Dartmouth Falls to LaSalle, 60-47, at Blue Sky Classic

Thursday, December 29

Hanover, N.H.

7:00 PM

Dartmouth College

La Salle

Dartmouth Falls to LaSalle, 60-47, at Blue Sky Classic

12/29/2011 10:17:00 PM | Women's Basketball

By: Dartmouth

HANOVER, N.H. - Freshman guard Milica Toskovic (Santa Monica, Calif.) posted a career-high 11 points off the bench, but the Dartmouth women's basketball team dropped its opening game in the 35th annual Blue Sky Classic, 60-47, to LaSalle on Thursday (Dec. 29) night.

Junior guard Faziah Steen (Detroit, Mich.) added 12 points to lead the Dartmouth (2-9) offense. It was Steen's fourth consecutive game in double figures and her ninth time leading the Big Green offense this season. Freshman guard Kamala Thompson (Seldon, N.Y) posted her second career game with double-figure rebounds with a team-best 10 rebounds.

The Big Green trimmed LaSalle's (4-9) lead to six points on a three-pointer from Steen to open the second half, but that was as close as the Big Green would get for the remainder of the contest, dropping its seventh consecutive game.

Out of the halftime break, LaSalle opened with a 24-11 run sparked by back-to-back triples from Jada Payne that led to a 19-point lead at the 6:12 mark of the second stanza. The Big Green bench provided some assistance in the second half, outscoring LaSalle, 12-6. Senior forward Sasha Dosenko (Kiev, Ukraine) contributed seven points while sophomore guard Eve Zelinger (Palo Alto, Calif.) and freshman forward Nicole Beresford (Marshfield, Mass.) added a basket each.

LaSalle capitalized on Dartmouth's struggles with turnovers, earning 24 points off of 29 Dartmouth turnovers throughout the contest.

The Explorers opened the game on a tear and jumped out to a 9-0 lead in the first three minutes of the game that they extended to, 13-4, before the Big Green started to find some offensive. Dartmouth went to work on the defensive end that helped to generate some offense. Baskets from sophomore guard Nicola Zimmer (Chevy Chase, Md.) and Toskovic cut the LaSalle lead to eight points at the 9:42 mark of the first half.

Toskovic was the Big Green's sharpshooter from long range in the first half. She went 2-of-3 from deep in the first stanza, for her first three-pointers since the St. Joseph's game (Nov. 19).

It was a Toskovic triple at the 10:47 mark, that sparked a 8-2 run that pulled the Big Green with four points, 21-17, with 5:35 left in the half but the Explorers closed the half with a 8-3 run to take a 29-20 halftime lead.

Dartmouth resumes Blue Sky Classic action on Friday (Dec. 30). When it takes on No. 15/16 Georgetown in the final game of Dartmouth's annual tournament.

Big Green Sidelines
-Tonight's game is the second meeting between LaSalle and Dartmouth. The teams last meet during the 1982-83 season in the championship game of the Blue Sky Tournament.

-Arianne Hunter earned her second consecutive start in tonight's contest while Kamala Thompson was back in the starting lineup. This is the sixth lineup of the season for the Big Green.

-In the first game of the tournament, Georgetown defeated Vermont, 65-53. Vermont is the only Blue Sky Classic participant to play in more than four tournaments.