Women's Basketball Falls to California

Tuesday, December 20

Berkeley, Calif.

10:00 PM

Dartmouth College

Cal

12/21/2011 12:41:00 AM | Women's Basketball

By: Dartmouth

BERKELEY, Calif. - The Dartmouth women's basketball team, playing its second game in five days, dropped a non-conference contest to California, 80-39, at Cal's Haas Pavilion on Tuesday (Dec. 20) evening.

The Big Green, playing the second of two games in California, were able to cut the Bears lead to six points in the first half but that was as close as they would get in the loss. Junior guard Faziah Steen (Detroit, Mich.) led the Big Green with 13 points while freshman center Tia Dawson (Cedar Rapids, Iowa) led the Dartmouth defense with six rebounds and five blocks.

Trailing 14-2, Dartmouth went on an 8-2 run midway through the half to cut Cal's lead to six points behind the play of Steen, who had five of the points during the Big Green run, and seven of Dartmouth's 13 first-half points.

California (9-3) opened the game with seven straight points, but Dartmouth's defense frustrated the Bears from the outset, as Dartmouth (2-8) was physical with them underneath the basket. Sophomore guard Nicola Zimmer (Chevy Chase, Md.) put the Big Green on the board at the 14:45 mark with a long triple from the right side for Dartmouth's first points.

Dartmouth played great defense on the Bears in the early going. Big Green post players Dawson, senior forward Sasha Dosenko (Kiev, Ukraine) and sophomore forward Arianne Hunter (Oklahoma City, Oklahoma) made the Bears think twice entering the lane, as both registered huge blocks in the first half. Dawson continued to showcase her defensive skills with a team-best six rebounds and four first half blocks.

Dartmouth, who only got to the free throw line twice in the first frame, couldn't capitalize on the poor Cal free throw shooting, the Bears were just 11-of-19 (.579 percent) from the line in the first half. The Bears closed the half on a 23-3 run to take a 39-13, halftime lead. Dartmouth's defensive effort was great throughout the contest as the Big Green registered a season-high 10 blocks.

The Big Green managed to shoot much better in the second half, shooting 41.7 percent (10-of-24), compared to just 20.8 percent (5-of-24) in the first half. Zimmer began to warm up in the second frame, and after only one bucket in the first half, had five second-half points. Dartmouth's bench also played an important role scoring 15 points. Dosenko and sophomore guard Eve Zelinger (Palo Alto, Calif.) led the Dartmouth reserves with six and five points, respectively.

Dartmouth will take some time off for the holidays before returning to Hanover, N.H., to host the 35th Annual Blue Sky Classic Dec. 29-30. The Big Green welcome Georgetown, LaSalle and Vermont to the annual tournament. Dartmouth takes on LaSalle on Dec. 29 and concludes tournament action on Dec. 30 against No. 17 Georgetown.

Big Green Sidelines
-Tonight's game is the first-ever meeting between Dartmouth and California. This is the first of two first time opponents on Dartmouth's schedule this season; the Big Green will also take on Longwood in January.

-Cal head coach Lindsey Gottlieb has an Ivy League connection. She played for Brown and graduated in 1999, the same year as Dartmouth assistant coach Erin Rewalt.

-Arianne Hunter earned her first career start in today's contest. Milica Toskovic also returned to the starting lineup after starting the first three games of the season. This was Dartmouth's fifth lineup of the season.