The University of New Hampshire Wildcats became the Big Green's latest victim, falling 62-56 in Leede Arena. With the win, Dartmouth improved its record to 9-3 on the season.
"This is the second game, the first being Siena, where the team's had to come back from a deficit after playing lackadaisically in the first half," guard Angie Soriaga '06 said, referring to Dartmouth's 86-82 victory on Jan. 2 that included a 21-point second-half comeback.
"We were able to come back for both these games but I doubt that we will keep being so lucky," Soriaga said. "Thus we really need to work on playing hard starting at the tip-off."
The Big Green allowed the Wildcats to jump out to a quick 13-0 lead and UNH was able to maintain a double-digit lead for most of the first half.
"We had a very sluggish start against UNH and dug ourselves a pretty big hole," Jeannie Cullen '06 said. "We knew that we were not playing our best game so all we wanted was to just get one stop at a time."
Dartmouth turned in an unsatisfactory first-half performance and connected on only 26.1 percent of field goals and 20 percent of three-pointers.
"There's really no way to explain what happened other than bad. At halftime, [head coach Chris Wielgus] really got onto us and pointed out what we were doing wrong and what we needed to do better to get back into the game and win," forward Sydney Scott '08 said.
"We just weren't playing with enough energy, kept missing lay-ups and then couldn't get stops on the defensive end as UNH was shooting the lights out," added Soriaga.
"We got a nice scolding from coach at halftime and stepped it up in the second half. We started being aggressive and playing better defense and I think that made the overall difference."
The Wildcats continued their dominance over the Big Green for the first seven minutes of the second half. Many Big Green fans stomped and sighed when UNH led 44-33. However, Scott jump-started Dartmouth's turnaround with a lay-up and a jumper.
Four minutes later, the Big Green found itself leading the game 45-44 after a 12-point chase. Beginning with a Koren Schram '09 three-pointer, Dartmouth slowly pulled away from UNH and captured the win against the Wildcats for the first time since 1999.
"The game was almost a disaster," Scott said. "We came out slow on both offense and defense."
Although satisfied with the result, Cullen was also disturbed by the team's slow start.
"I don't think any of us are too pleased with our performance but we were glad to get a win," Cullen said. "We knew that we have to get better each game and we did not do that on Wednesday night. However, we did battle back, overcame our sloppy play and got a win."
The Big Green improved its shooting drastically in the second half, nearly doubling its field goal percentage. Dartmouth shooters were 57.7 percent accurate from the field and knocked down nearly half of their shots from behind the arc.
"We finally came together on the offensive end and made some big shots," forward Frances Kalich '08 said. "We also had some key stops on defense. Our guards put on a lot of pressure in the full court when it matters the most."
Forward/guard Ashley Taylor '07 led four Dartmouth players in double figures with 13 points and shot 8-for-8 from the charity stripe. Cullen added 11 points while Soriaga and Scott contributed 10 each to the win.
Whitney Edwards was the high-scorer for the Wildcats with 13 points and teammate Lindsay Adams chipped in 11. The Wildcats shot a measly 35 percent from the field overall.
"Our defense allowed us to get back in the game," head coach Wielgus said. "I am also really pleased with the way Frances Kalich and Koren Schram came off the bench and were able to play significant minutes."
The Wildcats lead the all-time series 16-11 and defeated the Big Green in overtime 75-73 in their last meeting a year ago. But with the win, Dartmouth snapped UNH's four-game winning streak over the Big Green that dated back to 1999.
The Dartmouth-UNH rivalry, moreover, was heated by a certain sibling rivalry this year.
Frances Kalich's older sister Mary is an assistant coach for the Wildcats and the two sisters have looked forward to this game since their last contest.
"It was great being able to play against Mary's team again this year," Kalich said. "I have bragging rights now until our next match-up."
After the win over UNH, Dartmouth will get a much-deserved break. Wielgus has given the team a vacation on Thursday and Saturday in anticipation of tough upcoming away games against two non-Ivy opponents.
Dartmouth resumes action on Tuesday, Jan. 17 when it confronts the Colgate Raiders in Hamilton, N.Y.
Dartmouth holds an 8-0 all-time series edge over the Raiders and won the last contest against Colgate 80-69 in 2001.
"We are going to plan for Colgate this weekend so I don't know what to expect," Cullen said. "It will be a very long road trip so we definitely want to come away with a win."
