The Dartmouth women's basketball team broke their losing streak in style, setting a school record for three-pointers by a team and tying another record of three-pointers by a single player. The 87-60 win over the Iona Gaels in their last non-league game of the season lifted Dartmouth to a 6-9 record while the Gaels sank to 1-14.
Jean Cullen '06, standing 5'10", continued her excellent rookie campaign on Tuesday night by scoring a game-high 27 points to lead four players scoring in double digits for Dartmouth. Cullen connected on eight treys to tie the school record set by Courtney Banghart against Harvard on March 7, 2000.
The Big Green squad hit 13 treys altogether to break the school mark of 12 set earlier this season against Harvard.
But Cullen, despite her excellent shooting, didn't slouch on the responsibility of ball distribution. She showed her natural knack for finding open teammates and handed out eight assists to lead the team.
Dartmouth started off slow, as they have in their recent games, trailing 7-2 in the early minutes. But Cullen caught on fire, hitting one three-pointer after another, and the Big Green ran ahead 31-15 at one point in the first half.
As the first half closed at 41-26, Cullen had already scored 15 points, all on three-pointers.
Dartmouth, plagued by poor shooting in recent games, shot 51.6 percent from the field and 85.7 percent from behind the arc, showing that they are ready to take on the serious league competition.
The Gaels did their best to catch up in the second half, getting as close as 10 with 14:29 left in the game. But that's as close as they would get in this game, as Dartmouth ran ahead with a 19-4 spurt over the next five minutes, shooting 80 percent from the field in that stretch.
As the Gaels sputtered to the end, the Big Green players made a statement on the court, relentlessly shooting and putting up the numbers.
When it was all said and done, Dartmouth had shot 53.8 percent from the field, the highest mark against the Gaels this season, while Iona was held to 35.2 percent shooting.
Captain Katharine Hanks '03 added 20 points and eight rebounds in a typically dominant game, only being outshadowed by Cullen's hot hands. Angela Soriaga '06, another rookie player, gave Dartmouth fans more hope for the future, chipping in 15 points and six assists in the game.
