Dartmouth Women Drop Heartbreaker at Holy Cross

Tuesday, January 3

Worcester, Mass.

7:00 PM

Dartmouth College

Holy Cross

Dartmouth Women Drop Heartbreaker at Holy Cross

1/3/2012 10:05:00 PM | Women's Basketball

By: Dartmouth

WORCESTER, Mass. - Trailing 65-63, with 00.8 seconds left on the clock the Dartmouth women's basketball team tried a long baseball pass into the paint for a quick shot to force overtime but time expired as the Big Green fell, 65-63 to Holy Cross on Tuesday night.

Freshman Milica Toskovic (Santa Monica, Calif.) heaved a baseball pass from one end of the court into classmate Tia Dawson (Cedar Rapids, Iowa) who tired to get the shot off but time expired as the ball was leaving her hands, giving Holy Cross the win.

Junior guard Faziah Steen (Detroit, Mich.) led the Big Green with 15 points and was joined in double figures by teammates Nicola Zimmer (Chevy Chase, Md.) and Toskovic who had, 10 and 11 points, respectively freshman guard Kamala Thompson (Seldon, N.Y.) led the Dartmouth defense with a game-high nine rebounds, while sophomore forward Arianne Hunter (Oklahoma City, Okla.) added eight.

Trailing 58-56, Dartmouth (2-11) used a three-pointer from Steen and jumper from Hunter to take a three-point, 61-58 lead with 4:51 left in the contest. The score see-sawed back and forth from that point but the Crusaders converted three of four free throws down the stretch and got a key jumper late from Kelly Hamner to seal the game for the Crusader.

Holy Cross (7-7) opened the second half with seven unanswered points from Amy Lepley to open up a 36-29 lead -- its first lead of the game. The Big Green answered back and with five points from Zimmer cut the Holy Cross lead to 38-34 at the first media timeout of the second half.

After a nearly 20 minute delay for an injury to a Holy Cross player, the Big Green came out fired up. Trailing 47-41, Toskovic hit a jumper from the right side that ignited a 10-5 run that saw the Big Green regain the lead at, 52-51, for the first time since late in the first half.

Zimmer nailed her third triple of the second half at the 9:30 mark as the Big Green pulled ahead 54-52 but the Crusaders tied kept battling and tied the game at 56-56 just before the under seven minute media timeout.

Dartmouth jumped out to a 11-7 lead early behind the stellar play of its post players. Freshman center Tia Dawson (Cedar Rapids, Iowa) and Hunter went aggressively into the paint and combined for four of Dartmouth's first six points while battling the Crusaders for each and every rebound.

The Big Green's inside presence opened things up for the Dartmouth outside shooters and Toskovic and Steen both hit several critical shots from long range as the Big Green pulled out to an eight point 23-15 lead at the 6:37 mark.

Holy Cross began to chip away at the Big Green lead throughout the contest, and used a 14-6 run, fueled by the play of reserve Christine Ganser who was 6-of-7 from the free throw line, to pull within a basket of the lead as the squads went into halftime tied 29-29.

Dartmouth will take some time off before opening Ivy League action against Harvard on Saturday, Jan. 14. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. at Leede Arena.

Big Green Sidelines
-Today's game is the second consecutive game Dartmouth and Holy Cross have played to open the New Year.

-Dartmouth used the starting lineup of Dawson, Zimmer, Thompson, Steen and Hunter for the second time this season. The Big Green used this lineup against LaSalle in the Blue Sky Classic.

-Dartmouth went into the halftime break tied at 29-29. It was the first time the Big Green has been tied at the half this season.

-For the second game this season, the Big Green were in a second half delay, Holy Cross had a player go down with injury tonight and against Hartford there was a fire alarm at Leede Arena.