Brown Snaps Nine-Game Skid Against Dartmouth Women's Hoops

Friday, February 11

Providence, R.I.

7:00 PM

Dartmouth College

Brown

Brown Snaps Nine-Game Skid Against Dartmouth Women's Hoops

2/11/2011 8:54:00 PM | Women's Basketball

By: Dartmouth

BOXSCORE

PROVIDENCE, R.I. - The Dartmouth women's basketball team took a 56-48 loss at Brown tonight as the Bears snapped a nine-game losing streak in the series to Dartmouth.

The Big Green (5-15, 1-5 Ivy) had not lost to the Bears (6-15, 2-5 Ivy) since the 2005-06 season, when the two shared the Ivy title with Princeton and each squad lost to each other once. Dartmouth won the war that season with an Ivy playoff victory that started a nine-game winning streak against the Bears.

Dartmouth held a significant size advantage over Brown but the Bears simply outworked the Big Green for a 53-35 lead in rebounding. The Big Green grabbed only 15 rebounds in the entire second half while Brown had that many offensive rebounds for the game. Dartmouth shot only 27.3 percent from the floor while Brown was not much sharper at 33.3 percent.

Sophomore Faziah Steen (Kalamazoo, Mich.) led all scorers with 13 points along with five rebounds. Senior Cassie Cooper (Chelsea, Maine) finished with nine points while classmate Meghan McFee (Manchester, Conn,) had a well-rounded effort including seven points, eight rebounds, two assists, two blocks and a steal.

Rookie Lauren Clarke led Brown with 12 points.

The teams traded buckets on the first two possessions resulting in a 5-4 Brown lead before Dartmouth went on a 7-0 run to go ahead 11-5 after a pair of free-throws by Cooper. Brown answered with a big three from Lauren Clarke to start a quick 4-0 run, making it a possession game with Dartmouth up 11-9 at 12:03. Steen responded with a nice take and the Big Green's third three-point play attempt of the half but did not convert, still putting Dartmouth ahead 13-9 at 11:41.

The Bears responded with a 7-2 run including back-to-back buckets inside from Caroline King to go ahead 16-15 at 8:45. Dartmouth's defense was getting blocks and touches but Brown capitalized by getting offensive rebounds and second chance points. Both Steen and Cooper were on the bench with two fouls by the 5:29 mark which wreaked havoc on the Green's offense. Brown kept at it and King's second basket ultimately started an 8-0 run for the Bears, who went up 22-15 after a pair of free throws by Jaqueline Shonniker at 3:43.

Louise Vanden Bosch (Kettering, Ohio) finally stopped the bleeding for the Big Green with a pair of free throws at 3:14, ending a 6:11 scoreless drought and making it a 22-17 game. A bucket by Eve Zelinger (Palo Alto, Calif.) at 2:12 pulled Dartmouth within three and after a three from Clarke at 1:55, the Big Green held the Bears to make it a 25-21 deficit at the half.

Dartmouth shot just 23.1 percent from the floor in the first half, including 0-for-7 from three-point range while Brown was not much sharper, shooting 30 percent.

The Big Green opened the second half on a 5-2 run fueled by the defensive and passing efforts of Steen, making it a 27-26 Brown lead at 15:15. The Bears responded with a big 7-2 run, however, going up 34-28 after a Sophie Beutel layup at 12:52.

Dartmouth finally broke the seal from three-point range with a big bomb from Vanden Bosch at 12:05, followed by another longball from Steen to tie the game, 34-34, at 11:21. Brown got it right back on the other end, however, with four-straight from Lindsey Steele to go back ahead 38-34 at 10:25. Those buckets started a 10-0 run for Brown, which eventually became a 14-1 run, interrupted only by a McFee free throw for a 48-35 Bears' lead at 4:05.

Steen finally hit a jumper after nearly eight minutes without a field goal for Dartmouth, making it a 48-37 deficit at 3:48, but Brown got the lead back up to 13 on the next trip down the court.

Trailing by 13, Dartmouth got back-to-back threes from Kelsey Byrd (Saratoga, Calif.) and Steen to cut the lead to 50-43 at 1:36. Dartmouth played pressure defense and put Brown on the line, but could not get another three-pointer to fall in the final 1:30. Conversely, the Bears went 6-of-8 from the free throw line in the final 1:30 to ice the victory. The Big Green did outscore Brown 11-6 in the final 3:25 but it was not enough as Brown snapped the streak with a 56-48 win.