Dartmouth Women Drop Double Overtime Heartbreaker

Tuesday, January 4

Kingston, R.I.

7:00 PM

Dartmouth College

Rhode Island

Dartmouth Outgunned by Hartford in Return to the Court

Dartmouth Women Drop Double Overtime Heartbreaker

1/4/2011 9:31:00 PM | Women's Basketball

By: Dartmouth

KINGSTON, R.I. - Senior Cassie Cooper sent the game to overtime two times tonight, but the Big Green came up short on the defensive end in a heartbreaking double-overtime loss at Rhode Island, 69-66.

Dartmouth (4-10) could not overcome its Atlantic-10 foe, as Rhode Island (6-8) played its fifth overtime game in the last six contests, having gone to triple overtime against UNH and double overtime against Seton Hall most recently.

Offensive rebounds helped Rhode Island keep the game alive and forced Dartmouth to play extended defense. The Rams held a 47-36 advantage on the boards including 15 offensive rebounds. Sophomore Faziah Steen (Kalamazoo, Mich.) led Dartmouth with 18 points, six rebounds. Janelle Ross (Inglewood, Calif.) added 12 points and Sasha Dosenko (Kiev, Ukraine) scored 10.

Rhode Island's Lara Gaspar led all scorers with 24 points, followed by 18 - 14 in the second half - by senior Megan Shoniker.

Both teams struggled in the first half in what proved to be a defensive struggle when each squad saw two starters sent to the bench with foul trouble. Dartmouth's were more costly, however, as both Cooper and Nicola Zimmer (Chevy Chase, Md.) were sidelined by the 13:57 mark.

Rhode Island had opened up a 6-0 lead before Louise Vanden Bosch (Kettering, Ohio) and Steen went on a 5-0 run to make it 6-5 at 15:44. The Rams responded with a 10-0 run including four points from Gaspar to go up 16-5 at 12:33 and the Big Green looked to be in significant trouble. Rookie Janelle Ross (Inglewood, Calif.) scored Dartmouth's next four points and Zimmer got the lead down to seven, 18-11, with a pretty layup at 7:01.

URI had an answer for each Dartmouth bucket, however, and maintained a 10-point advantage, up 25-15 at 2:47 after Kerry Wallak hit two at the line. The Big Green buckled down defensively, however, and closed the half on a 6-0 run, keeping the Rams scoreless from that point on. Kelsey Byrd (Saratoga, Calif.) came up with a big three on the next possession for Dartmouth and Steen hit what at the time was the shot of the game, nailing a three from well beyond NBA range at the halftime buzzer to make it just a 25-21 halftime deficit.

The teams traded buckets in the early going of the second half and kept pace with each other until Gaspar gave Rhode Island a 31-25 lead at 16:20. Dartmouth got four quick points from Ross and Cooper to cut the lead to one, but Gaspar scored her eighth straight point to put the Rams back up by four, 33-29, two minutes later.

Dartmouth got back-to-back threes from Steen and Vanden Bosch around an Anjalae Boone layup to tie the game at 35-35 with 13:27 on the clock. Vanden Bosch hit two at the line for five straight and a 37-35 lead at 12:33.

Caitlin Kearns converted a conventional three-point play to put Rhode Island ahead 42-39 with 8:27 to play, but Ross scored four unanswered points - albeit two minutes apart - to give Dartmouth a 43-42 lead with 5:29 to play. Points would continue to come at a premium, however, as the teams combining for just 13 more points in regulation.

Rhode Island's top scorer, Shoniker, went to work late, scoring all seven of her team's points down the stretch, including a three for a 45-43 lead at 3:29. After trading baskets, Zimmer tied the game at 47-47 before Shoniker came up with a big bucket for a 49-47 lead with 24 seconds to play. Cooper did her one better, however, coming up with her first bucket of the game to send the game to overtime with no time left on the clock.

The Rams won the opening tip in overtime and Sherrie Session got things started with a three-point play for her squad, up 52-49. Steen got three the easy way for Dartmouth to tie things up on the next possession, however. Rhode Island scored four unanswered to go up 56-52 with 1:56 to play but Dosenko and Ross helped the Big Green stay in the game, outscoring URI, 4-1, to make it a 57-56 Ram lead with 51 seconds to play. Shoniker hit one of two at the line before Cooper sent it to double-overtime again, grabbing an offensive rebound and putback for a 58-58 tie with 12 seconds to play.

Double overtime also opened with a URI lead before Zimmer gave Dartmouth a 63-61 edge with at big three 4:08 on the clock. The Big Green was unable to capitalize as neither team scored for the next two minutes. Rhode Island went on a quick 4-0 run all by Shoniker to go up for good, 67-63 with 54 seconds to play. Dartmouth did get the three it needed from Steen on its next possession, but another offensive rebound kept the Rams' alive on the other end and Shoniker hit two at the line to seal the 69-66 win.

The Big Green has some time to let this one sit with 11 days off before opening the Ivy League slate at Harvard on Jan. 15.