The women continued their good form following last weekend's win at Harvard, improving to 5-9 (1-0 Ivy). UNH dropped to 3-13 on the season with the loss.
Darcy Rose '09 and Brittney Smith '11 led the way for the Big Green with 12 points and eight rebounds each. Smith, who was honored as last week's Ivy League Player of the Week, also added five steals. Margaret Smith '10 chipped in with 11 points and six rebounds.
Junior guard Amy Simpson led the Wildcats with a game-high 21 points.
The Big Green started off well and never let the Wildcats into the game. After spotting UNH a brief one-point lead four minutes into the first half, Dartmouth did not relinquish its advantage for the rest of the game.
The Big Green entered halftime with a nine-point lead, 27-18.
Dartmouth shot a decent 43 percent from the field in the half but played extremely well defensively. The Big Green held the Wildcats to 28 percent shooting, while causing seven turnovers. A 6-0 Dartmouth run in the middle of the half saw the Big Green keep the Wildcats scoreless for over five minutes.
"Our defense was really solid in the first half," Betsy Williams '10 said. "UNH runs a lot of sets and reads defense well, but we were able to shut them down by switching on screens, communicating and helping each other out."
Dartmouth came out of the gate hot after the break, starting the second half on an 8-2 run that would effectively put the game out of reach for the Wildcats.
"We were able to get a run on them by pushing the ball up court to fast break," Williams said. "This really helped us get into an offensive rhythm."
Dartmouth held a lead of at least 12 points for the rest of the game en route to the 13-point win.
The key to Dartmouth's success on Tuesday was a balanced offense, a strength that often leads the team to victory. Eight players scored for the Big Green, including three in double digits.
The Dartmouth bench also played a major part in the win, outscoring the UNH bench 12-4.
Dartmouth limited UNH to 29 percent shooting from the floor on the game. Though the Big Green did give up 31 points in the second half, the squad did cause 12 UNH turnovers. Dartmouth played vastly better than the Wildcats in the paint, doubling their score inside, 28-14, and out-rebounding them 41-29.
While the Big Green women were on the road, the Dartmouth men's team (2-12, 0-1 Ivy) lost its seventh straight game, falling 60-52 at home to Stony Brook.Stony Brook improved to 9-7 with the win, and is in the midst of its best start since 1994.
Alex Barnett '09 led the Big Green with 11 points and eight rebounds. Dan Biber '09 and Kurt Graeber '09 added eight points each, with Biber also collecting seven rebounds.
After falling behind quickly 12-6, Dartmouth buckled down defensively and prevented Stony Brook from scoring for eight minutes.
The Seawolves led for most of the half, until a 9-0 run with five minutes left in the half put the Big Green up by five.
The teams went to halftime with Dartmouth ahead by a score of 32-30.
Dartmouth held Stony Brook to 37 percent from the field in the first half, grabbing two steals and 20 rebounds. The Seawolves also shot 2-7 from the charity stripe. Stony Brook stayed in the game early by shooting well outside. The Seawolves were 6-12 from behind the arc in the first half.
"It was definitely discouraging to see them hit so many threes," co-captain Robbie Pride '10 said. "It's happened to us before, against Army. We play good defense for 30 seconds and then they just drain a three. It just allowed them to stay in the game when we were trying to make a run."
The second half was just as close as the first, with Dartmouth trailing by a bucket for most of the period.
A 7-0 run with five minutes left gave Stony Brook a nine-point lead, the largest of the game by either team. Despite the Seawolves' inability to put the game out of reach, the Big Green could not close the gap. A pair of free throws by Marquis Cox with 16 seconds finally shored up the win for Stony Brook.
Dartmouth played just as well defensively in the second half as it did in the first, but Stony Brook continued to shoot extremely well from behind the arc.
Despite being held to 39-percent shooting from the field and hitting only seven of 13 from the free throw line, the Seawolves managed to connect on three of five three-pointers.
The Big Green did not help its own cause, either. Dartmouth had trouble protecting the ball on offense, comitting 11 turnovers, which led to 13 points for Stony Brook.
"I think it was more us than them pressuring us," Pride said of the team's miscues. "We didn't protect the ball well throughout the game, and we kept making bad passes and having unforced turnovers."
The game was in many ways similar to the one Dartmouth played last Saturday, where the Big Green lost a heartbreaker to Ivy League-foe Harvard, 63-62. The Big Green played well on defense, but in the end, could not stop the Seawolves' barrage from beyond the arc.
Dartmouth did get a major contribution from its bench, though, with 18 points.
The women's team will be back in action at 1:00 p.m. on Jan. 24 at Bryant University in Smithfield, R.I.
The men will look to end their seven-game skid when they play UNH at 7:00 p.m. this Saturday in Leede Arena.
