March Madness has begun and I have been sidelined. My dancing shoes are in the closet, my derriere is on the couch and my eyes are bloodshot from watching a lighted box … the television. March Madness has begun and I am in Hanover and Hanover is deserted. The students are on spring break. The gym is empty. The March madness flu has struck and basketball aficionados are at home nursing various illnesses. I expect tumbleweed to roll down the corridors of Alumni Gym. The madness of March is far removed from this ghost town.
Then POOF ... in a matter of 2 hours everything changed. On Saturday afternoon Vermont beat Wisconsin and March Madness was alive and well in Hanover. One of our own had made it! Former assistant coach Sharon Dawley, took a dormant basketball program from the cellar of the America East to her second consecutive championship and a first round upset in the NCAA tournament. She was the first in our Dartmouth Women’s Basketball family to get a win in the NCAA tournament game!!!
Her accomplishments are formidable. But most significantly, she did this the “right” way. So chalk up a “W” for the good guys. In the midst of all the hoopla surrounding her victory, she called to tell me how many Dartmouth players, staff and fans had e-mailed her good wishes. he was very touched. And as for Dartmouth, we are dancing in March ... albeit from Hanover
- Coach Wielgus
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Monday, March 15, 2010
Few Pieces of Great News
Hi All,
Some good news to report. First off, congratulations to our two All-Ivy selections: junior forward Brittney Smith is a repeat selection for the All-Ivy First Team and freshman guard Faziah Steen, a unanimous choice to the Ivy All-Rookie team. We're proud of both of them!
Britt led us in every statistical category this season: 12.1 points, 10.2 rebounds per game, 61 assists, 53, steals, 51 blocks. She really made her move into the record books in areas of scoring, rebounding, blocks, free throws and scored her 1,000th career point and grabbed her 750th career rebound. She'll be tearing up those record lists next season and could very well become just our third-ever 1,000-rebounder.
Faziah did a great job for us this season, selflessly playing point guard despite that not being her natural position, and made her mark in the league. She scored 9.4 points per game and upped that to 10.9 ppg in Ivy play. She also grabbed 48 steals and closed her freshman campaign with 23 points at Harvard. The future is very bright for this young player.
Full All-Ivy story is here.
ALSO, as a team we have been named the Ivy winners for the NCAA "Pack the House" Challenge! In its third year, "Pack the House" is a national effort in which conferences and institutions compete to build attendance. Each participating institution designated one date as a "Pack the House" game with the goal of setting an attendance record. The NCAA named 33 winners, one from each conference, based on marketing plan creativity and attendance criteria. The University of Virginia was the NCAA's national challenge winner.
We are really proud to win this because we have always led the league in attendance and it is a great initiative to help grow our game.
Dartmouth hosted 1,619 fans for its victory over Ivy rival Harvard on January 16 and broke our student-attendance record from last season with more than 250 students cheering the Big Green to victory. That game was great and the environment at Leede was electric. You can read more about that here and here.
Perhaps my favorite thing is that the NCAA will donate $500 to the nonprofit organization of each winning school's choice. Dartmouth has asked that the NCAA make its donation to the Upper Valley Haven, which is a local shelter for homeless families, also providing food, clothing and other services to our neighbors in need.
As you may know, our team has worked closely with The Haven, including tutoring children and hosting a food drive earlier this season. Read a blog post about The Haven here.
BIG thanks to Josh Hartman from our marketing department for all the work he did for this. All the details on the Pack the House win are here.
Just watched the women's selection show and am trying to get geared up for the tournament! I am obviously still interested, but it takes a little more time when you're not in it.
Happy bracketing!
- Dara
Some good news to report. First off, congratulations to our two All-Ivy selections: junior forward Brittney Smith is a repeat selection for the All-Ivy First Team and freshman guard Faziah Steen, a unanimous choice to the Ivy All-Rookie team. We're proud of both of them!
Britt led us in every statistical category this season: 12.1 points, 10.2 rebounds per game, 61 assists, 53, steals, 51 blocks. She really made her move into the record books in areas of scoring, rebounding, blocks, free throws and scored her 1,000th career point and grabbed her 750th career rebound. She'll be tearing up those record lists next season and could very well become just our third-ever 1,000-rebounder.
Faziah did a great job for us this season, selflessly playing point guard despite that not being her natural position, and made her mark in the league. She scored 9.4 points per game and upped that to 10.9 ppg in Ivy play. She also grabbed 48 steals and closed her freshman campaign with 23 points at Harvard. The future is very bright for this young player.
Full All-Ivy story is here.
ALSO, as a team we have been named the Ivy winners for the NCAA "Pack the House" Challenge! In its third year, "Pack the House" is a national effort in which conferences and institutions compete to build attendance. Each participating institution designated one date as a "Pack the House" game with the goal of setting an attendance record. The NCAA named 33 winners, one from each conference, based on marketing plan creativity and attendance criteria. The University of Virginia was the NCAA's national challenge winner.
We are really proud to win this because we have always led the league in attendance and it is a great initiative to help grow our game.
Dartmouth hosted 1,619 fans for its victory over Ivy rival Harvard on January 16 and broke our student-attendance record from last season with more than 250 students cheering the Big Green to victory. That game was great and the environment at Leede was electric. You can read more about that here and here.
Perhaps my favorite thing is that the NCAA will donate $500 to the nonprofit organization of each winning school's choice. Dartmouth has asked that the NCAA make its donation to the Upper Valley Haven, which is a local shelter for homeless families, also providing food, clothing and other services to our neighbors in need.
As you may know, our team has worked closely with The Haven, including tutoring children and hosting a food drive earlier this season. Read a blog post about The Haven here.
BIG thanks to Josh Hartman from our marketing department for all the work he did for this. All the details on the Pack the House win are here.
Just watched the women's selection show and am trying to get geared up for the tournament! I am obviously still interested, but it takes a little more time when you're not in it.
Happy bracketing!
- Dara
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Battling to the Final Minute
Hi All,
Well, after a very tough weekend against Princeton and Penn, I must admit I was unsure what would happen during our Tuesday night game at Harvard. It's rare that the final game of the entire Ivy League season between the two rivals does not have Ivy title or at least postseason implications. The Crimson had already clinched its bid to the Women's NIT as the League's second-best team.
It was really a unique game of runs! Mostly, Harvard going on a run and us answering back. A first-half run gave the Crimson a 13-point lead and we battled back, but Harvard still led by 10 at halftime. But our team never caved. In the second half, it continued to be runs - but six seemed to be the magic number, on two different occasions we cut the lead down to six after Harvard had extended the lead to more than 10 points.
After two huge threes gave Harvard a 62-51 lead with three minutes to play, I must admit, even I was not optimistic. But I should have been, given the way Faziah Steen and Betsy Williams were shooting the ball! The two of them went on an 8-0 run to pull us within just three points with 1:12 to play. Harvard hit two at the line on its next possession to go up five, and we could not score on our next. The Crimson actually missed the front end of a one-and-one on two occasions, but we again struggled to get a good look at the basket and never made up the 64-59 difference.
It was tough to swallow that loss after we battled back all game. We played a great second half, but again, the story of trailing at halftime came to bite us again. Betsy was really tremendous in her final game in a Dartmouth uniform and as I told her, other than winning, there is no better way to go out. She scored 16 points and was 4-of-4 from three-point range. She ranks 14th all-time with 60 career threes. And Faziah had the best game of her freshman year, scoring 23 points, grabbing seven boards (on a court with a lot of big players), and dishing out four assists. She hit threes, jumpers, layups and free throws and shot 64 percent from the field. It was a great way to end her first season.
We'll have All-Ivy news up later today and some more thoughts in the next few days.
Also want to give a shout out and thank you to our amazing alumnae, who supported this team all over the country this season. There's been a great resurgence and it's impacting the program tremendously. A few were on hand after the Penn game to congratulate Coach Wielgus on her 25th season at Dartmouth, they gave her an amazing picture/memory book and helped welcome our seniors to their alumnae family at our postgame senior night reception.
Thanks again for everyone's support this year!
- Dara
Well, after a very tough weekend against Princeton and Penn, I must admit I was unsure what would happen during our Tuesday night game at Harvard. It's rare that the final game of the entire Ivy League season between the two rivals does not have Ivy title or at least postseason implications. The Crimson had already clinched its bid to the Women's NIT as the League's second-best team.
It was really a unique game of runs! Mostly, Harvard going on a run and us answering back. A first-half run gave the Crimson a 13-point lead and we battled back, but Harvard still led by 10 at halftime. But our team never caved. In the second half, it continued to be runs - but six seemed to be the magic number, on two different occasions we cut the lead down to six after Harvard had extended the lead to more than 10 points.
After two huge threes gave Harvard a 62-51 lead with three minutes to play, I must admit, even I was not optimistic. But I should have been, given the way Faziah Steen and Betsy Williams were shooting the ball! The two of them went on an 8-0 run to pull us within just three points with 1:12 to play. Harvard hit two at the line on its next possession to go up five, and we could not score on our next. The Crimson actually missed the front end of a one-and-one on two occasions, but we again struggled to get a good look at the basket and never made up the 64-59 difference.
It was tough to swallow that loss after we battled back all game. We played a great second half, but again, the story of trailing at halftime came to bite us again. Betsy was really tremendous in her final game in a Dartmouth uniform and as I told her, other than winning, there is no better way to go out. She scored 16 points and was 4-of-4 from three-point range. She ranks 14th all-time with 60 career threes. And Faziah had the best game of her freshman year, scoring 23 points, grabbing seven boards (on a court with a lot of big players), and dishing out four assists. She hit threes, jumpers, layups and free throws and shot 64 percent from the field. It was a great way to end her first season.
We'll have All-Ivy news up later today and some more thoughts in the next few days.
Also want to give a shout out and thank you to our amazing alumnae, who supported this team all over the country this season. There's been a great resurgence and it's impacting the program tremendously. A few were on hand after the Penn game to congratulate Coach Wielgus on her 25th season at Dartmouth, they gave her an amazing picture/memory book and helped welcome our seniors to their alumnae family at our postgame senior night reception.
Thanks again for everyone's support this year!
- Dara
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Spring Is In the Air?
Faithful Fans,
I write to you, once again, as a bad blogger. Believe it or not, "spring" is in the air in the form of Dartmouth spring sports starting up, which has had this women's basketball SID stretched a bit thin!
Anyhow, there hasn't been too much to report this week. Coaches tell me it has been a good week in practice though, and I believe the team is ready to send the seniors out in style. Yes, we have a lot going on this week in addition to our games against Princeton (Friday) and Penn (Saturday). On Friday, Brittney Smith will be honored for scoring her 1,000th career point earlier this month and on Saturday, we will of course honor our three seniors.
As promised, here is the LINK to my preview, stat/video links and pdf notes which will be on there in the morning.
I'll also have some thoughts of my own about the seniors, as soon as I can collect them. It's honestly surreal for me to see them finish their careers, as we kinda grew up together at Dartmouth. I arrived here in 2006 for my first full time sports info job (tho I'd been a full time intern for 2 previous years), having just turned 24 and met the three of them as freshmen. We've had a lot of great experiences together and it's amazing how quickly the time goes. Senior night is always bittersweet, you see, they all come and go, but we remain the same. It's almost like being frozen in time in a transient place, the four-year world that college is. This is my egocentric version of my thoughts on the seniors! :) Like I said, I'll have some more of my feelings about each of them in a day or two.
In the meantime, Coach Wielgus has some thoughts on senior night, and the emotions that surround it each year:
This is going to be a tough weekend. This season has been long and our path bumpy. I should be rejoicing at the idea of next weekend when I actual have a weekend — you know the kind of weekend where you can spend 2 days in a row doing things other than work.
A weekend without a game is fine with me, but a big part of me is sad. And I want to go on the record as dreading Saturday night. This internal upset has nothing to do with our formidable opponents or the game itself, rather, Saturday night is the last home game for the seniors. Saturday is our official farewell to Betsy, Margaret and Michelle. They have run the basketball gauntlet for 4 years and leave here with 2 Ivy Championships, 2 postseason WNIT's and 1 NCAA Tournament appearance. So, their run has been good.
Experience has taught me that Dartmouth basketball will survive their graduation. But I also know that I have grown accustomed to seeing them everyday. I will miss them greatly and I can’t wait to see again as alums. -Coach Wielgus
Thanks again for Going Green with us and look for more soon.
- Dara
I write to you, once again, as a bad blogger. Believe it or not, "spring" is in the air in the form of Dartmouth spring sports starting up, which has had this women's basketball SID stretched a bit thin!
Anyhow, there hasn't been too much to report this week. Coaches tell me it has been a good week in practice though, and I believe the team is ready to send the seniors out in style. Yes, we have a lot going on this week in addition to our games against Princeton (Friday) and Penn (Saturday). On Friday, Brittney Smith will be honored for scoring her 1,000th career point earlier this month and on Saturday, we will of course honor our three seniors.
As promised, here is the LINK to my preview, stat/video links and pdf notes which will be on there in the morning.
I'll also have some thoughts of my own about the seniors, as soon as I can collect them. It's honestly surreal for me to see them finish their careers, as we kinda grew up together at Dartmouth. I arrived here in 2006 for my first full time sports info job (tho I'd been a full time intern for 2 previous years), having just turned 24 and met the three of them as freshmen. We've had a lot of great experiences together and it's amazing how quickly the time goes. Senior night is always bittersweet, you see, they all come and go, but we remain the same. It's almost like being frozen in time in a transient place, the four-year world that college is. This is my egocentric version of my thoughts on the seniors! :) Like I said, I'll have some more of my feelings about each of them in a day or two.
In the meantime, Coach Wielgus has some thoughts on senior night, and the emotions that surround it each year:
This is going to be a tough weekend. This season has been long and our path bumpy. I should be rejoicing at the idea of next weekend when I actual have a weekend — you know the kind of weekend where you can spend 2 days in a row doing things other than work.
A weekend without a game is fine with me, but a big part of me is sad. And I want to go on the record as dreading Saturday night. This internal upset has nothing to do with our formidable opponents or the game itself, rather, Saturday night is the last home game for the seniors. Saturday is our official farewell to Betsy, Margaret and Michelle. They have run the basketball gauntlet for 4 years and leave here with 2 Ivy Championships, 2 postseason WNIT's and 1 NCAA Tournament appearance. So, their run has been good.
Experience has taught me that Dartmouth basketball will survive their graduation. But I also know that I have grown accustomed to seeing them everyday. I will miss them greatly and I can’t wait to see again as alums. -Coach Wielgus
Thanks again for Going Green with us and look for more soon.
- Dara
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