Women's Basketball Squeaks Out 56-50 win over Colgate

Saturday, November 19

Burlington, Vt.

5:00 PM

Dartmouth College

Colgate

Women's Basketball Squeaks Out 56-50 win over Colgate

11/19/2011 7:54:00 PM | Women's Basketball

By: Dartmouth

BURLINGTON, Vt. - The Dartmouth women's basketball team weathered a furious second-half comeback from Colgate, but pulled out a 56-50 win over Colgate in the final minutes of the TD Bank Classic on Saturday night.

Colgate trimmed Dartmouth's once 24-point lead to a mere three points with 1:13 remaining. The Raiders used a zone defense and press to set up timely three-pointers form Jhazmine Lynch and Catherine Lewis but three points was as close as the Raiders would get as the Big Green closed the game a perfect 6-of-6 from the charity stripe for the first win of the season.

Junior guard Faziah Steen (Detroit, Mich.) tallied a team best 19 points for her second consecutive game in double figures while freshman Kamala Thompson (Seldon, N.Y.) tallied her first career game in double figures with a 10 points. Freshman Milica Toskovic (Santa Monica, Calf.) led the way on the glass with nine rebounds.

Dartmouth (1-2) shot well throughout the contest and finished shooting 40.4 percent (21-of-52) and pulled down a season-best 47 rebounds.

The Big Green extended their 16-point halftime lead out of the break with the play of post players Tia Dawson (Cedar Rapids, Iowa) and Sasha Dosenko (Kiev, Ukraine). Held scoreless in the first half, the Dartmouth inside players, scored 10 of Dartmouth's first 13 points of the second half. The Big Green pushed its lead to a game-best 24 points midway through the half before the Raiders made some adjustments to claim the momentum.

With Dartmouth holding 47-29 lead at the 6:48 mark, Colgate (0-4) went on a 10-0 run over the next 1:36 to cut the lead to a 10 points before a Steen triple stopped the run. The Raiders responded with two triples to make it a two-possession game but the Dartmouth defense and accurate free throw shooting secured the win.

It was a slow start for both teams but Dartmouth got things going with a triple from Steen, who was responsible for Dartmouth's first five points of the game, but it was the solid Big Green defense that fueled the offense. Big defense plays from Dartmouth forced Colgate into seven turnovers, which led to nine Big Green points.

Colgate was cold from the floor in the first half, shooting just 12.9 percent from the floor on 4-of-31 shooting and Dartmouth was able to capitalize, shooting 41.4 percent (12-of-29) led by Thompson who was 4-of-5 and Nicole Beresford (Marshfield, Mass.) who was 2-of-2 in five minutes of action.

The Big Green received a huge lift from the bench in the first half especially from Thompson. The freshman guard scored six consecutive points for Dartmouth, which extended its lead to 21-8 at the 6:56 mark. Dartmouth was able to spread the offense in the first half with six different players scoring points.

Dartmouth continues non-conference action on Tuesday (Nov. 22) when the Big Green return to Burlington, Vt., to take on the Catamounts. Tipoff is set for 5 p.m. at Patrick Gymnasium.

Big Green Sidelines
- Faziah Steen led the Big Green in scoring for the second consecutive game. Dating back to last season, Steen has been Dartmouth's leading scorer in eight of Dartmouth's last 12 games.

-Sasha Dosenko scored her first points of the season tonight. Entering tonight's game Dosenko was 0-15, but scored seven points, all in the second half.

-Dartmouth moves to 11-0 all-time against Colgate with tonight's win.

-Tonight's win at the TD Bank Classic is the first win for Dartmouth in its last two trips to Vermont's annual tournament.