The Big Green men’s and women’s basketball teams experienced mixed results this weekend, as the women (3-12, 0-1 Ivy) picked up their first road win against the New Jersey Institute of Technology, 48-45, and the men (7-8, 0-1 Ivy) fell 69-55 to St. John’s University. Both games marked the teams’ last outside the Ivy League this season.
The women’s win brought the team’s record to 3-12 before its final block of Ivy play. Forward Lakin Roland ’16 was dominant with 17 points and seven rebounds on 7-of-11 shooting, and freshman star Fanni Szabo ’17 was a key player for the Big Green, drilling a three with under one minute left to put the game on ice.
“The pace at which [Roland] plays and the energy at which she plays are contagious,” women’s assistant coach Addie Micir said. “She plays so hard — she goes after every loose ball, she’s a gamer, she wants to win.”
The contest was close from the start, as the game went through 12 lead changes throughout the contest. Roland was the catalyst for the Big Green out of the gate, scoring its first bucket less than a minute into the game and accounting for eight of its 18 first half points.
Dartmouth led 18-15 at the end of the first, but the thrilling second half changed the pace. The visitors came out firing, as Roland hit a quick pull-up jumper and Szabo splashed a three to extend the team’s advantage to eight. NJIT’s Shakia Robinson seemed to take the early run personally and exacted her revenge in the paint, powering her way to the cup for eight points in seven minutes and tying the score at 28.
NJIT seized a 31-30 lead midway through the period, and Dartmouth would not be in front again until the 2:20 mark, when Roland drained a two-pointer after pulling down a rebound on the defensive end and running the floor herself.
The Big Green held a narrow 41-40 lead with just 2:20 left. Neither team could score again until the 1:07 mark, when NJIT took the lead again on a three-pointer from junior Denisa Domiterova.
There was little doubt in anyone’s mind whose hands the ball would end up in for the final shot. Despite a rough shooting night, Szabo’s solid performance all season long meant she had the green light in the final moments.
“[Szabo]’s been consistent from the three-point line and from the field for a lot of the season,” said Micir. “Even when she’s not having a good game, we always believe that her next one is going in.”
Szabo received the inbounds pass at the top of the key, and her long bomb sailed into the twine, sending the bench into a frenzy.
NJIT tried to close the gap with smart fouls and a quick layup, but Dartmouth’s shooters did not miss at the charity stripe down the stretch, as Abbey Schmitt ’15 hit the final two free throws to put the game away.
The men’s loss to St. John’s was its fourth in a row, dropping the team to a 7-8 overall record.
Despite the team’s skid going into the contest, center Cole Harrison ’17 said the team believed it had a chance against a St. John’s squad that had lost five straight and had barely pulled out a win against Columbia earlier in the season.
“We knew how they had played against Columbia,” Harrison said. “We knew that they had some bad circumstances as a team this year, so we had a very good chance of coming in and being really successful against them.”
The Big Green came out with confidence and played an excellent first half. John Golden ’15 set the tone early, nailing a three on the first possession. The Red Storm left little time for celebration as it went on a seven-point run, finished off by a long ball from junior Phil Greene IV.
Gabas Maldunas ’15 swooped in for a layup to stop the bleeding, but the Red Storm continued to press its advantage, stretching the score to 17-9 halfway through the first period.
The Big Green pulled close to the Red Storm on a series of smooth jumpers. Maldunas made a two-pointer, then Malik Gill ’16 showed impressive range, swishing two three-pointers in two minutes to give Dartmouth a 20-21 lead.
St. John’s pulled away toward the end of the half, but Alex Mitola ’16 found his stroke from deep. First he hit a three to bring the score to 35-31, and then he drained a 30-foot prayer as the halftime buzzer sounded to keep Dartmouth within four at 38-34.
The Big Green’s level of play dropped precipitously in the second half, as things quickly became ugly for the visitors. A Greene three-pointer sparked a huge 28-11 run for the home team, as Dartmouth posted an anemic 26.7 percent from the field in the second half. The game seemed decided almost from the start of the final period -— the Big Green failed to put a single point on the board for four minutes.
Guard Tyler Melville ’14 said despite the recent string of Big Green losses, the team is trying to maintain its confidence going into a difficult gauntlet of Ivy League opponents.
Both teams will take on Harvard University next weekend, the women in Cambridge and the men returning to Leede Arena.
