Captain Ashley Taylor '07 also contributed 22 points and was a perfect 11-11 from the free throw line. Fatima Kamara '07, who leads the team in assists with 51, found success in driving and dishing the ball to Schram and Taylor, setting up six scores.
Seniors Danielle Clark and Whitney Edwards led New Hampshire (5-9, 0-2 America East) in scoring with 17 and 13 points, respectively. Senior Ray Williams contributed 11 points and six rebounds and led the Wildcat defense with three blocks and two steals.
"We run a motion offense so there are a lot of variables. We were able to spread them and penetrate because they were not good at containing dribble penetration after a ball reversal," coach Chris Wielgus said, "Once we could penetrate the defense we were able to score."
Dartmouth (5-9, 0-1 Ivy) came out of the gate with lackluster shooting, allowing New Hampshire to start on a 10-0 run and enjoy a 19-14 lead with 11:51 remaining in the first half.
"We were taking good shots at the beginning and had good looks, but the ball didn't go in," Wielgus said about her team's early struggles. Despite a disappointing conference loss to Harvard on Saturday, Wielgus' squad was able to maintain a positive attitude in practice leading up to the match-up with the Wildcats.
"Preparations for this game were no different from any other game," Wielgus said.
Schram took charge at the midpoint of the first half, scoring 11 straight points, including nine from outside the arc, to give the Big Green its first lead, 24-19 with 8:57 remaining in the period. Schram finished seven for 11 from the field with five three-pointers.
"At the beginning of the game we were all thinking about how we were not playing very well and needed to get our heads in the game," Schram said. "They came out really hard, and that didn't really take us by surprise, but we weren't ready. I realized that I needed to step my game up when my team needed me, and my teammates got me the ball and set me up and it just went in."
The teams traded scores for the rest of the first half. New Hampshire shortly regained the lead 25-24 with 6:56 remaining before Dartmouth took it back for good on a shot by Kristen Craft '08, who came off the bench to contribute six points.
The second half opened with two Dartmouth buckets off steals, giving the Big Green a 48-34 lead. Dartmouth scored 21 points on 13 Wildcat turnovers.
"We switched to a match-up zone in the second half, which bothered them," Wielgus said.
New Hampshire clawed its way back into the game early in the second half, going on a 15-1 run after bringing full-court pressure, cutting Dartmouth's lead to five with 11 minutes to go.
Schram again stopped the bleeding by hitting consecutive threes to give the Big Green an 11 point lead. Sydney Scott '08 contributed nine rebounds, including several key ones in the final minutes as Taylor led the team down the stretch, scoring 11 of the final 13 points.
"I just knew at the end of the game when we were ahead, we still needed someone to score and I think I just took on that role. Coach wanted the ball in my hands when they were fouling us, and I was making the shots," Taylor said.
Looking ahead to conference play in the coming weeks, Wielgus said that her team needed improvement on both ends of the court.
"We want to be a little more consistent on the defensive end and get a couple more people in double figures. More scoring and more tenacity on defense," Wielgus said.
The team's next game is Thursday, Jan. 18, at 7 p.m. at Leede Arena against Holy Cross. It is the team's last non-conference game before continuing a tough Ivy schedule against Brown and the University of Pennsylvania the following weekend.
