Completed Event: Women's Basketball at Brown on February 13, 2026 , Loss , 51, to, 58
Final
Women's Basketball
at Brown
51
58
Spotlight on Louise Vanden Bosch
2/6/2011 11:49:00 PM | Women's Basketball
Spotlight on Louise Vanden Bosch
by Dara Ely
by Dara Ely
They say good things come to those who wait.
After three years of playing sparingly as a reserve guard, Louise Vanden Bosch has started half of Dartmouth's games this season and is currently the Big Green's first option off the bench, averaging 4.6 points, 3.2 rebounds and 26.2 nonstop minutes per game.
Most would say it's the reward for patiently waiting in the wings. But to Vanden Bosch, she was never waiting for anything.
"I'm loving every minute of getting to play, but to just be happy that I'm playing would be selfish," she said. "It's nice to see my hard work paying off, but I've always tried to do whatever I could for the team and this year it just happens to be on the court during games instead of on the scout team in practice."
Since she arrived at Dartmouth from her home in Kettering, Ohio, Vanden Bosch has understood the value of a team better than most ever do. While she always wanted to compete come game day, she knew the impact that every single person could have on the group.
With that mindset, she was never biding her time, but rather, making the most of every minute.
"In this program, every day in practice is a tryout and there are times people might have discounted Louise, but she has never allowed herself to be discounted because of her work ethic, hustle and determination," said head coach Chris Wielgus. "She's about as determined as you can get."
* * *
As a freshman, Vanden Bosch and most of her classmates were firmly entrenched as members of Dartmouth's scrimmage squad, those whose job is more often to run an opposing team's plays than the Big Green's own. That's par for the course for most freshmen athletes, and Vanden Bosch embraced her role on a deep team that featured a host of guards including Kristen Craft '08 and Koren Schram '09.
"The upperclassmen like Craft always told us how they didn't play that much until they were juniors or so," said Vanden Bosch. "It's an important lesson to learn that even if you are a practice player you have a huge impact on the performance of the starters. I made it my goal to work as hard as I could so that our team as a whole could get better."
That first year, the Big Green won a share of the Ivy Championship, but after beating Harvard in the first round of an Ivy playoff, saw its NCAA Tournament hopes dashed with a loss to Cornell. Vanden Bosch's effort in practice paid off in spades her sophomore year, however, when she helped Dartmouth win its 17th Ivy title outright, going 13-1, to earn an NCAA bid.
"I had dreamed of playing in the NCAA Tournament since I was a kid - it was an amazing experience," she noted. "I couldn't have asked for anything more than to be a part of that team with how hard everyone worked. We really embodied the word team."
Defense was that group's bread and butter, holding opponents to just 56 points per game overall and allowing a paltry 47.1 points against Ivy League teams, both league best. The efforts of Vanden Bosch and others who on the scrimmage squad were critical to that team's success come game day.
"Louise is the ultimate team player and she has always been selfless," said Wielgus. "To this day we are short players so she plays her natural guard position in games and then plays the post in practice. Even as our sixth man she's the perennial scout player - she knows every play and rallies the scout team. She's going out there to win against the starters."
As a junior, Vanden Bosch tripled her playing time from the previous season but her team struggled to rebuild, winning only 11 games. With sights set higher for her senior season, she pushed herself through two-a-day sessions of speed and strength training and basketball skill development during the summer. All of that was sandwiched around a research job in a psychology lab at the University of Dayton, near her hometown.
The weight room has always been a place of refuge and a source of great pride for the 5-10 guard. A cut-and-dry place where if the work is put in, results will be seen. Throughout her collegiate career Vanden Bosch has shined there, posting numbers upwards of 200 pounds squatting and 150 on the bench press.
"I tried to get as strong as I could in the offseason and now in practice, work as hard as I can even if I am dead tired," she explained. "That conditioning has allowed me to play for long stretches, going more than 40 minutes some games."
Prior to this season, Vanden Bosch's career-high for minutes played was just 19, for rebounds, just two. This year she's already played more than 40 minutes - twice - and has bettered her previous highs in every category including rebounds (seven), points (11) and even blocks (three). Starting some games and coming off the bench in others, she has never questioned her coaches or doubted her role. Though Dartmouth has been hit by major injuries to key players this winter, she continues to believe that by doing the little things well and working hard, her team will succeed
"Because I train so much I know I can always provide energy and a spark off the bench," said Vanden Bosch. "I tell the younger players even if you only get in the game for a few minutes, if you can do something to help your team or change the flow, you've done your job."
Recently in a tough Ivy loss at Cornell, Vanden Bosch tallied six points and four rebounds, including three offensive boards, in second-half surge off the bench, while players on both teams showed fatigue as the game wound down. She's going to get the ball or go down swinging, fearlessly going body-to-body, with players much bigger than her. And when she does get knocked down, there's no room for pity or pain, jumping right back up and getting back to the play.
"She can't do every single thing on the court, but what she does she does well and she will hustle and endure," said Wielgus. "She's much stronger than you'd think, physically and mentally and her competitiveness can't be taught, it comes from inside of her."
"I'm very, very proud of Louise and I feel good that she's been able to contribute, especially as a senior. Many players who had to endure what she did with as little reward as she got would have given up," Wielgus reflected. "She's grown so much and her perseverance has allowed her to transform herself. From where she was as a freshman to where she is now, it's not even the same person."
* * *
Vanden Bosch's drive has not been limited to the basketball court. She works multiple jobs on campus, including one in the athletic department. She has applied for PhD programs in psychology, hoping one day to work as a psychologist or a professor, likely still helping to bring out the best in others.
As a senior, Vanden Bosch has 16 sets of eyes looking up to her example on and off the court. Eight belong to her young nieces and nephews back in Ohio, to whom she hopes to live closer after four years apart. Eight belong to Dartmouth's freshmen and sophomores, many of whom are in the behind-the-scenes shoes she once occupied.
"Dartmouth has a winning tradition and a big part of that is older players helping the younger ones and I'm happy to be a part of that," she said. "I hope I'll be remembered as someone who worked hard, gave it her all and did whatever she could for the team."
In a few years, when those young women are seniors, they will surely recall the influence of a teammate who worked instead of waiting, seized the moment when it came, and always put her team well before herself.
Players Mentioned
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