The Dartmouth women's basketball team celebrated its 500th and 501st victories in program history against Princeton and the University of Pennsylvania over the weekend. A career-high 21 points from Meghan McFee '11 led to a 71-67 overtime win against Princeton (6-11, 1-2 Ivy) on Friday night. On Saturday, another career-high 28 points from Brittney Smith '11 gave the Big Green (8-9, 3-0 Ivy) the win, 56-39, against Penn (3-14, 0-3 Ivy).
Dartmouth's five-point lead against Princeton evaporated in the final 46 seconds of regulation on Friday night.
The Big Green led 51-46 with a minute left in the game, but two free throws and a layup brought the Tigers within two points of a win.
Koren Schram '09 missed one of two free throws that would have increased the Big Green's lead to three points with 27 seconds left in regulation.
Princeton sophomore Addie Mircir quickly tied the game at 52 following Schram's second shot.
Dartmouth was not able to get a shot off at the end of the second half and the game was pushed into overtime.
McFee said that the team felt confident heading into the extra period.
"We were not about to let them win," she said.
Margaret Smith '10 opened with a three-pointer and the Big Green continued to build momentum from there.
Princeton guard Lauren Edwards narrowed Dartmouth's lead to two with 1:56 to go, but a jumper by Smith and free throws by McFee and Cassie Cooper '11 brought the score to 68-62.
Refusing to allow Princeton another comeback, the Big Green finished the game strong for a 71-67 win.
"It was very nerve-wracking going into overtime," Brittney Smith '11 said. "I was really disappointed that we actually went to overtime with them, because I thought we should have sealed the deal. People stepped up. It was really a team effort."
Dartmouth played a balanced game offensively with four players scoring in double-digits.
McFee buoyed her game-high 21 points by going 7-7 from the free-throw line. Smith scored 12, Darcy Rose '09 scored 11 and Schram scored 10. Rose also led both teams in rebounds, capturing 11.
The Big Green started off the first half slowly, trailing Princeton 11-2 after seven minutes of play. Two free throws by Smith started an 8-0 Dartmouth run, closing the gap to two points with 5:13 to go in the first half. A three-pointer by Edwards increased Princeton's lead to 25-20 at the end of the half.
Dartmouth quickly tied the game up in the first two minutes of the second half.
A three-pointer by McFee gave the Big Green its first lead of the game with 12:29 remaining in the half.
The score stayed close for the remainder of the second half, and both teams failed to capitalize on scoring chances by turning the ball over.
Dartmouth shot 36 percent to Princeton's 41 percent from the field. McFee said that Dartmouth could have benefitted from being more patient with the ball on offense.
Assistant Coach Mary Gleason said after the game that "any win on the road in the Ivy League is a good win."
Dartmouth returned to the court the following night for its third Ivy League matchup of the season, defeating Penn 56-39. Smith's performance and a relentless team defense led to head coach Chris Wielgus' 200th Ivy League victory and the 500th for Dartmouth's women's basketball program.
The Big Green held a comfortable double-digit lead for most of the second half. McFee's three-pointer with 1:27 to go stretched the lead to 54-39, and a Smith jumper clinched the game for Dartmouth.
The Big Green held Penn to less than a point a minute with 39 points on 32-percent shooting.
McFee and Schram's perimeter defense limited Penn to just two of 10 from the three-point line.
The team also held the Ivy League's leading scorer, Carrier Biemer, to just two points. Both points came off of free throws, making Saturday's game Biemer's first without a field goal since Feb. 23, 2007.
Penn's only double-digit scorer on Saturday, Kelly Scott, was restricted to 13 points.
Smith led all players with 28 points on 62.5-percent shooting and six rebounds. She broke her career high for the second time this season, after scoring 24 against both Wagner College and Bryant College.
Margaret Smith and McFee both contributed seven points, while Schram and Darcy Rose each added another six to the scoreboard. Overall, Dartmouth shot 45.5 percent from the field and came away with 28 rebounds.
Both teams were quiet offensively in the first half, making less than 50 percent of their shots. Dartmouth started out strong with a 5-0 lead in the first minute.
Penn guard Caitlin Slover tied the score at 13 with a three-pointer at 7:36.
Dartmouth took off after Penn tied it up, finishing the half on an 8-2 run. The Big Green led 21-15 at the buzzer.
Dartmouth picked up speed in the second half. A three-pointer by Schram stretched Dartmouth's lead into the double-digits soon after the clock started. Another three by Margaret Smith and a layup by Rose brought Dartmouth's lead to 39-23 at 11:28. By 9:10, however, the Quakers had narrowed the gap to 39-30.
Dartmouth ended Penn's 7-0 run with a layup and subsequent foul shot by Smith. She went on to score nine more points in the next six minutes, bringing Dartmouth's lead to 14 points.
Dartmouth limited Penn to just five points in the final six minutes and finished the game with a 17-point lead.
According to McFee, the Big Green was ready to compete with Princeton and Penn.
"We had a tough out of conference schedule that really prepared us for the Ivy Conference," she said.
The team returns to Ivy League play this weekend with a pair of away games.
The Big Green will take on Brown at 7:00 p.m. Friday night in Providence, R.I., before heading to New Haven, Conn., to face off against Yale at 7:00 p.m. on Saturday. The Big Green is currently the only team undefeated in Ivy League play.
