After a disappointing 1-2 start in the conference, Dartmouth (11-10, 5-2 Ivy) has climbed into second place in the Ivy standings, only one game behind Harvard (8-12, 6-1 Ivy). Dartmouth is coming off two dominating home performances last weekend, defeating the University of Pennsylvania and Princeton by 27 and 29 points, respectively.
"I'm real pleased that my players have done as well as they've done, being as young as they are and as inexperienced as they are to go from 1-2 to second place," head coach Chris Wielgus said, but added, "we still have work ahead of us."
Dartmouth starts only one senior, captain Ashley Taylor '07. Fatima Kamara '07 is the only other senior on the roster.
This weekend, Harvard and Dartmouth both take on Yale and Brown in home sets.
Although there are several games left to be played, Wielgus emphasized the importance of every remaining game on the Ivy League schedule.
"Every game is survival in the Ivy League," she said. "I've been doing this a long time, and we have enormous respect for opponents. This is never done until it's done."
The Big Green lost its last meeting against the Yale Bulldogs (11-11, 4-4 Ivy) on Saturday, Jan. 27 in New Haven, Conn. In that game, Dartmouth slowly fell behind in the final two minutes, as Yale was flawless from the free throw line in the closing moments.
"The key plays down the stretch were as a result of offensive rebounding," Wielgus said. "They're a very big, very athletic team so we're going to have to a better job controlling the boards."
Taylor also looked to the next game hopefully. "The loss against Yale was a tough one, but we're very confident that we can beat them," she said.
Yale's 6'3" center Erica Davis was a dominant force in the paint against Dartmouth, and was just short of a double-double with nine rebounds and 10 points.
Wielgus emphasized that the effort required to control Davis often led to other offensive opportunities for the Bulldogs, such as dribble penetration by junior guard Stephanie Marciano, who scored 22 points in the last meeting.
Yale snapped a three-game losing streak on Saturday, Feb. 10 with a convincing 61-45 victory over Cornell in New Haven.
On Sunday, Dartmouth will play against the Brown Bears (4-18, 2-6 Ivy). In its last meeting on Friday, Jan. 26 in Providence, R.I., the Big Green dominated offensively, with four players in double-digit scoring, and won 61-44.
Kamara led the Big Green in scoring with 12 points, while three other Dartmouth players hit double figures for scoring.
Despite this, the Dartmouth-Brown rivalry in women's basketball remains strong after Dartmouth bumped the Bears out of the NCAA tournament last year.
"Brown has been a bit of a nemesis to us and they're very athletic. They're defending Ivy League champs after a three-way tie last year and there's a lot resting on this," Wielgus said.
Brown is coming off its second Ivy League win after defeating Columbia 57-54 on Saturday in Providence. Brown freshman guard Christina Johnson was named Ivy League Rookie of the Week last week after making three steals, grabbing four rebounds and scoring a career-high 16 points on 8-14 shooting in her first-ever appearance in the starting lineup.
Her previous career-high of 14 came in the last meeting with Dartmouth.
Taylor said that not a whole lot has been done differently to prepare for these teams the second time around, and is confident in her team's ability to continue its win streak.
"Since we've played them before we've been watching our games to see what we can do better," she said. "We've improved from the first half to the end and we're building that in practice."
Both games are slated for 7 p.m. tip-offs.
