The Big Green now holds a 14-4 overall record, including a perfect 5-0 in Ivy play after defeating Cornell (6-13, 3-3 Ivy) and Columbia (4-15, 0-6 Ivy) at Leede Arena over the weekend.
Guard Jeannie Cullen '06 recorded 21 points in both games and went five-of-five from three-point range against the Lions to tie the school record for three-point percentage. She picked up 10 rebounds and four steals over the weekend.
"Jeannie Cullen really carried us throughout the game," senior Angie Soriaga '06 said of Cullen's performance against Columbia. "She shot extremely well from the floor and kept us in the game."
It came as no surprise that Dartmouth won both games this weekend. What could not have been expected was that the 3-3 Big Red would be completely defenseless against the Big Green, while the women in green struggled intensely to overcome a 0-6 Lions squad.
"I think the team played great on Friday night against Cornell but we lacked in the intensity against Columbia," Cullen said.
In Soriaga's words, the Big Green "shot the lights out" against an unprepared Big Red squad en route to a 93-70 win. Dartmouth shot 64.8 percent from the floor overall and was 64.7 percent accurate from behind the arc.
"Cornell had no answer for us," Soriaga said. "Going into the game, we thought Cornell was much improved from last year and knew that if we didn't play well, they could give us trouble. So we attacked them from the beginning and quickly killed any confidence they may have had about upsetting us."
Ten Big Green players contributed to the final score of 93, a season-high for Dartmouth.
"I was really pleased with our passing and moving without the basketball," Dartmouth head coach Chris Wielgus said. "It was a total team effort and I thought we showed good poise at the end of the game."
The women in green limited Cornell to 25 points and only 34.4 percent of its attempts in the first half and never relinquished the lead. The Big Red could not get within 21 points of the Big Green in the second stanza.
"We thought Cornell was a much improved team," starting center Sydney Scott '08 said. "So we really didn't expect to beat them the way we did."
Cullen tallied a game-high 21 points against Cornell, including five three-pointers. Ashley Taylor '07 was four-of-four from the three-point range to add 18 points to the win. Scott contributed 13 points while Fatima Kamara '07 had 10 points in the game.
"Cornell was a very good game for us," Scott said. "We took them out of their seats and forced them to take tough shots. We knew that they were a much improved team. But we really didn't expect to beat them the way we did"
Jeomi Maduka led three Big Red players in double figures with 14 points. Sarah Brown and Claire Perry contributed 13 and 10 points to the win, respectively.
"I think we played a great game against Cornell. We just proved how good we can be when we play as a team," Cullen said. "But the game against Columbia didn't go as planned."
The lopsided 76-56 Dartmouth win over Columbia is not indicative of what really took place Saturday night. The Big Green struggled against a persistent Lions squad during a period of cold shooting. In the first stanza, the score was tied six times and the lead changed nine times. Dartmouth held a slim two-point edge over Columbia at the half at 32-30.
"On Saturday, we weren't quite ready to play, so we came out slow," freshman forward Darcy Rose '09 said. "Our shots weren't falling as well as they had on Friday, so we had to work through that."
Who would have thought that the last-ranked team in the Ivy League could play head-to-head with top-ranked Dartmouth? Wielgus had to give credit to Columbia for its efforts and said that the Big Green "had to pull out all the stops to beat them."
With a stronger Big Green effort in the second half, however, Dartmouth again emerged victorious. According to Cullen, it is "always a dogfight" against Columbia.
Soriaga agreed, saying, "Columbia was an ugly win. I think we made the mistake of looking past them because of their bad record and you can see that in the first half."
Cullen again led the scoring with 21 points and added eight rebounds to the win. Scott contributed 14 points and seven rebounds while senior Krista Perry recorded a career-high 12 points, 12 boards and six assists.
Sarah Beato led the Lions with 15 points and nine blocks while teammate Michele Gage added 13 points and 10 boards.
"Columbia was not one of our better games, especially in the first half. We came out really flat with no energy while they were hitting everything," Scott said. "They played really hard and feisty with a lot of intensity. We didn't think Columbia was going to be as good as they were," Scott said. "They really played us tight."
After two weeks of back-to-back league play at Leede Arena, Dartmouth hits the road on Friday for weekend Ivy matches against the University of Pennsylvania (3-15, 1-4 Ivy) and Princeton (13-5, 4-1 Ivy).
After losing to Brown Saturday by a paper-thin 49-47 margin, Princeton will look to rebound against the Big Green in order to stay in the race for the Ivy League title. Penn, much more helpless this season after losing senior leaders, could miraculously return to the spotlight with a win over Dartmouth.
"This next weekend is a very important one," Soriaga said. "Despite Penn's record, we really can't overlook Penn because they always play well against us, and Penn's arena is a tough arena to play in.
"Also, Princeton is one of the top teams in our conference," she continued. "They are a solid team with a really strong inside game so that will be a big test for us on the defensive end. But I am confident that if we practice well this week, and play at the high level we have been playing the past two weekends, we can come up with two big wins."
The Big Green hopes that good practices and consistent performances will be enough for the team to continue on its perfect run through the Ivy League.
