Women's Basketball Travels to TD Bank Classic

The Dartmouth women's basketball team continues its season-opening road swing with the TD Bank Classic hosted by Vermont. The Big Green will open tournament action with St. Joseph (Pa.) on Friday at 5 p.m. and will take on Colgate to close tournament action on Saturday at 5 p.m. All games will be played at Vermont's Patrick Gymnasium. Livestats, video and audio will be available for both of Dartmouth's games.

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Game 2: Dartmouth (0-1, 0-0 Ivy League) vs. St. Joseph's (Pa.) (1-1, 0-0 A10)
Date: Friday, November 18 (5 p.m.)
Location: Burlington, Vt. (Patrick Gymnasium)
Series: St. Joseph's leads 1-0
Streak: St. Joseph's has won one

Game 3: Dartmouth (0-1, 0-0 Ivy League) vs. Colgate (0-2, 0-0 Patriot League)
Date: Saturday, November 19 (5 p.m.)
Location: Burlington, Vt. (Patrick Gymnasium)
Series: Dartmouth leads, 10-0
Streak: Dartmouth has won 10

Starting Five
1. Dartmouth continues its season-opening road swing this weekend with the TD Bank Classic. The Big Green has participated in Vermont's annual tournament in three of the last four seasons including this season.

2. The Big Green typically plays in at least two in-season tournaments a season. Dartmouth hosts the annual Blue Sky Classic, and plays in one road tournament. The Big Green has played two in-season tournaments in five of the last six seasons.

3. Dartmouth started two freshmen in its season-opener at Kansas State. Dartmouth hasn't started two freshmen in an opener in the last seven seasons. It marks the second consecutive season the Big Green has played a freshman in the opener.

4. Despite the score in Dartmouth's season-opening loss at Kansas State, the Big Green played great defense against the Wildcats. Dartmouth forced 28 turnovers and held the Wildcats to 33 percent from the floor.

5. For the second consecutive game, the Big Green will be taking on an opponent they have only met once prior in St. Joseph's. Dartmouth hasn't played St. Joseph's since 1980.

Dartmouth vs. St. Joseph's/Colgate Notables
- Dartmouth hasn't played St. Joseph's or Colgate since the 1980s. It will be the second-ever meeting between the Big Green and St. Joseph's and is the 11th meeting between Dartmouth and Colgate.

-St. Joseph's and Colgate have already taken on an Ivy League team this season. The Hawks played defending Ivy League champion, Princeton, in their season-opener, falling to the Tigers, 79-62, while Colgate played Cornell, falling 59-56.

-There is an Iowa connection in the Dartmouth and St. Joseph's game. Big Green freshman center Tia Dawson hails from Cedar Rapids and St. Joseph's Shelby Smith is from Ames, Iowa. Additionally, Dartmouth's Nicola Zimmer hails from Chevy Chase, Md., and Colgate's Mariah Jones hails from Silver Spring, Md.

A Win Would ...
1. Move Dartmouth to 1-1 on the season, after a season-opening loss at Kansas State last weekend.

2. End Dartmouth's six-game losing streak that dates back to the 2010-11 season.

3. Give Dartmouth its first win at the TD Bank Classic. Dartmouth is 0-4 in its last two outings at the TD Bank Classic.

Scouting St. Joseph's (Pa.)
The Hawks enter this weekend's tournament with a 1-1 record after splitting its opening weekend with a home, 66-48, win over Lehigh and a road, 79-62, loss to Princeton. Michelle Baker and Ashley Robinson lead the Hawks offense and are averaging 12.5 and 12.0 points per game, respectively. Robinson, is the A-10 co-Rookie of the Week after averaging double-doubles in both of St. Joseph's games last week. Head coach Cindy Griffin is in her 11th season and has an overall record of 206-157 in 12 seasons as a head coach and is 158-124 in nine seasons at St. Joseph's. The Hawks were picked to finish fifth in the A-10 and senior guard Michelle Baker was selected to the Atlantic 10 preseason all-conference second team and the All-Defensive team.

Scouting Colgate
Colgate enters the tournament looking for its first win of the season after dropping games to Cornell and Bryant. Three players averaging double-figures in the first games of the season lead the Raiders. Jhazmine Lynch leads the offense with 18.0 points per game while Candice Green and Mariah Jones are also in double figures with 12.5 and 11.5 points per game, respectively. Head coach Nicci Hays Fort is in her first season at the helm and comes to Colgate after serving as an assistant coach at DePaul. She also has head coaching experience at Barry University in Florida.

Tournament Time
The Big Green will play in the first of two in-season tournaments this season. Dartmouth will also host the annual Blue Sky Classic, which holds the distinction of being the longest run women's basketball tournament and is entering its 34th year. This season marks the fourth consecutive season Dartmouth has played in two in-season tournaments. Dartmouth is looking for its first title at the TD Bank Classic.

Road Trippin'
The Big Green continues its season-opening road swing. Dartmouth will play five road or neutral games before opening the home slate on Nov. 30 with in-state rival, New Hampshire. Last season, Dartmouth opened the season with four consecutive road or neutral games. The last time Dartmouth opened a season with home games was during the 2009-10 season when they opened with three straight home contests.

Steen Hits 600
Junior captain Faziah Steen picked up her 600th career point in Dartmouth's season-opening loss to Kansas State. Steen is one of 40 Big Green players all-time to score at least 600 career points.

Welcome to the Big Stage
Freshmen Tia Dawson, Kamala Thompson and Milica Toskovic each made their collegiate debuts in Dartmouth's season-opener at Kansas State. Dawson and Toskovic each started their first collegiate games while Thompson came in off the bench. Dawson tallied four points in her debut.

Hunter Steps Back on the Court
Sophomore forward Arianne Hunter played in her first game, since seeing just four minutes of action against Boston College last season, against Kansas State. Hunter spent last season rehabbing an injury and only saw action in one game. Against Kansas State she had one rebound, one block and one steal.

Tough Night at Kanas State
The Big Green had a tough season opener against Kansas State. Dartmouth scored just 20 points, one point off the record for fewest points scored. Dartmouth only scored 19 points in a loss at Smith during the 1973 season. The Big Green also only shot 13.2 percent (7-of-53) from the floor and were 0-of-13 from long range. Additionally, Dartmouth was held without an assist.

Defense on Par in Opener
Despite not being able to get anything going on the offensive end the Big Green were very effective on the defensive side of the ball. Dartmouth held the Wildcats to just 54 points and forced them into 28 turnovers.

Streaking in the Wrong Direction
Dartmouth is currently on a six-game losing streak that dates back to the 2010-11 season and is one game away from tying the longest losing streak in school history. Granted, the longest losing streak in school history currently sits at seven games and for a program that is in its 39th season, that's pretty impressive.

Youth Be Served
The Dartmouth women's basketball team is very young this season and features just one senior in Sasha Dosenko and one junior in Faziah Steen. Of the eight players that played in the season-opener at Kansas State, three were freshmen and only Dosenko and Steen had started more than 15 games. Sophomore Eve Zelinger made only her second career start in the contest and of the five starters only Dosenko and Steen have seen significant starting minutes.

Welcome Back Nicola
In addition to the Dartmouth freshman class, sophomore guard Nicola Zimmer (Chevy Chase, Md.) might prove to be a bit of an unknown to those in the Ivy League. Zimmer started the first 13 games of last season before being sidelined with injury. The 2010 Maryland Gatorade Player of the Year gave a glimpse into what she can provide the Big Green by becoming the first freshman to start a season-opening game since the 2004 season and was the first freshman to start at point guard since the 2002 season. In her 13 games, she averaged 8.3 points and 4.2 rebounds and was in double figures in six games, including scoring a career-best 18 points at Bryant.

Coach Griffith Goes Green
The Big Green welcome WNBA all-star Yolanda Griffith to its staff this season. The seven-time WNBA All-Star led the Sacramento Monarchs to the 2005 WNBA Championship and also won gold medals with the US Olympic Team in 2000 (Sydney) and 2004 (Athens). Griffith played her collegiate basketball at Palm Beach Junior College and transferred to Florida Atlantic where she earned Kodak Division II Player of the Year honors in 1993.

Ivy League Preseason Poll Announced
After a 2010-11 season plagued with injury and the graduation of Brittany Smith, the Ivy League media and sports information directors picked Dartmouth to finish in sixth place in the league. The Big Green has finished lower third than only four times since 1993-94 and just 10 times in the 35 years.

Put A Ring On It
Every Dartmouth class but one since 1980 has graduated with at least one Ivy League Championship ring. This trend will hold through at least this season.

That's a Schedule
This season, Dartmouth has once again put together a challenging slate of non-conference games. The Big Green will take on competition from the BIG EAST (Providence, Georgetown), Big 12 (Kansas State) and Pac-12 (Calif.) while also taking on mid-major players Vermont, Hartford and St. Joseph. The Big Green will take on four of these teams in the first month of the season and will play four of the six opponents on the road. Dartmouth will host Hartford and Georgetown this season.

Hitting the Road
Not only does Dartmouth schedule elite competition but also they are willing to travel. This season, the Big Green will open the season with six consecutive road or neutral site games. This season, the Big Green will crisscross the United State with games in Kansas, California and Virginia to name a few.

Captain, My Captain
Junior guard Faziah Steen (Detroit Mich.) will lead the Big Green as captain this season. Steen was Dartmouth's leading scorer last season with 12.8 points per game and earned All-Ivy second team honors.

Bring on the Rookies
The Big Green welcomes a five-member freshmen class this season. Joining Dartmouth are Nicole Beresford (Marshfield, Mass.) Tia Dawson (Cedar Rapids, Iowa), Kamala Thompson (Seldon, N.Y.), Milica Toskovic (Santa Monica, Calif.) and Abbey Schmitt (Winnetka, Ill.) who will don the Dartmouth Green for the first time this season.

Ivy League Elite
Dartmouth women's basketball is synonymous with success in Ivy League women's basketball. Entering this season, Dartmouth has won 17 of the possible 35 Ivy League Championships. The Big Green has won four of the last seven titles with the most recent title coming in 2009.

Rare Air
Dartmouth's 17 Ivy League titles are the most titles in the Ivy League but they also rank among some of the nations elite when it comes to conference dominance. In the Ivy League there is no postseason tournament so that puts that much more emphasis on regular season results. Only Stanford from the Pac-10 with 20 regular season titles ranks higher than Dartmouth nationally.

Veteran Wielgus Back on the Sidelines
Head coach Chris Wielgus is embarking on her 27th season roaming the Dartmouth sidelines and her 29th season in the collegiate coaching ranks. Wielgus practically built the Big Green women's basketball program and in her first stint at Dartmouth coached the first team to play in the Ivy League while racking up 107 wins and four Ivy League titles in eight seasons. After getting out of coaching, she coached at Fordham for two seasons, where she went 37-21 and won a Patriot League title. Wielgus returned to Dartmouth in 1993 and has picked up 274 wins and has added eight more Ivy League titles.

Big Green Blog is Back for 2011-12
For the third season, Coach Chris Wielgus, players and program insiders will be blogging throughout the season. Get the inside scoop on the Big Green women's basketball team at dartmouthwomenshoops.blogspot.com.

Follow the Big Green on Facebook and Twitter
Make sure to keep up with all the latest information on the Dartmouth women's basketball team by "liking" Dartmouth women's basketball on Facebook and by following them on Twitter (@Dartmouth_WBB).

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