So far, so good. The Dartmouth women's basketball team (2-0, 0-0 Ivy) continued its winning ways by dropping the Hartford Hawks on the road, 79-73, behind 27 points -- including 16 in the second half -- from Kat Hanks '03 and 26 -- 16 coming in the first half -- from Keri Downs '03. The Big Green shot a scorching 57.7 percent, barely giving Hartford a chance to rebound the ball on the defensive end.
"This was a great win, a real team effort," the co-captain Downs said. "It feels good to come in here and grab a win on the road. Let's hope we can keep it up."
The 26 for Downs gives her 56 points in Dartmouth's first two games. That kind of back-court scoring punch will allow players like Hanks and Kate Skelly '03 to put up the big numbers like they did this game. Downs has also now made 18 straight free throws to start the season, including a 10-for-10 night last night that set a school record.
It was a topsy-turvy first half, as six lead changes made some Big Green faithful nervous about the outcome. However, Dartmouth would hold a 40-35 halftime lead in a first stanza that saw the largest Hartford lead at five points.
Hartford began the second half with a 9-2 run, but a Skelly three-pointer gave Dartmouth the lead for good, a lead that would eventually wax to 12 points, 75-63, with just over three minutes remaining.
A late Hartford surge made the game seem close, but in the end Dartmouth and Hanks, who nailed two game-icing free throws, prevailed by two more points than they did last year in a home 67-63 win that was one of the more exciting games of the season.
If the Dartmouth women thought Hartford was a road trip, they now get to travel to Tennessee to play in the Vanderbilt Tournament against Indiana State on November 24.
