Dartmouth Falls in Final Seconds at San Diego

Saturday, December 1

San Diego, Calif.

5:00 PM

Dartmouth College

2-4

University of San Diego

4-3

Dartmouth

San Diego

Photo by: Doug Austin

Dartmouth Falls in Final Seconds at San Diego

12/1/2018 8:09:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

Four players score in double figures in a close loss for the Big Green

By: Mike Miezejeski

SAN DIEGO. – The University of San Diego used a last second bucket to defeat Dartmouth, 78-76, Saturday afternoon at the Jenny Craig Pavilion. Dartmouth leaves the west coast without a victory and drops to 2-4 on the season, while USD improves to 4-3.

Four members of the Big Green scored in double figures, Cy Lippold finished with her first double-double of the season with 13 points and 10 assists, while Isalys Quinones led the team in scoring with 19 points and nine rebounds. Annie McKenna sunk four from beyond the arch, finishing with 14 points and Kealy Brown had 13 for the Big Green. Elle Louie put together a strong performance with five steals, five rebounds and two blocked shots to go along with four points. Anna Luce made her return from injury and finished with eight points and six rebounds.

"Our next challenge is to learn how to close a game," said Belle Koclanes, the Gail Koziara Boudreaux '82 and Family Head Coach of Women's Basketball. "We need everyone to play their roles, that's what it takes to win and we almost had that today. We need to work on things to get out to bigger leads before the last four minutes of a game and have the confidence to close it out. We will get better than we were today for our next game." Koclanes went on to say.

For the second straight game, Dartmouth got off to a fast start. Quinones drilled a triple to get the Big Green on the board and Brown followed that with a baseline jumper to give Dartmouth a quick 5-0 lead. After USD scored its first two points, McKenna and Quinones hit consecutive three pointers. Moments later, Lippold set up Quinones for an easy finish underneath to extend the lead to 13-2 with 6:58 to go in the first. USD came back strong on its home court, the Toreros went on a 7-0 run to close its gap to 13-9. Luce made her first appearance since Nov. 11 and made an immediate impact, the sophomore scored the next four points for Dartmouth and got an assist in the final minutes of the first to give The Big Green a 23-14 lead.

USD slowly closed the gap in the second. The Toreros had an answer for everything that the Big Green threw at them as both teams traded buckets until midway through the second. USD then went on an 11-5 run to tie the game at 34 with 4:41 to go until halftime. Both teams traded a three and a two as the clock winded down to the half, leaving the score locked at 39.

Five straight points from Lippold along with great defense from Louie gave the Big Green a 48-41 advantage with 7:37 on the clock in the third. USD went on a 6-0 run to make it a one-point game in the next minute of action. The Toreros were then able to jump ahead to a 59-53 lead. Lippold came up clutch with two triples in the final minutes of the quarter. The second was a buzzer beater that left her fingertips in time to cut the USD lead to 61-59 at the end of the third.

McKenna hit her fourth from beyond the arch early in the fourth to put the Big Green on top for a brief moment. USD took the lead back just 20 seconds later, but Brown scored three straight points to keep the score tied. Lenart beat the shot clock with a contested three and McKenna made a two with 3:21 left to give the Big Green a 74-69 lead. USD then went on a 7-2 run to tie the game at 74 with 1:29 left. The Toreros had the ball with two seconds left and got their layup to go, handing the Big Green another close loss.

After 11 days on the road, the Big Green return home to Leede Arena where they begin their first of four straight home games. First up is Boston University on Wednesday at 12 p.m.