Scenes from Michigan

Hi All,

We had a tough road trip to Michigan, losing both of our games (at Oakland and at #14 Michigan State) with a shorthanded lineup. But some people turned in some really tough performances, in particular senior Cassie Cooper and sophomore Kelsey Byrd. Cassie battled as our primary scorer and defender in the post both games and Kelsey was awesome off the bench. She had a career high nine points at Oakland and then topped it with 11 at Michigan State! I'm really proud of her as she's come back from surgery late in the summer to make a quick recovery and contribute. She's put in countless extra hours in the gym and with pool workouts.

Other than the losses, we did have some good times together on this trip and spent some quality time as a team. Our Michigan native, Faziah Steen's family hosted us for dinner at a local golf club on our first night. Below is a picture of the team along with Faziah's mom, younger brothers and uncles. We had a great time with her family and appreciated the event so much!

And thought I'd share some pics from the game at Michigan State. The Breslin Center is an impressive building.

Before the pictures, on behalf of the entire Dartmouth women's basketball family, I'd like to thank you all for your support so far this season. We've had some tough breaks and bumps in the road but I know we're getting stronger for it! As a wise follower commented on our blog last year: "When the Japanese mend broken objects, they fix the damage by filling the cracks with gold. They believe that when something's suffered damage and has a history it becomes more beautiful."

We will all go our separate ways tomorrow, as everyone flies home for the holidays. The players and coaches get a six-day break this year as they don't have to be back to campus until Dec. 26! I think everyone will benefit from the rest and some family time.

We hope you all have a wonderful holiday with your families and are looking forward to getting back on the court to continue getting stronger and better and showing you how great we can be!

- Dara

We're Still Here ... I Promise

Hi Loyal Fans,

Apologies for going WAY too long without a post on here. I hope we were doing a great job keeping up content as the games came fast and furious in the opening weeks and alas with the final exam break, so came a nap for the blog. Sorry we've been a little out of touch, but I hope you're still reading and we'll have some good updates this week.

We played our first game back from exams at Hartford last Sunday and as is typical of that first game back, it didn't go very well! Hartford is always one of the best teams in New England, often winning the America East and they have struggled a little early this season but we knew they were better than their record and very much hungry for a win. Unfortunately we were their prey! You can read about it here.

So we turn the page.

I'm actually writing to you from Newark Airport waiting for a flight to Detroit to meet the team. The rest of the group flew out from Manchester this morning and we'll all arrive in Detroit early this afternoon to start a nice 5-day trip in Faziah Steen's home state. We will be in Rochester, Mich. for the first half of the trip, taking on a solid Oakland University team on Dec. 16 at 6:30. Then its over to East Lansing to play Michigan State, who ranks 14th in the AP poll and 20th in the Coaches Poll, for a 1 p.m. tip on Dec. 18. We took the Spartans to overtime two years ago at Vermont's tournament.

As our regular readers know, this pre-holiday trip is my favorite part of the season! The main reason being that we're almost always bringing someone home and I love getting to see the great crowds that show up to support our players from their hometowns be it family, friends, former coaches or teams. It's so special. And it's great for all of us to get some better insight into where our Dartmouth basketball family members come from and learn to know them better. The other reason it's great fun is that without school in session, the players can and do focus completely on basketball and each other. It's a great time for team bonding.

I'll keep you updated throughout the trip to Michigan.

Thanks for reading, for your support and for bearing with us through this long break.

- Dara

Just a Quick Check In

Hi All,

Sorry I'm just getting to a quick Northeastern wrap up! The players started reading period and exams so that means catching up on some real life errands and a bunch of other stuff at work for the staff!

Anyhow, my game recap is here. We played a really solid game to beat Northeastern, 60-54. We were up 18-3 at one point in the first half! The Huskies used full court pressure and we really weren't fazed by it and were able to get a lot of layups off of it. Credit to Sasha Dosenko in particular for her work in the first half scoring as we broke the press.

It was a real team effort to win this one, which is always great to see. Brittney Smith had her third straight double-double with 13 points and 11 rebounds. Other starters Nicola Zimmer and Louise Vanden Bosch scored nine points each. Nic had a HUGE three late in the game just as Northeastern was trying to make a run and Louise had a great second-half sequence scoring five straight points.

The biggest thing for us in this game was probably the play of our bench though. Sasha shot 6-of-7 from the floor en route to 13 points and four rebounds. Meghan McFee was huge for us too, scoring 10 points including hitting two three-pointers. Meg also got a big defensive rebound and was fouled with nine seconds left and coolly hit both at the line to help us ice the win.

It was really great to go into the exam break with three straight wins! Now the players just need to focus on their studies while getting into the gym to shoot when they can for the next couple of days. They're in the home stretch though!

Go Big Green

- Dara

To the Victor Go the Spoils

It's game day!! Just got back from pre-game meal at Molly's with the team. We tip against Northeastern in less than three hours - that's 7 p.m. at Leede tonight! Preview is here.

Congratulations to Brittney Smith who was named both the Ivy League Player of the Week and the Dartmouth Female Athlete of the Week for her efforts in wins over Vermont and Bryant. Those clickable links take you to the respective stories for each.

Make sure to check out the video interview that accompanies the Athlete of the Week story - just click on the picture at the top.

Hope to see you tonight or if you are a fan from afar, as I know many of you are, hope you'll be listening or watching.

Also, HAPPY BIRTHDAY to sophomore guard Kylie Kufeld!! Of the players with in-season birthdays, she's the only one whose big day also falls on a game day!

Go Big Green

- Dara