Many players contributed in the win over UVM, with four players scoring in the double digits along with a great defensive team effort. Team captain Brittney Smith '11 earned her 26th career double-double with 21 points, 11 rebounds, seven steals and three assists. Fellow seniors, Cassie Cooper '11, who was injured for the majority of last season, and Louise Vanden Bosch '11 added 11 points apiece. Teammate Faziah Steen '13 netted 12 points and snagged three steals.
"Louise has started both games for the first time in her career," Smith said. "She's been playing exceptionally well and we're really excited about having her in the starting line up."
The Big Green out-rebounded UVM 40-30, an area the team had been struggling in earlier this season. An outstanding 50 percent shooting percentage from behind the three-point arc accounted for nearly a third of the team's points as well.
A strong defensive performance caused the team to score 20 points off of turnovers. The team also had 20 additional points on second chance opportunities.
"I think we're getting in better shape so we're able to play harder for longer periods of time," Smith said. "I also think that our team chemistry is getting better. We've been doing extra workouts in the pool and pushing ourselves in practice."
UVM's only lead was by two points in the opening minutes of the game. The Catamounts are now 0-5.
The game began to go well for the Big Green after a nine point run gave the team a 15-6 lead with 14:12 left in the first half. Due largely to tight defense, the women were able to widen the lead to 22-10 in the next four minutes of play. UVM had a late 13-4 run late in the half, however, bringing the game to 33-27 heading into the break.
Coming out of halftime, the team came up with two big steals and was able to run away with ten unanswered points. The Big Green did not look back from there, ultimately earning its first win of the season.
Dartmouth won its last two contests against Bryant University and Sunday's victory made it three in a row. Going into the game, Smith was averaging 11.8 points per game and 8.8 rebounds per game, while Steen was averaging 12 points per game.
The game was filled with excitement and involved an incredible 13 lead changes and 14 ties. A high number of fouls caused both teams to shoot lots of free throws and also to substitute more than they normally would.
Nicola Zimmer '14 recorded a career-high 18 points and also had four steals and seven rebounds for the team. Smith scored 20 points and grabbed 13 rebounds, Cooper added 15 points, seven rebounds, three steals and two blocks, while Vanden Bosch had eight points and three assists.
"Being the freshman point guard has forced me to get used to the college game really quickly," Zimmer said. "It's an exciting challenge and I couldn't ask for a better opportunity, but I am learning on the job to a certain extent. I owe a lot to my teammates and coaches for helping me and being patient while I learn our offense and system."
Head coach Christina Wielgus added that she is proud of the progress of Zimmer and the team as a unit.
"Zimmer is continuing to get a lot of minutes and with our simplified offense is coming along," Wielgus said.
Despite being out-rebounded 59-48 and only shooting 30 percent from the floor, the Big Green was able to pull away with its second straight win.
Up 60-58 with exactly a minute to play in the game, Dartmouth turned the ball over and Bryant was able to force overtime by scoring a lay-up to tie the game at 60.
In overtime, Dartmouth's offense was able to put away an additional 15 points, many off of free throws, as the team shot 80 percent from the stripe in overtime. With 1:30 left in overtime, the Big Green led 69-62. Bryant began a comeback, however, and narrowed the gap to 73-71 with 40 seconds to go.
Bryant then went to the line, closing the game to one point, but Zimmer was able to go two for two in the final seconds, bringing the game to its final 75-72 score.
"Nicola played very well Sunday against Bryant," Smith said. "She made a lot of clutch free throws at the end of the game when we needed them."
The women will take on Northeastern on Wednesday at 7 p.m. in Leede Arena, and then will take a break for finals.
"We play a tough non-league schedule so the level of competition really varies," Wielgus said. "The team is still a work in progress but as they learn, they get to be better. With the difficulty of some of the teams coming up I predict a lot of ups and downs for a while."
