Niagara Falls to Women's Basketball, 76-70

Sunday, December 28

Niagara Falls, N.Y.

4:00 PM

Dartmouth College

7-5, 0-0IVY

Niagara

5-5, 2-0MAAC

Dartmouth

Niagara

12/28/2014 6:06:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

By: Dartmouth

NIAGARA UNIVERISTY, N.Y. — Four players scored in double figures led by sophomore Katie Vareika with 16 points off the bench, as the Dartmouth women's basketball team picked up its seventh win of the season and defeated Niagara, 76-70, on Sunday afternoon at the Gallagher Center.

Vareika's 16 points came in just 18 minutes as the guard shot 6-of-8 from the floor and 4-of-6 from the outside. Junior Lakin Roland added 13 points and nine rebounds and senior Milica Toskovic and sophomore Fanni Szabo each had 12 points in the win. Toskovic also contributed a team-high six assists and grabbed four rebounds. Szabo also had an all-around performance for the Big Green collecting four rebounds, four assists and two steals.

With the win, Dartmouth improves to 7-5 on the season while Niagara drops to 5-5 overall.

"After the game, I told them how proud of them we are of their offensive confidence," head coach Belle Koclanes said. "You can see from the way we played in the first, that we were confident. We had three solid practices here at Niagara after the Christmas break.The team was really focused."

Dartmouth shot 52 percent (26-of-50) from the field and connected on 12 three-pointers. The Big Green got to the line 15 times and added 12 points from the stripe.

The Green and White did a good job holding the Purple Eagles in the first half to just 33 percent from the field, but the hosts rebounded in the second and finished at 40 percent.

Senior Tia Dawson finished with six points and nine rebounds for the Big Green in the win. Junior Daisy Jordan chipped in six points and freshman Olivia Smith had two.

Just like in the first half, Niagara came out strong and recouped six points in the first four minutes to cut the deficit at 43-37. Dartmouth regained its double-digit lead with a 7-0 run to take a 53-42 with 10:14 left. Both sides traded baskets until 6:13 when a pair of free throws by Victoria Rampado started a 9-0 run for the Purple Eagles, which put Niagara back in the game, 67-61, with 3:19 left. Holding a six-point lead with 1:31 remaining, Szabo dialed-up Dartmouth's 12th three-point basket of the game to take a 72-63 advantage.

Holding a six-point lead with 1:31 remaining, Szabo dialed-up Dartmouth's 12th three-point basket of the game to take a 72-63 advantage.

Niagara opened up the contest with a quick 8-0 lead, but a resurgent Big Green responded in a span of 6:22 with a 15-4 run to take a three-point lead on a triple by Roland. Dartmouth exploited Niagara's zone defense with a season-best eight three-pointers in the first 20 minutes.

Since Roland's three-pointer at 11:35, Dartmouth outscored the Purple Eagles 27-16 and took a 40-32 lead at the break.

Late in the half, after a free throw by Niagara's Donisha Watson cut the Big Green lead at 28-21, the visitors scored the next eight points on trifectas by Letkewicz and Toskovic and free throws by Jordan.

Off the bench, Letkewicz netted nine points — all from the outside — as she combined with Vareika for 17 points. Vareika was also effective from 20-feet away scoring a pair and adding a layup to her line.

Meghan McGuinness and Victoria Rampado who scored 17 points each led Niagara. The Purple Eagles outrebounded the Big Green, 37-30 and forced 17 turnovers, which allowed for 22 transition points and 14 second chance points.

Dartmouth will conclude the 2014 calendar year with a meeting at Rhode Island on Tuesday evening at 7 p.m.

Notes: This was the first meeting between Dartmouth and Niagara. The win for Dartmouth will assure the Big Green of at least a .500 record through non-conference play with two games remaining. The last time Dartmouth finished above .500 in non-league play was during the 2005-06 season when they went 9-4. The 11 three-pointers are a new record under the Koclanes regime. The team made 10 three-pointers twice last season.