Dartmouth Falls 61-57 In Home Opener to UNH

Monday, November 16

Hanover, N.H.

7:00 PM

Dartmouth College

0-2

New Hampshire

2-0

New Hampshire

Dartmouth

11/16/2015 8:24:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score Lakin Roland Belle Koclanes Daisy Jordan Highlights: Dartmouth women's basketball vs UNH, Nov. 16, 2015

By: Dartmouth

HANOVER, N.H. — After outscoring New Hampshire for three quarters, the Dartmouth women's basketball team fell, 61-57, in its home opener at Leede Arena Monday night.

The Big Green drop to 0-2, while the Wildcats improve to 2-0 and take home bragging rights in the Granite State rivalry. Dartmouth shot 43 percent from the field compared to UNH's 45 percent. Big Green head coach Belle Koclanes gave credit to the Wildcats for getting to lose balls and getting second chance points toward the end of the game.

“We need to mature as a group,” Koclanes said. “It's not an excuse that were young, because they are college basketball players. Some have just arrived, others only have one year under their belt. Yes were very young, but you're here now. Their level of focus and preparation needs to rise and really it started in the middle of the third quarter.”

The Green jumped out to an early lead in the first quarter outscoring the Wildcats by four points thanks in part to a Lakin Roland three pointer from the corner. New Hampshire would go on to tie the game at 11, but Dartmouth battled back to take a 20-16 lead. The Green unleashed an 8-0 run to begin the second, which was broken up by a Wildcats field goal hallway through the quarter. UNH kept taking quality shots, however Dartmouth kept the pressure on the Wildcats and took a 36-31 lead into the locker room at half time.

In the third quarter, the Big Green came out shooting the ball well, as Dartmouth increased its lead to 46-35 just before the under-five media timeout. At the end of the third, the Big Green held onto a 48-41 lead, but UNH started to creep back into the game. With 6:05 left to play, the Wildcats closed within one point of the lead.

Dartmouth senior Daisy Jordan was sent to the free throw line twice in the game's final minutes, each time she only came away with one basket. Jordan led her team with 13 points, seven of which came from the charity stripe. With the score tied at 55 a piece, UNH's Elizabeth Belanger made a jumper to take the lead with just 37 seconds left to play.

The Big Green had one final chance to tie the game with 11 seconds left. Roland shot a three in front of her bench, but it would not fall. She led her team with nine boards in addition to her 11 points on the night.

“When Lakin Roland gets a good shot, you have to take it,” Koclanes said. “We had 11 seconds and plenty of time, but we were down three. We hadn't been getting many call to the rim tonight, so we said Lakin if you get a good shot knock it down, if not crash those boards like crazy and see if we can get a second one out.”

Dartmouth returns to the court on Friday, Nov. 19 when the Big Green face McNeese State in Arlington, Texas for the second round of the preseason WNIT Tournament. Should the Big Green prevail, they will face the winner of Jacksonville University and the University of Texas at Arlington.