The Dartmouth women’s basketball team enjoyed a fairly successful start to their season, finishing 9-4 in their non-conference schedule before beginning Ivy League play. They won eight of their first ten games, their best record in their first 10 games since the 1989-90 season.
The Big Green beat Boston University 52-50 in their opening matchup, led by 14-point performances from Alexandra Eldredge ’27 and Cate MacDonald ’27.
After a loss to the University of Albany, the Big Green bounced back with wins over Colby-Sawyer College and Siena College. The team dropped a close contest to Merrimack College, 59-57, in Leede Arena.
Dartmouth then won five straight games. The Big Green recorded a 53-44 win over Central Connecticut State, before achieving a 53-45 victory against Bucknell in Leede Arena.
Dartmouth’s game against the New Jersey Institute of Technology was particularly notable. The Big Green were not favored to win, trailing 26-24 after the first two quarters. Sierra Carson ’27 stepped up off the bench with 12 points and 4 rebounds to help the team to a 61-60 victory.
“The NJIT game was really important for all of us, because even though we were down in the beginning, Sierra Carson stepped up tremendously during that game and did exactly what we needed her to do,” said co-captain Brooke Hollawell ’26.
The team then traveled to Iona College, triumphing 65-57 after a strong first-half performance in which they outscored the Gaels 33-23.
Head coach Linda Cimino said that consecutive wins against NJIT and Iona were especially exciting.
“I thought those back to back wins were a big turning point for our program,” she said.
Senior co-captain Olivia Lawlor ’26 said that the team’s start was “huge for confidence and morale.”
Olivia Austin ’28 said that it was nice to have a period during winter break where the team “can focus solely on basketball” and that it “has helped us build team camaraderie.”
The Big Green did drop two games to the University of New Hampshire and the University of Vermont, but they bounced back with a commanding 99-35 win against St. Joseph’s University Brooklyn to end their non-conference slate. Every player on the Big Green’s roster scored in their victory over St Joseph’s.
The team finished with a 9-4 record in non-conference play, which marked an improvement from last year’s 6-7 record at the same point.
Cimino was “proud” of the team’s “effort” in non-conference play.
“You play non-conference to try to establish an identity and to see who can step up in key situations,” she said. “I thought that we were able to do that. I was proud of our effort in the nonconference.”
MacDonald leads the team with 10.8 points per game, while Zeynep Ozel ’28 — 9.4 PPG — Austin — 9.3 PPG — Eldredge — at 8.3 PPG — and Nina Minicozzi ’27 — at 8.3 PPG — are also strong contributors.
Cimino emphasized the depth of the team’s scorers.
“We just [have] been playing really good team basketball,” she said.
“It doesn’t matter who gets the credit and it doesn’t matter who’s scoring the most points,” Lawlor added. “It’s getting the win, and that’s what’s important to us.”
MacDonald also leads the team in rebounds, averaging 7.3 per game, while Ozel is the team’s leader in assists with over 4.4 per game. Ozel is also the team’s leading 3-point scorer.
The Big Green opened Ivy League play with a 72-47 loss to Harvard this past Saturday. Dartmouth shot just 34.5%, or 19 for 55, and were outrebounded 45-31.
Cimino says that the team “play[s] in one of the strongest conferences in the country.”
“We know that every game is going to be hard and challenging,” she said.
Last year, the Big Green recorded a 2-12 record in Ivy League play, which was their best record since the 2021-22 season. Hollawell believes that the team is “more than capable of tripling that this year.”
Cimino is also optimistic about the direction of the team heading into the bulk of the Ivy League season.
“I’m just happy with the effort that our players are putting in and their sense of purpose right now in terms of what we're trying to do with this program,” she said.
The team will look to bounce back in their next matchup against Cornell.
“That’s a very winnable game for us, and it’ll really set the tone for us moving forward,” Lawlor said.
The team will face the Cornell Big Red this Saturday at 1 p.m. in Leede Arena.
