The Dartmouth women's basketball team beat Columbia and Cornell in New York this weekend, improving its record to 11-2 in the Ivy League and hanging onto a tie with Harvard for first place.
Harvard and Dartmouth will battle for the Ivy League title and a trip to the NCAA tournament this Tuesday night when Dartmouth travels to Cambridge for the final game of the regular season.
Dartmouth 76, Columbia 40
Despite a shaky first half, Dartmouth destroyed Columbia by a huge margin, 76-40.
Although Columbia led in the game's first few minutes, Dartmouth soon took control, exploding with a 16-point run in the first half to take a 34-20 lead at halftime.
Columbia tried to fight back in the second half, but the Big Green's scoring remained strong and the defense again held the Lions to 20 points.
Most of the Dartmouth players saw ample playing time.
Katie Samuelson '97 was the top scorer of the night with a career high 14 points. Sally Annis '97 had 13 points and Ilsa Webeck '95 had 10.
Dartmouth 58, Cornell 41
Dartmouth improved again Saturday night in Ithaca. Although the first Dartmouth-Cornell game was a nail-biter won by the Big Green in overtime, Saturday's game was anything but close. Dartmouth defeated Cornell, 58-41.
Saturday night was different because of outstanding play by Webeck, who recorded a triple-double with 23 points, 10 rebounds and 11 blocked shots, a new Dartmouth single-game record.
"We were all concentrating on defense," Webeck said. "Whenever any of us concentrate on that, our offense just flows. I was the designated one who made sure no none get beaten to the basket. Then, on the other end of floor, everything opened up and I was able to play well."
The infamous "Dartmouth defense" enabled the Big Green to beat Cornell. Cornell shot a woeful 29 percent from the field, including a 5-24 performance in the first half. They also had 18 turnovers.
Annis had another great scoring night with 18 points.
Now Dartmouth will prepare for the most important game of the season. The team remembers last year, when it made the same trip to Cambridge, losing to Brown in a one-game playoff to determine the Ivy League's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.
"We are ready to go and play hard," Webeck said. "It all comes down to this one game, and we'll be prepared. Harvard has some great shooters and two good inside players, but so do we. I think we can pull it off.
There will be two fan buses departing from the Berry Sports Center at 3:15 Tuesday afternoon. Tickets are available at the Berry Sports Center Ticket Office. Game time is 7 p.m., at the Briggs Center at Harvard.
