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