In its first-ever season-opener against a team from the Big 12 Conference, the Dartmouth women's basketball team lost, 54-20, against Kansas State University in Manhattan, Kan. The loss came despite an impressive defensive performance by the Big Green (0-1), which forced the Wildcats to commit 28 turnovers.
Captain Faziah Steen '13 led the Big Green in scoring with nine points, while forward Tia Dawson '15 and guard Eve Zelinger '14 added four points each. Dawson and teammate Milica Toskovic '15 made their first career collegiate starts on Saturday night.
The Big Green now has a 20-20 record in season openers in the program's history.
Dartmouth took a four-day trip for the game, leaving campus on Thursday afternoon and arriving in Manhattan after midnight local time. Steen, the Big Green's leading returning scorer and a Second Team All-Ivy selection last year, said the trip was the most physically tiring in her Dartmouth career.
"Rest is a huge factor on trips like these, especially when trying to adjust to time differences and be ready for practices and shoot-arounds," Steen said. "But it was exciting because it was our first road trip as a team and you really get a chance to bond on long trips."
Dartmouth has a very young squad this season. Steen and Sasha Dosenko '12 are the only two upperclassmen on the 11-player team, which includes four sophomores and five freshmen. Steen said the Big Green's lack of experience played a role in its opening game loss.
"It takes mental toughness and poise to be able to compete at a high level with really good teams, and that's something the freshmen and sophomores are still learning," she said.
The Big Green played strong defense, causing 28 turnovers and shutting down Kansas State's top two scorers from last season, junior Brittany Chambers and senior Jalana Childs. Chambers totaled just one point and went zero-for-six from the field, while Childs scored four points.
The Big Green offense was a different story, shooting a meager 13.2 percent from the field. The team went four-for-33 in the first half and three-for-20 in the second. Dartmouth missed each of its 16 three-point attempts.
The Kansas State offense wasn't much better, as the Wildcats shot 33.3 percent from the field and 17.4 percent from the three-point range.
Steen said that once the team is able to improve its offensive execution, the squad's overall play will fall into place. Steen added that the team will also improve on defensive skills in practice in the upcoming weeks.
"We still need to finish out defensive possessions better by boxing out and rebounding," she said. "So for next weekend, this week's goals in practice will be to focus on carrying out our offensive sets and doing the little things like providing help for the ball handler and defensively focusing on rebounding."
Dartmouth travels to the University of Vermont next weekend to participate in the TD Bank Classic. Dartmouth faces St. Joseph's University on Friday at 5 p.m. and Colgate University on Saturday at 5 p.m.
