Road Woes Continue for Women's Hoops in 66-53 Loss at Yale

Saturday, February 12

New Haven, Conn.

7:00 PM

Dartmouth College

Yale

Road Woes Continue for Women's Hoops in 66-53 Loss at Yale

2/12/2011 8:45:00 PM | Women's Basketball

By: Dartmouth

BOXSCORE

NEW HAVEN, Conn. - Faziah Steen went off for 21 points and Cassie Cooper recorded a double-double, but it was not enough as the Dartmouth women's basketball team took a 66-53 loss at Yale tonight.

Dartmouth drops to 5-16 and 1-5 in Ivy play while Yale improves to 10-12, 6-2 Ivy.

Head coach Chris Wielgus mixed things up for yet again this season, debuting her eighth different starting lineup in just 21 games. Wracked with injury, Dartmouth again dressed only nine players for the Ivy League contest. Rookie Eve Zelinger (Palo Alto, Calif.) made her first collegiate start, tallying seven points, six rebounds, four assists and two steals.

In addition to her 21 points, Steen added four steals, three blocks, three assists and four rebounds while Cooper tallied a 10-point, 10-rebound double-double and three blocks. Steen, a sophomore, went toe-to-toe with perhaps the other best sophomore guard in the Ivy League, Megan Vasquez, who also had 21 points, in a preview of what will be five more exciting matchups in their careers.

Yale opened the game with a quick 5-0 run including a three from Janna Graf before Dartmouth used an eventual 8-0 run including five-straight points from Zelinger to make it a 10-7 game after a Steen three at 14:28.

The Bulldogs responded with a 12-2 run that included points from five different players to go ahead 19-12 at 9:45. Dartmouth got some good looks inside during the stretch but the officials were letting the teams play on both ends and the Big Green could not get to the line. Sasha Dosenko (Kiev, Ukraine) finally stopped a 5-0 run and five-minute scoring drought with a jumper at 8:23 for a 19-14 Yale lead.

Both teams cooled offensively and Yale held outscored Dartmouth 6-2 during the next five minutes for a 25-16 advantage after a Gobrecht bucket at 3:19. The Bulldogs took advantage of the lack of whistles, however, and got increasingly physical with the Big Green. Cooper got Dartmouth back on the board with a nice take inside to make it 25-18 at 3:05, but that would be the Green's final field goal of the half.

Yale benefitted from Dartmouth's frustration down the stretch to get three Big Green starters into foul trouble, helping the Bulldogs end the half on an 8-4 run including five more from Gobrecht. The Big Green trailed 29-20 after two free throws by Meghan McFee (Manchester, Conn.) at 2:21, but could not dig further into the lead and Yale took a 33-22 lead at the half.

Dartmouth came out with a real fire in the second half, opening on a 6-2 run followed by buckets on both sides to cut the lead to 37-30 after Cooper's fifth and sixth points, on free throws, of the half at 16:27. The Big Green continued to make things hard on itself, however, when a big defensive mistake left Allie Messimer wide open behind the arc, giving the 40-30 lead right back to Yale at 16:16.

The Bulldogs hit another three, this time by Graf, to go up by 13 but Steen got it right back the old fashion way with a three-point play to make it 43-33 at 15:13. Both teams cooled off offensively and Dartmouth did a nice job actually preventing Yale from getting many shots, while the Big Green was mostly plagued by missed attempts.

The squads traded buckets for a modest 8-7 Yale run to make it a 51-40 Bulldog lead at 8:21 when Aarica West answered a McFee three-point play with a pair of free throws. Things heated up in the next stretch of play when Steen nailed a three as the shot clock wound down to answer a pair of free throws from Vasquez making it a 53-43 Yale lead at 6:58.

After going back and forth, Vasquez gave Yale five straight points and a 61-45 lead with 4:21 to play. Dartmouth got a bit closer as Steen went to work, going on an 8-3 run by herself against Yale to all but close out the game, down 64-53 before the final Bulldogs possession. Yale appeared to be running out the clock but with a two-second differential on the game and shot clock, Messimer had to hoist up a three at the buzzer. Vasque corralled the rebound and went back up with it to make the final 66-53, Yale.

Overall, Dartmouth showed an improved intensity, matching Yale in rebounding, 41-41, blocking seven shots and grabbing nine steals. Prior to the last-second shot, the teams had each scored 31 in the second half. Despite shooting a sizzling 48 percent in the second half, Dartmouth could not overcome its 21 percent shooting in the first or the 11-point deficit in the end.

The Big Green is back at Leede Arena for the next two weekends, starting against Columbia on Friday, Feb. 18 at 7 p.m.