The Dartmouth women picked up their third overtime win Tuesday night, edging out Army 73-68 at West Point's Cristal Arena. The Big Green's sophomore tandem, Angie Soriaga and Jeannie Cullen, carried the weight as Soriaga handed out 11 assists and Cullen scored a team-high 30 points.
Dartmouth (8-6, 1-0 Ivy) led by two at intermission and never trailed in the second half, but Army (10-6, 2-1 Patriot) managed to hang around due to a game-high 33 points from senior center Katie McFarlane.
On a night when the Big Green's leading scorer, freshman Elise Morrison, was held to seven points in 29 minutes, the rest of the team picked up the slack. Eight out of 10 Dartmouth players scored, and the team shot an overwhelming 50 percent from three-point land, led by Cullen's seven threes. The team also combined for 12 steals, five of which came from Soriaga.
"Last night they were double-teaming Elise pretty quickly, which opened things up on the perimeter, and we also got a lot of baskets in transition. I think a lot of the baskets between Angie and me were off of a fastbreak or steal," Cullen said.
Dartmouth opened the scoring with two Morrison layups and two three-pointers and a pair of foul shots by Cullen. Army answered with a 14-3 run, including 11 straight points from Macfarlane, before Dartmouth scored the next 11 points to open up a seven-point advantage. At intermission Dartmouth held a 29-27 lead behind Cullen's 14 points, while Macfarlane had 18 of Army's 27 first-half points.
In the second half, Dartmouth increased their lead to six, with two baskets by senior co-captain Sam Burnham '04 and a three pointer and pair of foul shots by Cullen. After Army cut the lead to two, freshman Fatima Kamara '07 answered with seven consecutive points of her own as well as an assist to classmate Ashley Taylor '07.
When Dartmouth didn't score during the final four minutes of regulation, Army made up a seven-point deficit to force the game into overtime.
In overtime Army led by as much as three, but the Big Green remained unfazed. Taylor hit five of six foul shots and senior co-captain Jamie Librizzi sank what was arguably the biggest three-pointer of the night, putting Dartmouth up by four with one-and-a-half minutes remaining.
The Big Green pushed the lead to seven with Cullen's seventh three-pointer before an Army foul shot and three-pointer cut the lead to three. But Taylor converted on her final two foul shots with six seconds left to seal the win for the Big Green.
"Last night was a good win for us," said head coach Chris Wielgus Wednesday morning. "Our statistical leaders didn't get their usual points, but it was good to see other people step up and contribute. It was a good team effort." Although she acknowledged Army's comeback late in the game, she stood by her young squad's overtime heroics: "It may seem like we encourage overtimes, but we don't. Still, we're 3-0 in overtime. I think that shows our competitiveness and determination."
When asked about Cullen's team-high 30 points, Librizzi said that the better her teammate does offensively, the better defense she plays. Said Cullen herself, "Sometimes I just feel more in the flow of the game, and I want to get the ball back. There are games like last night where you just feel really involved--you're around the hoop for rebounds or in the right position for a steal."
Burnham was optimistic about the team's overall play: "Beating three powerful teams in overtime shows that we can handle crunch situations and keep our poise under pressure. Also, having a deep bench provides backups and unlimited talent in any game situation. These will be valuable against our Ivy League competitors and will hopefully prepare us for the rigorous back-to-back weekends coming up."
Dartmouth will open extended Ivy League play next weekend when the team travels to New York to face Columbia and Cornell.
