After falling to the University of New Hampshire on Tuesday, the Dartmouth women's basketball team faced tough competition in the TD Bank Classic at the University of Vermont this weekend, where both Boston College and Marist College topped the Big Green, giving the team a 0-4 start to the season.
In Tuesday's 65-52 loss to UNH, co-captain Brittney Smith '11 had trouble being an offensive threat because of a strong defensive effort by the Wildcats and only put up six points on the day.
Dartmouth was out-rebounded 38-28, and UNH's domination in the paint contributed in large part to its 10-point lead at halftime.
Early in the second half, the women closed the spread to seven but were unable to keep up the pressure. UNH went on a 10-point unanswered run and the dominance continued for the rest of the half.
Faziah Steen '13 scored 17 points for the Big Green in the game, but the team as a whole shot 37.3 percent, compared to the Wildcats' 52 percent.
"We need to work on our offensive execution and just coming out with tons of energy for every game," Steen said. "Everyone is still learning each other's games, so once we get more cohesive, I think a lot of things will fall into place for us."
In the first game of the weekend tournament, the Big Green played BC, an ACC rival that is ranked in the top 25 this season. Although the women battled hard, they ended up falling, 87-61.
Smith was able to have more time with the ball in this game, and it showed. She finished with 13 points and nine rebounds. Teammates Nicola Zimmer '14 and Steen netted 10 points apiece.
The first half ended with a 9-1 run by the Eagles, leaving the Big Green down by 13. The team was once again out-rebounded, grabbing 33 to BC's 47. However, the 6-6 and 6-4 post players on the Eagles' roster did not make things easy.
"Our best team effort has been BC," head coach Chris Wielgus said. "We could hang with them for 10 minutes in each half, which against a formidable opponent like BC, is good. We were in the game longer than the score shows."
The Big Green was able to answer for most of the second half until the Eagles broke away with a 26-point lead with under six minutes to play. Down the final stretch, Dartmouth was forced to foul to stop the clock and try and regain possession, allowing BC to net easy free throw points.
"I am proud of the way Smith played in this game," Wielgus said. "She was able to get to the rim, score and rebound against some tough competition inside."
Another player of note is Zimmer, who has just stepped onto the team and is playing a lot of minutes already.
"She tries to learn as much as she can," Wielgus said. "Playing her position is very hard it is like being the quarterback in football."
The women lost to Marist College, 77-46, in the final game of the weekend.
The Big Green held on until there were seven minutes left in the first half before Marist strung together 21 unanswered points to leave Dartmouth down 41-22 at the break.
Sasha Dosenko '12 contributed 12 points and grabbed six rebounds, and Zimmer netted 11 points and had nine rebounds.
In the second half, the Red Foxes stretched their scoring streak to 30 points.
The Big Green answered back, however, with a 17-6 run of its own with 10:24 on the clock. Dosenko fueled this effort with 10 straight points. Still, the closest the team could come was 22 points, and the game ended with Marist ahead by 31 points due to strong defensive plays down to the wire.
"I think we are a little out of shape and need to do some more conditioning work," Smith said. "Also, the little things like boxing out and finishing free throws will go a long way in big games."
The Big Green will host UVM in its home opener at 7 p.m. on Wednesday in Leede Arena.
