"What is defense?"
If Alex Trebek were to use this as an answer on Jeopardy, the question would be: "This is how the Dartmouth women's basketball team wins its games."
Correct! This weekend the team used suffocating defense to crush the Quakers of Pennsylvania, 64-59, and tame the Tigers of Princeton, 63-40 to cruise to an 8-1 Ivy League mark and sole possession of first place in the league. The team has won seven games in a row, its longest winning streak in five years.
Dartmouth 64, Penn 59
The best way to describe Friday night's game against Penn is with the term "unnecessary roughness." An elbow here, a shoulder there -- both Dartmouth and Penn literally fought for the lead.
"At first, everything was out of control," Dartmouth Coach Chris Wielgus said. "It seemed like there were bodies flying everywhere and neither team was settled down."
"Everyone was getting fouled pretty hard and the refs were letting it all go," Bess Tortolani '98 said
The Big Green controlled the tap, and after the first three minutes of play, Dartmouth led 10-0.
"Although we were in the lead, it took us awhile to get the flow going," Wielgus said. "Once we got focused and got the combination going, we were able to play better."
Kira Lawrence '96 said, "Our defense was the main strength and it pulled us through the game. I think we were offensively out of sink the whole night and that is to Penn's credit. But I think it is to our credit that we played through such a physical, bizarre game. We didn't let it get us down. We just kept playing hard."
One Big Green player who needed little improvement was guard Jen Stamp '96. With a tongue like Michael Jordan but a style all her own, she had nine points by halftime -- including a gorgeous alley-oop layup on a cross-court pass from Sally Annis '97.
Dartmouth led 39-25 at halftime, and the second half was more of the same roughhousing. Penn stormed back quickly after the break, holding the Big Green to one for 10 shooting and using deadly outside shooting to outscore Dartmouth 18-2 and take a 43-41 lead with 11:16 left to play.Luckily Tortolani and Stamp were in a shooting frame of mind; Tortolani scored 10 points in the second half and Stamp had another nine.Dartmouth retook the lead and never looked back. Stamp finished the game with 18 points, five rebounds and two assists. Brandi Jones '95 and Annis both racked up 11 points, and Jones pulled down eight rebounds.
Dartmouth 63, Princeton 40
With a 5-3 record in the Ivies, Princeton, the only Ivy team to beat the Big Green this season, came to Hanover Saturday night looking to repeat its 76-64 victory on Jan. 6.
But Princeton's wish did not come true.
After a scoreless first five minutes of play, Lawrence got the ball rolling with a 12-foot jumper from the left side. The Big Green offense took off from there, while their defense shut down the Tiger attack.
Dartmouth took control and led 11-2 after 10 minutes.
"As always, our defense shut them down. We were a tad quicker and grabbed more loose balls," Wielgus said.
The Tigers' 40 points was their smallest total in an Ivy League game since they scored 36 against Yale in the 1982-83 season.
"I think that we were all conscious that we owed Princeton one," said Lawrence, who sunk nine shots and snagged a season-high 14 rebounds in the game.
Tortolani checked in early in the game and her talented moves under the basket enabled her to rack up 10 points by halftime.
"We really wanted to beat them bad. First, because we don't want to lose any more Ivy League games and second because they are the only team that beat us," Tortolani said.
With Dartmouth ahead at the half, 32-15, there was little room for improvement in the second half. Princeton desperately struggled to come back, but as usual, the Big Green played tough defense and limited Princeton's shooting. The Tigers hit less than 30 percent of their shots on the night, their worst outing of the season.
Dartmouth kept scoring and the game began to look like a highlight film. With 11 minutes left in the game, Lawrence passed to Tortolani in three-point land, and she scored, edging the score to 45-25.
Two minutes later, Tortolani hit another three-pointer. Nicole Galanek '97 then scored six points in three minutes, with two layups and an offensive rebound.
"We played some really good defense and Princeton wasn't shooting well, perhaps due to our defense, perhaps partially due to Princeton's sicknesses," Lawrence said.
Stamp swished a three-pointer with two seconds left, her second one of the night. She had 12 points and four rebounds.
Betsy Gilmore '94 finished the night with 11 points, seven rebounds, five assists and two steals.
"We were dictating the action and Princeton was reacting," Lawrence said. "I think that's a very important strength."
