Dartmouth Goes Cold in the Second Half; Falls to Hartford

Monday, December 12

Hanover, N.H.

4:00 PM

Dartmouth College

HARTFORD

Dartmouth Goes Cold in the Second Half; Falls to Hartford

12/12/2011 7:16:00 PM | Women's Basketball

By: Dartmouth

HANOVER, N.H. - The Dartmouth women's basketball team held a 24-21 halftime advantage over visiting Hartford but went cold from the floor in the second half, dropping a 60-42 contest to the Hawks on Monday (Dec. 12) afternoon at Leede Arena.

Junior guard Faziah Steen (Detroit, Mich.) led all scorers with 16 points on 4-of 14 shooting from the floor. She also went 6-of-6 from the free throw line. Steen was joined by freshman center Tia Dawson (Cedar Rapids, Iowa) who posted her first career double-double with 10 points and 13 rebounds. Her 13 rebounds are the most for a Dartmouth player this season.

Trailing 52-37 at the 3:31 mark of the second half, Dartmouth used a jumper from the right side from Steen and a triple from sophomore guard Nicola Zimmer (Chevy Chase, Md.) to cut the lead to 10 points but that was as close as Dartmouth would get for the reminder of the contest.

Hartford closed the game on a 7-0 run, holding the Big Green without a basket in the final 3:00 of play, for its third consecutive win, and seventh straight win over Dartmouth.

The squads had to deal with a little adversity to open the second half, as there was a delay in starting the second half, caused by a fire alarm. Once the building was deemed safe and secure the teams took the floor after a nearly 20 minute delay.

Hartford took advantage of the short delay and used a 6-0 run over the first four minutes of the half to take a 27-24 lead, their first lead since the 5:06 mark of the first half. Dartmouth stopped the Hartford run with a triple from Steen, her second of the game, to tie the game at 27-27, the second tie of the contest.

The Big Green used its defense to keep the momentum and after two free throws from Dawson, regained the lead, but it was the last lead of the night for Dartmouth, as Hartford shot 56.5 percent (13-of-23) in the second frame and scored 23 points off turnovers, 18 of those points coming in the second half.

With the game tied at 29-29, Hartford used a quick 7-0 burst to take a 36-29 lead but Dartmouth counterattacked by tightening up on defense and getting to the free throw line. Free throws from sophomore forward Janelle Ross (Inglewood, Calif.), stopped the Hawk's run but it wasn't enough for the victory.

Dartmouth started the game fast and was able to use the speed of Zimmer and Steen to get up and down the court and took an early 5-2 lead on the defending America East tournament champions. Steen had seven of Dartmouth's first nine points of the contest.

The Big Green, who utilized a dribble drive to get to the bucket in the first half, were able to get some easy points at the free throw line early and extend its lead to 10-4 behind free throws from Dawson and freshman guard Milica Toskovic (Santa Monica, Calif.).

Hartford mounted a comeback and with a 8-3 run was able to cut the Dartmouth lead to just one point, 13-12, at the 9:48 mark of the half but Dartmouth continued to work on both ends of the floor and the score see-sawed back -and -forth for the remainder of the first half. Dartmouth used a layup from Zimmer with 38 seconds remaining in the half to take a 24-21 lead into halftime.

Dartmouth did a particularly god job of rebounding in the first half and held a 22-16 rebounding edge in the first frame. Dawson led all scorers and rebounders with eight first-half points and six rebounds.

The Dartmouth women's basketball team travels to California for its next two games. The Big Green will open the California road swing on Friday (Dec. 16) when they take on Long Beach State at 10 p.m. (ET) and will close the West coast trip with a game at California on Tuesday (Dec. 20) at 10 p.m. (ET).

Big Green Sidelines
-Dartmouth and Hartford were meeting for the fourth consecutive season. The Hawks lead the series 10-6 and have won the last seven meetings between the teams.

-Sophomore forward Janelle Ross earned her first start of the season in today's contest.

-Dartmouth utilized its fourth lineup of the season tonight with Janelle Ross earning her 16th career start in place of Sasha Dosenko.

-The second half was delayed about 20 minutes after a fire alarm sounded with 2:02 left on the halftime game clock. The game resumed at 5:12 p.m.