The team played tough against several NCAA tournament-caliber teams, a feat made even more impressive when considering that the team had a full month between home contests.
Co-captain Kristen Kraft '08 sees the non-conference winter break schedule as a way to prepare for Ivy League play by facing tough non-conference opponents.
"I believe we grew as a team over break," Kraft said. "We played some tough teams with Colorado and Marquette. We lost on a last second half court shot to Marquette which was disappointing, but we were able to come back and beat Delaware the next day which gave us confidence going into our [conference schedule]."
On Saturday, Jan. 5, at Harvard, it seemed that the tough non-conference slate did indeed prepare the team well, as the Big Green (3-9, 1-0 Ivy) beat the Crimson (5-5, 0-1 Ivy), 52-47 in a tight game.
Dartmouth pounced all over Harvard in the early stages of the game, leading by 16 points at one point and carried a 27-19 lead heading into the half.
Co-captain Sydney Scott '08 said that the team's rebounding was a major factor in the team's hot start.
"Everyone was looking to score, so we were able to start well," Scott said. "We knew Harvard wanted to get multiple attempts to score so our guards snuck into the paint and got rebounds. That threw them off of their game and put us in our rhythm."
The Crimson mounted a furious comeback in the second half to take a 39-38 lead with just six minutes to go. Earlier in the season, the Big Green may have let this close contest slipped away, but a battle-tested squad went on a 14-8 run to close out the game with a victory. Kraft attributed the team's strong finish to past experiences.
"Harvard is a good shooting team and we knew that might happen," Kraft said. "It's a situation that I've been in before so we learned from our mistakes and didn't panic," Kraft said.
The Big Green hopes that the victory against the Crimson will be one of many on its conference slate.
Before final exams, the team picked up its first win of the season at Sacred Heart in a 53-50 victory that snapped the Pioneers' three-game winning streak behind stifling defense. Michelle Meyer '10 and the Smith sisters, Margaret Smith '09 and Brittney Smith '11, had nine points each to pace the team.
After a 10-day break, the team traveled to Stony Brook where the Seawolves downed the Big Green 65-48. It was clear that the team was rusty from the layoff, as a career-high 13 points from Betsy Williams '10 was not enough to overcome the team's 28 turnovers. Head coach Chris Wielgus sent in a starting lineup of five reserves in the second half after a disappointing first half to shake things up, but it was not enough to lead the team to victory.
Dartmouth then traveled across the country to take on the University of Denver and the University of Colorado, where the Big Green dropped two games despite playing well. Against Denver, the team shot an efficient 46.9 percent from the field and an equally impressive 46.7 percent from three-point range, but the Pioneers found buckets when they most needed them.
In the following game, the Big Green put the No. 23 Buffaloes on upset alert by keeping the game within 10 points for most of the game. Dartmouth's offense sputtered late in the game and Colorado eventually pulled away for the 57-43 final score.
Despite shooting only 23.4 percent, the Big Green was able to go toe-to-toe against the Big 12 powers, partially due to a 43-40 rebounding advantage despite being overmatched physically. Dartmouth also contained the Buffs' All-American Jackie MacFarland, limiting her to eight points until the last minute of the game where she iced the contest with four clutch free throws.
While the losses in Colorado were tough to stomach, the toughest loss for the Big Green came at home in the first game of the Blue Sky Classic tournament.
Dartmouth was on the verge of pulling the upset against a Marquette team that has been on the verge of cracking into the top-25 polls. With just over seven minutes left in the half, the Big Green had just come off of a 14-4 run and was up 51-45. However, the Golden Eagles crept back in the game and eventually took the lead.
After a Kraft free throw, the score was 61-61 with three seconds left, it seemed that the game would be headed to overtime. However, Marquette's all-American candidate Krystal Ellis threw up a desperation heap from half-court and made a highlight-reel worthy shot to give her team the victory. Dartmouth shot nearly 60 percent from beyond the arc, but it was the Golden Eagles that came up with a three-pointer when it mattered most.
The Big Green later beat Delaware in the consolation match, defeating the Blue Hens 48-41 behind a career-high 23 points from Koren Schram '09.
Schram, who got it done both offensively and defensively, was the Big Green's most impressive performer over the College's winter break. She was named to the all-tournament team for the Blue Sky Classic, and was also named the Ivy League player of the week. In the past four games, she has averaged 16.3 points and four three-pointers a game, in addition to 4.5 rebounds and 3.3 steals.
The Big Green women hope that they can translate the close losses into wins in conference play.
"We wish we could have pulled away a couple more wins considering all our games were very close, but still understand we got better over the break. Going into Ivy play, we need to improve on our consistency. We need to start winning the close games and continue to get better everyday," Kraft said.
Dartmouth returns to Leede Arena on Wednesday, Jan. 9 to take on in-state rival New Hampshire. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 P.M.
