The women's basketball team suffered another casualty yesterday as they fell to Siena, 82-69. The loss drops the Big Green to 6-8 overall.
In the opening half, the Big Green swapped baskets with the Saints to steady the score at 34-34.
But Siena's sophomore standout Melanie Halker would loosen the knot with three back-to-back drives to the hoop -- thus sparking a devastating 15-2 Saints run in the final minutes of the half.
The Big Green came out of the locker room all set to pull the brakes on the streaking Saints. But the Saints were just on fire.
In the starting minutes of the second stanza, Siena picked up where they left off with a scorching 18-7 run. This drive bumped the Siena advantage to 62-43. Dartmouth made several brief comeback drives but just couldn't sink the deficit below the double-digit mark.
On offense, the Big Green struggled to keep their hands on the ball as their 27 turnovers eclipsed their meager 15 assists.
But to give credit where credit is due, the Saints did a solid all-around job of making their hoop seem bigger than the Dartmouth hoop.Their shots just fell.
On the boards, Siena kept the advantage as they outrebounded Dartmouth 45-38.
On the scoring end, Siena's Halker topped the charts with 33 points, including 16-21 from the field. But truth be told, the Big Green weren't too shabby when it came to shooting either.
Erin Rewalt '99 led Dartmouth with 22 points and 9 rebounds. Junior Bess Tortolani also finished the game in double digits with 16 points while senior Sally Annis tallied 8 points, 8 rebounds, 4 assists and 4 steals for the Big Green.
Dartmouth will take some time off this upcoming week to reset before hitting the season homestretch. They host Rhode Island on January 27th in Leede Arena.
Following a 1-1 Ivy split over the weekend, the Big Green are left with some significant ground to make up in the closing weeks of the season. After the URI match, only the Ivies remain on the schedule.
