Bears Lose Heartbreaker to Dartmouth

Friday, February 12

Hanover, N.H.

7 pm

Brown University

Dartmouth

2/12/2010 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball

Hanover, NH- The Brown women's basketball team (6-15, 3-4 Ivy) lost a heartbreaker to Dartmouth College (9-11, 4-2 Ivy) at Leede Arena in Hanover this evening. Brown was at the free throw line with a chance to tie the game with just 5.9 seconds remaining on the clock, but the Bears made just one of two and was forced to foul Dartmouth and send the Big Green to the line to secure a 67-63 win. Dartmouth's Sasha Dosenko and Betsy Williams led the Big Green with 17 points apiece, while sophomore guard Hannah Passafuime led Brown with 15 points.

After a 2-2 tie for the first five minutes of the game, the Bears picked up their intensity and gained a 10-2 lead at the 11:13 mark. Brown held Dartmouth scoreless for nearly nine minutes while making its run, but the Big Green stormed back and went on a 9-2 run of their own to decrease the Big Green's deficit to just two, 14-12, at the 7:43 mark.

Dartmouth earned its second lead of the night with 2:10 left in the first half when Steen put in a layup and converted the free throw to go up by two. Both squads went basket for basket in the final minutes of the half, and ended in a 26-26 tie heading into the locker rooms at halftime.

The Bears headed into halftime shooting 37 percent from the field and went 6-of-8 from the free throw line. Passafuime led the offense with seven points and went 3-of-3 from the charity stripe. Dartmouth, led by Brittney Smith's eight points and Sasha Dosenko's seven, was shooting 33 percent from the field and went 6-of-6 from the free throw line. The Big Green also held a 22-17 advantage in rebounds.

A jumper by Margaret Smith and back-to-back three pointers by Dosenko and Smith gave Dartmouth a 34-29 advantage over the Bears to start the second stanza, but a free throw by senior forward Natalie Bonds and a layup by Lindsay Steele cut Brown's deficit to two, 34-32, with 16:01 remaining on the clock.

Meghan McFee hit a three pointer and followed it with a jumper to give Dartmouth a 39-34 lead with 13:10 left, but a Lindsay Nickel layup and a jumper by Aileen Daniels cut the deficit to just one at 11:38.

Dartmouth then gained a seven-point lead with 8:55 left, but Steele hit a trey to put the score at 47-43. A jumper in the paint by Bonds brought Bruno within two, but once again Dartmouth came back down to hit a three to extend the score to 50-45 with 6:27 to go.

The Bears came back strong with three pointers by both Steele and Daniels, and a steal led to a layup by Passafuime to give Brown a 53-52 lead with 4:44 remaining in the game.

The Bears held a 60-59 lead with 1:30 on the clock, and a foul by Dosenko put Passafuime at the line to push Brown's lead to 62-59 at the 1:10 mark. Dartmouth's Faziah Steen made two free throws on the other end, but the Bears still had a one-point advantage with 54 seconds to go.

Brown missed a shot and Dartmouth pulled down the rebound, and headed down the floor to put in a layup and a free throw to go ahead 64-62. Passafuime got fouled on a layup with 5.9 seconds and made one of the two free throws to put the score at 64-63. Brittney Smith made a free throw to increase its lead to two, and another Brown foul put Betsy Williams at the line to make both to secure the victory for Dartmouth.

Dartmouth's Smith earned a double-double tonight with her 11 points and 14 rebounds, while Dosenko and Williams led the offensive attack with 17 points a piece. Dartmouth ended the game shooting 39 percent from the field and went 20-of-27 from the free throw line. The Bears shot 37 percent and were 14-of-18 from the charity stripe.

Bonds grabbed a team-high eight rebounds and chipped in with seven points, while both Passafuime and Nickel tallied three steals.

The Bears are back in action against Harvard tomorrow at 6:00 p.m. at Lavietes Pavilion.