Yale Uses Big Second Half For Win over Dartmouth

Sunday, January 29

Hanover, N.H.

2:00 PM

Dartmouth College

YALE

Yale Uses Big Second Half For Win over Dartmouth

1/29/2012 4:48:00 PM | Women's Basketball

By: Dartmouth

HANOVER, N.H. - Yale used a 48-point second-half outburst and held the Big Green to just 22 second-half points, en route to a 89-65 win over Dartmouth on Sunday (Jan. 29) afternoon at Leede Area.

For the fourth time in the last five games, Dartmouth (2-15, 0-3 Ivy League) had three players in double figures and was led by freshman guard Milica Toskovic (Santa Monica, Calif.) who scored a career-high 15 points. Junior guard Faziah Steen (Detroit, Mich.) added 14 points while freshman guard Kamala Thompson (Seldon, N.Y.) posted 10 points.

Senior forward Sasha Dosenko (Kiev, Ukraine) tallied a game-high 12 rebounds for her first double figure rebounding game this season. Freshman center Tia Dawson (Cedar Rapids, Iowa) wasn't far behind with nine points and nine rebounds on the afternoon.

For the second consecutive game, Dartmouth come out hot in the first half spearheaded by Toskovic's hot hand. The reigning Ivy League co-Rookie of the Week, tallied 15 first half points and was 3-of-4 from long range.

The first half was a back-and-forth affair for the most part; featuring five ties and with neither team taking more than a three-point advantage through the first seven minutes of action.

The game was a defensive battle from the outset with both squads getting up and down the court. Sophomore guard Nicola Zimmer (Chevy Chase, Md.) provided a big spark for the Big Green, taking the ball right through the Yale defense and to the rack on her first two attempts.

Dartmouth looked very impressive in the paint against the Bulldogs early. Dosenko and Toskovic had no trouble slicing and dicing into the paint and finishing shots around the basket to start the game.

With the game tied at 32-32, Yale's Megan Vasquez completed a three-point play to put the Bulldogs ahead one point, 33-32, but the Big Green used a layup from Dosenko and a three-pointer from Steen to jump out to a four-point lead with just under four minutes in the half. Vasquez answered for Yale, but Dartmouth went 6-of-6 from the free throw line to close the half and took a 43-41 lead into the break, its third consecutive halftime lead in an Ivy League contest.

Out of halftime, Yale (11-7, 3-1 Ivy League) utilized a 17-1 run to burst open a 16-point lead at the 15:20 mark of the second half. The Bulldogs were able to hold Dartmouth to just five points in the first 11 minutes of action in the second half and just one field goal.

After shooting 44.1 percent (15-of-34) in the first half, Dartmouth went ice cold from the floor in the second half, shooting just 30 percent (9-of-30).

With Yale holding a 67-44 lead at the 12:44 mark, Dosenko converted a pair at the free throw line which sparked a short 7-0 Big Green run highlighted by the play of Dawson. Dartmouth starting to get something going by feeding the ball inside to Dawson. The center scored five unanswered points to cut the Yale lead to, 67-51, with just under nine minutes left in the game, but the run ended with a triple from Michelle Cashen.

The Big Green would get as close as 13 points in the second half but the Bulldogs converted 9-of-11 free throws down the stretch for its second consecutive win.

Yale's Megan Vasquez led all scorers with 23 points.

The Big Green hit the road for their first Ivy League weekend next week. Dartmouth will start the weekend at Columbia on Friday (Feb. 3) at 7 p.m. and will conclude the weekend at Cornell on Saturday (Feb. 4) at 7 p.m.

Big Green Sidelines
-Yale picks up its fourth straight win over the Big Green with today's win. Dartmouth leads the series, 50-19.

-Dartmouth moves to 0-8 at home this season with the loss. The Big Green hasn't lost eight home games since the 2009-10 season, also the last time it had a losing home record.

-Today's game pit the Ivy League Co-Rookie of the Week award winners against each other. Dartmouth's Milica Toskovic shared last week's award with Yale's Sarah Halejian and the previous week Tia Dawson shared the award with Halejian.

-Sasha Dosenko back in the starting lineup for the first time since the Bryant game on Dec. 7.

-Dartmouth has led at halftime in each of its Ivy League contests this season.