Despite strong play from several less experienced players including Faziah Steen '13, who scored a career high in points on Saturday, and Janelle Ross '14, who recorded her first double-double on Friday the Dartmouth women's basketball team could not match Cornell University and Columbia University, and lost to both over the weekend.
The team began the first of six weekends against back-to-back Ivy League opponents, traveling to Cornell (5-13, 2-2 Ivy) on Friday and to Columbia (3-15, 2-2 Ivy) on Saturday. After the Big Green's first League-opener loss since 2006 against Harvard University on Jan. 15 Dartmouth's hopes to rebound were crushed by the Big Red and the Lions.
"We fought really hard and had every opportunity to win both games," head coach Chris Wielgus said. "We are reinventing ourselves rapidly and it has been a challenging year."
On Friday, Cornell was able to secure a rare 66-55 win over Dartmouth (4-13, 0-3 Ivy) with a powerful second half in front of its home crowd in Ithaca, N.Y.
The Big Green has lost only two of 18 matchups against Cornell since 2002, and swept both games against the Big Red last season. Friday's victory was Cornell's 12th win over Dartmouth in 64 tries.
Ross gave Dartmouth a fighting chance, scoring 12 points and registering 13 rebounds. Cornell was able to counter Ross's success, however, with a balanced attack, as four Big Red players registered double-digits in scoring.
Those with less experience have had to step up and take leadership positions, Wielgus said, because Dartmouth has several injured players including Brittney Smith '11, who led the team in almost every offensive category before suffering a season-ending anterior cruciate ligament injury in December.
"The game itself will mature you," she said. "They are trying as hard as they possibly can and I'm seeing a lot of improvement already."
Sasha Dosenko '12 led the Big Green with 15 points, converting on five of her seven shots from the field.
The first half was marked by a slow start for both teams. Dartmouth and Cornell exchanged back-and-forth buckets and were tied, 15-15, seven minutes into the contest.
Dartmouth trailed Cornell for the rest of the half, but Dosenko and Cassie Cooper '11 powered a six-point surge with 1.5 minutes remaining. At the half, Cornell held a slim 25-24 lead.
Dartmouth and Cornell both shot approximately 36 percent from the floor in the first half.
Cornell led the second half from the beginning with a five-point run, putting itself ahead 30-24. Dartmouth cut into the lead with six points from Ross, however, pulling to within a point with less than 13 minutes to play.
Dartmouth enjoyed a brief two-point lead midway through the half, and kept Cornell at bay for four minutes before Cornell freshman Shelby Lyman drilled a three-pointer with 9:52 left, regaining for her team the lead.
Steen tied the game at 45 with a layup, but Lyman countered once again and Dartmouth could not regain the lead. The Big Red pushed its advantage to 61-51 with just over two minutes remaining on the clock.
"Cornell's second half surge was definitely due to our poor defense," Steen said in an e-mail to The Dartmouth. "Our screen defense specifically was poor and that is what allowed them to get a lot of open looks."
Cornell's shooting improved drastically in the second half, when it converted on 48 percent of its attempts from the field. Dartmouth shot slightly worse, at approximately 35 percent.
"A lot of times we dig this hole for ourselves and there is not enough time to dig ourselves out," Steen said.
On Saturday, the Big Green fell to the Lions in a hard-fought loss, 67-61, in New York City.
Steen scored a career-high 28 points to challenge the Lions, but Dartmouth held itself back with 28 turnovers. Dosenko also registered double-digit scoring for the Big Green, scoring 15 and 17 points, respectively.
"Overall, it is the general consensus that we have to pick up our defense if we want to be successful in conference play," Steen said. "We cannot turn the ball over as much as we have."
Both teams were slow to score in a very defensive first half, but shot over 40 percent from the floor. The Lions led 35-28 at the half.
"In the second half I just made the decision to try and control or impact the game," Steen said. "So I reverted to driving to the basket, which worked."
Steen carried the team, tallying 18 points in the last 7:28 of the game. Although Columbia managed to keep up with her scoring frenzy, a three-pointer from Steen with only 39 seconds on the clock brought Dartmouth within striking distance, 58-55.
Dartmouth was forced to foul and Columbia successfully converted its free throws to put the game away. Steen made a final push, closing the gap to 64-61 with just 10 seconds to go, until free throws by Columbia junior Melissa Shafer secured the Lions' win.
"We competed well against Columbia," Wielgus said. "I'm disappointed in the loss but not in the effort."
Dartmouth will host the University of Pennsylvania on Friday before playing Princeton University on Saturday its first home games in over a month.
