Big Comeback Leads Women's Basketball to Overtime Win at Leede

Saturday, December 20

Hanover, N.H.

12:00 PM

Dartmouth College

6-5

LOYOLA CHICAGO

2-8

OT 1

Loyola Chicago

Dartmouth

Big Comeback Leads Women's Basketball to Overtime Win at Leede

12/20/2014 2:50:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

By: Dartmouth

HANOVER, N.H. — Junior Lakin Roland and sophomore Fanni Szabo combined for 42 points as the Dartmouth women's basketball team defeated Loyola Chicago, 70-58, in overtime on Saturday afternoon at Leede Arena.

Dartmouth (6-5) snapped a four-game losing streak after playing the last four games away from Leede Arena. The Big Green is now 4-0 at home this season. Loyola Chicago (2-8) will head back to Chicago and meet UIC after the holiday break.

"We need to create a home court no matter where we are," head coach Belle Koclanes said after the game.

Roland's 23 points and 15 rebounds led the way for the Green and White who finished the contest shooting 37 percent from the field. Dartmouth got a major spark from the outside today, led by Roland who shot 4-of-9 from beyond the arc.

"The key is finding a way," Koclanes said. "I had a talk with Lakin the other night and said we need to see this type of player every night. She is the nucleus of our team."

The Big Green as a group added three more triples with two from Szabo and a final by freshman Amber Mixon. Szabo was the second leading scorer for the group and finished with 19 points, four rebounds, three assists and one steal.

Mixon finished with eight points but set a new best with nine rebounds. Senior Milica Toskovic had an impressive stat line once again, as she netted six points and was a contributor on the glass with seven rebounds and had a team-high five assists.

Dartmouth trailed the game for 36:38 but took the lead when it counted the most. Late in the second half, Loyola led 51-47 after Taylor Manuel hit a layup after posting up. On the next play, Loyola's Molly Crosby fouled Roland, who hit the front end of a pair from the line. After she missed the second free throw, the junior forward regained the ball with an offensive board before Szabo nailed a trifecta to tie the game at 51-all with 1:37 left.

The Ramblers retook the lead on the next possession after junior Daisy Jordan fouled Crosby, who hit both free throws with 23 seconds left. Dartmouth tied the game after Roland drove the baseline, but her shot was missed and a putback by Jordan sent the game into overtime, 53-53.

In the overtime period, Szabo hit a quick jumper after the tip to take the Big Green's first two-point lead of the contest. Prior to that basket, Dartmouth led by a single point on three occasions. Loyola's Becca Smith drained a three from the elbow to retake the lead once again for the Ramblers, but it was short-lived after Roland hit another basket from outside to five Dartmouth a 58-56 lead with 2:37 left.

Roland increased the lead to four after a jumper with 1:51 left. The Big Green finished the contest on a 10-2 run with the free throws by Mixon and senior Tia Dawson.

The second half of action started out slow for both programs, as a five-minute scoring drought kept the score 32-30 in favor of the Ramblers. A 10-0 run by the Ramblers made it, 46-36. Dartmouth reversed the deficit midway through the frame with nine consecutive points to close the gap to 46-45 with 5:28 remaining.

"Basketball is a game of runs. That's life. That's how it goes. You make and break your runs," Koclanes chuckled when talking about the seesaw battle of the second half.

Roland scored 18 points in the second half, while Szabo heated up with 12.

Loyola took a five-point lead, 32-27, into the locker room and led by as many as nine with 3:38, but late free throws by freshman Emily Slagle and an Amber Mixon layup cut the deficit. Leading up to the nine-point lead, Loyola used a 9-0 run to break a 21-20 led by the Big Green. The half saw six lead changes, but Dartmouth could not take advantage of three one-point leads. Taylor Manuel led the Ramblers with 12 points in just her second game with the team since transferring from Purdue. The Big Green shot 33 percent from the floor and go to seven points from the line. Loyola shot 12-of-29 from the field after 20 minutes.

Manuel led the Ramblers with 20 points and 13 rebounds and Crosby added 12 points. Loyola shot 31 percent overall and added 18 points from the line. The Ramblers used an inside presence for most of the game and scored 30 points in the paint.

"It was a major concern of ours before heading into the break, was to protect our paint. In the second, we did a much better job keeping them outside, but we were prepared for it," Koclanes said.

Dartmouth will travel to Niagara on Dec. 28 for a 4 p.m. meeting with the Purple Eagles.