Though their Ivy League title hopes are no more, the women's basketball team will be looking to play the spoiler role this weekend, when the third-place Big Green(6-5) host second-place Brown(10-3) and fourth-place Yale(6-6).
Against Brown earlier in the season, Dartmouth was on the receiving end of a 80-61 trouncing.
Senior co-Captain Sally Annis hopes the team will improve upon their defensive and rebounding effort from their loss earlier this month.
The pressure is on the Bears, however, who have to win all three of their remaining league games to have any shot at winning the title.
Traveling to Yale on the same road trip as their loss to Brown, the Big Green downed the Elis 81-73. The loss turned out to be one of only two home losses on the season for the Elis.
The Bears come into Hanover riding a seven-game winning streak that dates all the way back to Feb. 1.
One stat can summarize the key to Brown's success: the Bears are 7-0 when holding its opponents to less than 73 points.
Sophomore standout Vita Redding is fifth in the nation in scoring, averaging 24.1 points per game.
Redding also ranks first in the league for steals, third in three-point field goal percentage, sixth in field goal percentage and 10th in assists.
Dartmouth will also be on the lookout for Brown forward Liz Turner '98. Turner is ranked among the league leaders in points, rebounds and assists.
Last weekend, Turner earned Ivy League Player of the Week co-honors for her 37 points, 22 rebounds, 13 assists and one steal in leading the Bears to victories over the Empire Ivies.
And who did Turner share her award with? None other than Yale's sophomore center Katy Grubbs.
The Ivy Rookie of the Year in 1996, Grubbs led the Elis past Cornell and Columbia with totals of 44 points and 11 rebounds over the past weekend, making 15-of-24 field goals and 14-of-15 from the freedom stripe.
Yale is in the midst of a five-game winning streak, and though the Elis have no shot at leapfrogging into first, the Big Green are looking to send an unhappy Yale squad back to New Haven.
Not only will the Big Green be facing this past week's Ivy co-Players of the Week, but also Brown freshman forward Kate Veronneau, two-time Ivy Rookie of the Week.
The forward scored 18 points, grabbed 19 rebounds and blocked one shot in the Bears' sweep of the Empire Ivies.
"We just want to go out and play well," Annis said. "We want to keep Brown from having a shot at the title by beating them the first night."
Tip-off is at 7:00 p.m. in Leede Arena for both tonight's contest against Brown and tomorrow's against Yale.
