Women's basketball coach Chris Wielgus has been talking about the Big Green's balance and versatility all season, and on Saturday afternoon her team showed just what she means.
Dartmouth handily defeated Ivy rival Harvard, 57-44, in Leede Arena despite getting only two points combined from the team's leading scorers, Ilsa Webeck '94 and Brandi Jones '95.
Instead, Dartmouth used strong offensive performances from five different players and another terrific defensive effort to win its sixth consecutive game and raise its record to 6-5 overall, 3-0 in the Ivy League.
The victory also gave Wielgus her 150th career win in her 11th year of coaching. Wielgus, however, downplayed the importance of the milestone.
"I don't talk about the 150th win. I don't talk about records," she said. "Chris Wielgus is pretty ineffective on the court by herself."
But her team was anything but ineffective out on the court on Saturday.
The Big Green took control of the game early, holding the Crimson without a field goal for a 10-minute span in the first half. That defensive stand turned a 5-2 Harvard lead into a 21-10 Dartmouth advantage with 5:07 left in the opening half.
Dartmouth cruised to a 27-19 lead at halftime, but the Crimson fought back in the opening minutes of the second half to cut the Big Green lead to 34-30 with 15 minutes left to play.
Jen Stamp '96 then came off the bench and scored the Big Green's next 11 points to give Dartmouth a 45-38 advantage with 7:40 remaining. Harvard would get no closer, scoring an anemic six points the rest of the way.
Betsy Gilmore '94 scored 13 points on 5 of 6 shooting to lead the Big Green. She also added seven rebounds, six assists and five steals, including two in a remarkable 30-second span in the final two minutes of the game.
Sally Annis '97 was steady as usual, scoring nine and recording six boards, five assists and six steals. Laurie Stucker '95 scored seven points and had nine rebounds in 21 tough, physical minutes.
Kira Lawrence '96 grabbed a team-high 12 rebounds to go with her 11 points, but her major contribution came at the defensive end. Lawrence held Harvard's All-Ivy forward Tammy Butler to eight points, 10 below her league-leading average.
"Kira did a remarkable job on Butler," Wielgus said. "She didn't want Kira near her."
The stifling Dartmouth defense held Harvard to only 25% shooting (16 for 64) and a season-low 44 points.
"I've never seen such a good defensive performance," Wielgus said. "Our man-to-man intimidated them and Harvard took a lot of bad shots."
