Third-Quarter Outburst Leads to 72-55 Win on Opening Night

Tuesday, November 5

Hanover, N.H.

7:00 PM

Dartmouth College

1-0,0-0Ivy League

Vermont

0-1,0-0America East

Vermont

Dartmouth

Junior Anna Luce

Photo by: Doug Austin

Third-Quarter Outburst Leads to 72-55 Win on Opening Night

11/5/2019 8:46:00 PM | Women's Basketball

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Dartmouth had four players in double figures

By: Mike Miezejeski

HANOVER, N.H. – Dartmouth women's basketball used a balanced scoring attack to win its season opener, 72-55, over Vermont Tuesday night at Leede Arena. The Big Green (1-0) outscored the Catamounts (0-1) 27-13 in the third quarter.

Dartmouth shot 50 percent from the field as a team, while the Big Green defense held Vermont to 35 percent shooting.

Four players scored in double figures led by Anna Luce who had a game-high 20 points on 9-11 shooting and 2-3 from three with six rebounds. Annie McKenna went for 15 points, five assists, five rebounds and two steals. Paula Lenart nearly had a double-double with 13 points and eight rebounds on 6-7 shooting and Katie Douglas was also in double figures with 10 off the bench. Elle Louie had a solid performance as well with eight points, six rebounds and four assists.

"We are really excited about seeing balanced scoring with this new team," said Belle Koclanes, the Gail Koziara Boudreaux '82 and Family Head Coach of Women's Basketball. "Seeing so many members of the team put up significant numbers is exciting and it's something we're going to need all year long."

Both teams were dealing with first-game jitters out of the gate. Vermont jumped ahead to a 5-0 lead over the first three minutes, but the junior class got the Big Green back in the game. Luce scored the first basket of 2019-20 and Louie followed with a layup to bring it to a one-point deficit with 5:55 on the clock. Luce kept it coming with eight more points in the quarter, but the Catamounts led 13-10 after one.

Vermont clamped down on defense and extended its lead to 20-13 at the 6:35 mark of the second quarter. McKenna hit a triple at the 6:18 mark to spark the Dartmouth offense to pull the deficit to 28-25 at halftime.

The third quarter is where the Big Green won the game. Buckets by Lenart, Louie and McKenna powered a 7-0 run in the first two minutes to give Dartmouth a 32-28 advantage. After Vermont tied the score at 37 at the 5:43 mark, Dartmouth rattled off a 15-4 run to close the quarter, capped off by an Asha Taylor offensive rebound and buzzer-beating jumper.

Douglas scored six of her 10 points in the fourth quarter and Veronica Kelly played strong minutes and hit a jump shot to extend the lead to 62-50 with 4:29 left. Luce and McKenna put an exclamation point on the night with back-to-back 3-pointers in the final minutes.

Dartmouth has over a week until its next game. The Big Green play at home against Merrimack at 8 p.m. on Wednesday.