traditional conference opener for both squads, meeting for the 68th time. Harvard leads the all-time series, 36-31, though Dartmouth has won four of the last five meetings and nine of the last 14. The Big Green has won the season-opener against the Crimson in each of the last three seasons, the Big Green has been victorious in the January season-opener between the squads.

Dartmouth has won a league-best 17 Ivy League championships and Harvard ranks second with 11 titles. Since their first meeting back in 1976, the two programs have formed one of the most exciting rivalries in all of women's college basketball and are certainly the premier duo in Ivy basketball.

GAME 15: DARTMOUTH (4-10, 0-0 Ivy) at Harvard (7-6, 0-0 Ivy)
Date: Saturday, Jan. 15 • 7:00 PM
Location: Lavieties Pavilion • Cambridge, Mass.
Dartmouth-Harvard Series: Harvard leads, 36-31
Streak: Harvard +1
Last Meeting: Harvard 64 - Dartmouth 59 • 3/9/10 • Cambridge, Mass.
Of Note: Dartmouth saw a four-game winning streak against Harvard snapped in the season finale, a tough 64-59 loss last season. Dartmouth has won the opener between the teams in each of the last three seasons. The Big Green has won 9 of the last 14 meetings and four of the last five.

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STARTING FIVE
1. Today's game is number 922 in the 39th season of varsity women's basketball at Dartmouth.

2. In keeping with tradition, Dartmouth opens its 35th season of Ivy League competition at its rival, Harvard today. This will be Dartmouth's 431st Ivy League game, with a league-best 301-129 Ivy record. With 17 Ivy Championships, the Big Green has won half of the 34 titles it has vied for.

3. Tonight's game will be Dartmouth's first since Jan. 4, after playing four games in seven days from Dec. 29-Jan. 4. The Big Green also has a long break after this matchup, not taking the court again until Jan. 28 for its first Ivy weekend at Cornell and Columbia.

4. At Rhode Island, senior Cassie Cooper was held to just two points for most of the game but got two big buckets when it counted most. With 10 seconds left in regulation, Dartmouth drew up a play for Cooper to drive to the basket and she tied the game at the buzzer to send it to overtime. She also sent the game to double-OT with a bucket with 12 seconds on the clock.

5. The loss at Rhode Island in double overtime marked the first time this season that the Big Green has lost when shooting better than 40 percent from the floor. Janelle Ross went 5-of-8 and Sasha Dosenko was 5-of-10 to help in that effort.

DARTMOUTH, HARVARD AND THE ANCIENT EIGHT
Though tonight's Dartmouth-Harvard game is not the first to be played in the Ancient Eight this season, it is arguably the most anticipated of the early season showdowns. Dartmouth has won 17 of a possible 34 Ivy League Championships while Harvard has won 11, making the two rivals clearly the league's most dominant programs. Dartmouth has won at least a share of four of the last six Ivy titles.
At least one of the two rivals has finished first or second in the Ivy League in the last 25 seasons — you have to go back to 1984-85 to not find either team in the top two. Many years, the two have finished first and second including sharing the title in 2005, a Dartmouth title (three-way, with Harvard fourth) in 2006, Harvard first and Dartmouth second in 2007, a three-way tie including both in 2008 and Dartmouth first and Harvard second in 2009.

FAMILIAR FOES ON THE COURT
Tonight's game is the 68th meeting between Dartmouth and Harvard. Dartmouth has played the Crimson more times than any other Ivy opponent and Harvard is the only Ivy team to lead an all-time series against Dartmouth, with a 36-31 edge.

GO BIG OR GO HOME
In the last two games, Coach Wielgus has gone with a “big” lineup featuring three post players - ironically all of Dartmouth's healthy forwards. Freshman Janelle Ross, 6-1, currently joins 6-3 junior Sasha Dosenko and 6-2 senior Cassie Cooper in the starting lineup and it has been paying off. Dartmouth is averaging 66 points per game (above its season average of 54.1) and has just a -1.0 rebounding margin with 42.5 boards per game instead of its season average of 36.5 (-7.4 margin). Dosenko and Ross are each averaging 12 points per game in the last two while Cooper leads the team with 9.5 rebounds.

JUMPIN' JANELLE
Freshman Janelle Ross has blossomed since being inserted into the starting lineup for the past two games, scoring 12 points in each contest. The 6-1 rookie forward, who can touch the rim, had seven rebounds in the win over Holy Cross, five at URI and nine against Big-12 foe Kansas State.

MISSING OUT ON GETTING TO THE LINE
Though Dartmouth is only shooting 61 percent from the free throw line, the Big Green relies on getting to the stripe as a big part of its offense. Despite playing 50 minutes of basketball, the officials did not see eye to eye with the Big Green at Rhode Island, when Dartmouth took only six free throws — albeit making five of those. In contrast, Rhode Island took 22 free throws.
Ironically, Dartmouth's best free throw shooting nights have been futile efforts when the team did not get to the line often. The Big Green has taken 12 or fewer free throws just four times and has shot better than 80 percent in three of those games, all losses. Dartmouth went 9-of-10 at #14 Michigan State and 10-of-12 at Oakland.

STEEN STEPPING UP
Sophomore shooting guard Faziah Steen has scored in double-figures in the last four games and overall in six of the last seven. Since returning to school after the holiday break, Steen is averaging 14 points and 2.1 steals per game and is shooting 52.4 percent from three-point range.

DEANS OF THE IVY LEAGUE
The two coaches on the sideline tonight, Dartmouth's Chris Wielgus and Harvard's Kathy Delaney-Smith, are the longest-tenured in Ivy women's basketball. Delaney-Smith is in her league-leading 29th year at Harvard while Wielgus is in her 28th year as a head coach and 26th at Dartmouth. Wielgus has won 12 of Dartmouth's 17 Ivy titles while Delaney-Smith has won all 11 of Harvard's. The two 400-win coaches are facing each other for the 43rd time, fittingly each with 21 wins each in the series.

SPREADING THE WEALTH
Clearly a balanced offense is the key to success for Dartmouth, which had four players score in double figures for just the second time this season in its win over Holy Cross.
Faziah Steen led all scorers with 15 points, all in the second half, followed by Sasha Dosenko with 14, Janelle Ross with 12 and Cassie Cooper with 11. Dartmouth also had four players reach double-figures in the win over Vermont, when three of those four were also involved. It was the first time reaching double-digits for Ross. Dartmouth also had 15 assists on the day and five different players had at least two assists.

BIG SECOND HALF
After being tied 26-26 at halftime against Holy Cross on Jan. 2, two of Dartmouth's starters who struggled in the first 20 stepped it up in the second half. Senior Cassie Cooper battled to finish with 11 points and 12 rebounds after having just two points and one rebound in the first half. Sophomore Faziah Steen was a scoreless 0-6 in the first half, but shot 5-8 in the second en route to 15 points along with five rebounds, four steals and three assists.

LONG DECEMBER
It was indeed a long December for Dartmouth, which opened the month with a win over Northeastern on Dec. 1 before losing its next five. The Big Green has been without the services of Brittney Smith in all five of those losses. Yet like the song says, there's reason to believe maybe this year, 2011, will be better than the last. Dartmouth's perennially tough non-conference schedule and complicated offense often result in a slow start to the season but the Big Green is known for turning it around. The 2007-08 Ivy Champions went 3-11 in non-league play before going 11-3 in conference and tying for the crown. In 2008-09, Dartmouth was 5-9 before going a near-perfect 13-1 in Ivy play, winning 11 straight and 16 of its last 18 games.

ALL TOURNAMENT TALENT, PART 2
Playing in its second tournament of the 2010-11 season, Dartmouth again had a player named to an all-tournament team. Rookie guard Nicola Zimmer earned Blue Sky Classic all-tournament honors after averaging 13 points per game on 44 percent shooting. She became the first Dartmouth freshman to earn all-tournament honors at the Big Green's own tournament since Jen Stamp '96 did so in 1992.
Earlier this season, senior Brittney Smith was named to the TD Bank Classic at Vermont all-tournament team after averaging 10 points, eight rebounds and two blocks.

NOT IN MY HOUSE
Junior Sasha Dosenko doubled her season total for blocked shots (now at 29) in the span of just two games and leads the Ivy League. Despite her 6-3 height, Dosenko is not known as a shot blocker and entered the Blue Sky Classic with just 10 blocks on the season. She broke out with five blocks against Kansas State on Dec. 29 and then amassed eight against Wagner on Dec. 30. Her 13 blocks broke Gail Koziara's '82 previous tournament record of 10 and her eight blocks in a game were also a tournament record. Dartmouth's overall single-game record for blocked shots is 11, held by Elise Morrison '07 and Ilsa Webeck '95. Dosenko's eight blocks rank in a tie for fourth all-time in a single game.

HERE, LET ME HELP
Senior forward Cassie Cooper has always been known as one of the Big Green's best passers, with great court vision and an unselfish attitude. Currently, the 6-2 Cooper leads the team in assists with 33 and she dished out a career-high five assists against both Kansas State on Dec. 29 and Wagner on Dec. 30.

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