The Dartmouth women's basketball team lost back-to-back road games in its final weekend of the regular season, falling to Princeton University and the University of Pennsylvania. The Big Green (7-20, 3-10 Ivy) has now lost four straight Ivy League games since its last conference win against Cornell University on Feb. 19.
"I'm proud of us for our intensity on the floor, but I'm not pleased with the losses," guard Meghan McFee '11 said in an e-mail to The Dartmouth.
The Big Green fell to the Tigers (23-4, 12-1 Ivy) in a lopsided matchup, 81-42. Although Dartmouth leads Princeton in the two teams' overall record, 43-22, Princeton swept the Big Green last season and has beaten the team twice this year. Dartmouth had previously won four straight in the series.
The Big Green shot only 24.1 percent from the field, compared to Princeton's 54.5 percent, and could not stop the Tigers' balanced attack.
Princeton jumped out to a quick 7-0 lead and was able to extend the margin to 26 points at the half.
The Big Green and the Tigers were relatively equal on the boards Dartmouth collected 34 and Princeton recorded 33 rebounds but Dartmouth did not make any three-point shots and suffered from Princeton's impressive conversion rate. The Tigers made nine of their 20 three-point attempts.
The Big Green also committed seven more turnovers than Princeton, which helped the Tigers build their lead.
"We're struggling right now with communication on the floor," McFee said. "It's so important to talk to your teammates, especially on defense. This past weekend we had trouble with this and it hurt us."
Big Green forward Janelle Ross '14 lead the team in scoring with 17 points.
The story did not change the following night, when Dartmouth lost to Penn (11-16, 5-8 Ivy) by another large margin, 60-49.
Although the Big Green was only down by a point at the half, Penn was able to pull away with 31 second-half points, including a 9-0 run to begin the half.
The loss gave Penn a series split in the season. Dartmouth beat Penn in Hanover on Feb. 4.
Dartmouth's strong first-half shooting faltered after the break, decreasing from a 40 percent rate to less than 35 percent.
Penn improved its shooting from 35.3 percent in the first half to 37 percent in the second half.
Three-point shooting continued to be one of Dartmouth's biggest weaknesses, and the Big Green shot only 3-for-13 from long distance in the game.
Dartmouth committed three more turnovers than Penn and grabbed only 31 rebounds, while Penn recorded 41.
McFee scored 13 points to lead the team in her penultimate collegiate game, while Faziah Steen '13 recorded 7 points to accompany her four steals, six assists and two blocks.
The Big Green could not contain Quaker freshman guard Alyssa Baron, who scored 19 points on 8-for-20 shooting.
Despite a string of disappointing losses, McFee said she is proud of her team's effort and believes it still has strong potential.
"We play hard every game and leave everything on the floor," she said.
Dartmouth hosts Harvard University on Tuesday at 7 p.m. in its final game of the season.
