"It was an ugly win, but a win is a win," captain Faziah Steen '13 said.
Going into the game, the Big Green (6-13, 4-1 Ivy) women knew that Columbia would put up a fight with its aggressive defense, and went in prepared to meet the Lions with strong offensive play. Tia Dawson '15 netted an early layup with 18:57 left on the clock, beginning the momentum for the Big Green. A little less than six minutes into the game, the Big Green women scored three baskets in the span of one minute, with a three-pointer from Steen, a layup just 15 seconds later from Abbey Schmitt '15 on a beautiful assist from Kaitana Martinez '16 and a jumper by Nicola Zimmer '14 on another assist from Martinez. The flow of points, though initially fast, slowed down throughout the first half as both teams began fighting hard and playing more aggressively.
Schmitt, Dawson and Steen all reached double digits during the game, putting up most of the points for the Big Green. Schmitt hit a game high with 17 points and 12 rebounds.
Schmidt joins Dawson as the only team members to achieve doubles-doubles this season.
"They were getting a lot of rebounds so I was trying to combat theirs," Schmitt said.
Throughout the game, the Big Green threw long passes to surpass Columbia's defense and Martinez and Zimmer consistently moved the ball forward with accurate passes, particularly during the first half. Dartmouth applied heat throughout, with Dawson scoring the last points of the half to give the Big Green a 33-20 lead headed into the locker room.
The team made smarter shots this game, which is something they have had problems with in the past, Dawson said.
Dartmouth shot a season best of 63.6 percent in the first half. With an overall 52.2 in the contest, this game was the third in a row that the Big Green shot 40 percent or better.
The second half proved more difficult for the Big Green as the pace of play increased and Dartmouth faced communication issues. The Big Green took careless shots, but maintained a significant lead despite sloppy play.
"We did take some shots too quickly in the second half, but we survived," Schmitt said.
With about five minutes remaining in the game, Columbia began mounting its comeback. A layup with 5:31 remaining and two free throws 21 seconds later brought the Lions within seven points of the Big Green. About a minute later, Columbia scored two more points from the charity stripe, followed by a three-pointer from sophomore Miwa Tachibana to bring the score to 55-51 with 3:25 remaining. However, this was the closest the Lions would get, as Dartmouth responded with a layup from Schmitt following a Big Green timeout. The Big Green was five for seven from the free throw line in the last 1:56 of the game, helping the team secure the win as the clock wound down.
"They turned up their defense so that's why we struggled a bit," Dawson said.
An injury for Martinez forced her to exit the game with a black eye five minutes remaining in the second half. She returned in the last minute or so, helping Dartmouth close out the win.
Steen said that the Lions were able to secure many second chance points, which diminished the Big Green's time on offense. Coach Chris Wielgus gave credit to Columbia for making the Big Green work.
"It was a game of alternating currents," Wielgus said.
The Columbia game was originally scheduled for Friday, while a contest against Cornell University was planned for Saturday.
Following inclement weather, Dartmouth's contest against Cornell (10-9, 2-3 Ivy) was rescheduled indefinitely and the Columbia game was moved to Saturday.
The team did not let these scheduling changes detract from its goal and remained focused on the task at hand.
"We just really wanted to play the game," Schmitt said. "We were ready."
Going forward, Schmitt said the Big Green hopes to continue improving and bringing high energy to practice.
After its struggle to adapt to Columbia's changing defensive tactics, Dawson said that the team needs to work on being more flexible offensively so it can score on different types of defense.
The Big Green looks to continue its success on the road next weekend, facing Princeton University on Friday and the University of Pennsylvania on Saturday.
