Whirlwind Weeks

Hi All,

Whew ... we're all finally getting a chance to take a deep breath after a whirlwind couple of weeks. Following the trip to Michigan, we all went our separate ways, taking us home to places from California to Montana to Washington, D.C. to New Jersey and more!  It was a much-needed break for all of us, players and staff alike.

Turned out, some of us got to extend that break a little when a massive snowstorm hit the Northeast. All three of the New York City area airports were closed for multiple days and Philadelphia, Boston and Manchester also had cancellations and serious delays. Almost half of the players and one of our assistant coaches, Leah Foster, all got back to Dartmouth later than the scheduled date of Dec. 26, but everyone made it in time for the tournament.

Once we all arrived back, we hosted the 34th annual Blue Sky Classic on Dec. 29-30 - the longest running uninterrupted tournament in Division I women's basketball! We're really, really proud of that feat and I believe we consistently put on one of the best and classiest events in the nation. As for the team, we played a solid game against Kansas State out of the Big 12. We trailed by just five at halftime and though we let the Wildcats pull away in the second half, the team made some strides. Unfortunately, we ran out of gas the next day against Wagner in what was a real disappointment for us. This time, we led by five at halftime but let Wagner, who is much improved since the last time we met, go on a 14-0 run in the second and had no answer. After the tournament, freshman point guard Nicola Zimmer, who made a big impression on fans and the other coaches, was named to the Blue Sky Classic All-Tournament team.

There wasn't much time for anyone to dwell on the losses in the tournament as we were hosting Holy Cross on Jan. 2 for our third game in five days! This one was much more like what we want to see from the team. It was a true team effort with four players in double figures as we won 66-57 after being tied, 26-26, at halftime. Cassie Cooper had an awesome second half, really willing us to the win - she had just two points and one rebound and halftime and finished with 11 points, 12 boards. Faziah Steen scored all 15 of her points in the second half.

Our schedule continued to be brutal as we closed out the week with our fourth game in seven days at Rhode Island on Jan. 4. This was a tough, 69-66, double-overtime loss. We did overcome a lot of adversity in the game, however, as we trailed 16-5 early and had both Cassie and Nicola on the bench with two fouls after six minutes! But we persevered and trailed by just four, 25-21, at halftime. The second half was back and forth and ultimately, Cassie sent the game to overtime after a perfectly executed drive, scoring at the buzzer to tie it. She also sent the game to double-overtime with an offensive rebound and putback to tie it with about 12 seconds to go and then we got a stop on the other end. We took an early lead in double-OT and held URI defensively, but couldn't get any buckets ourselves, allowing them to keep the door open and they ultimately hit free throws to seal the win.

Freshman Janelle Ross cracked the starting lineup  against Holy Cross and Rhode Island and did really well, scoring 12 points in each game. Since we were trying that bigger lineup, Louise Vanden Bosch came off the bench and really responded with seven points and seven boards against HC and eight points against URI.

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So, for a few explanations ....

We had to cram all those games in because Princeton's final exam schedule, taken in January, doesn't allow the Ivy League to start conference play in earnest until Jan. 29-30. It's a real problem for the rest of the teams because the other leagues in the nation all start conference games this week and most will not play non-league games. So we're left with a long break before our game at Harvard on Jan. 15 and then another long break before the Columbia-Cornell trip on Jan. 29-30.

Also, a reader commented on a previous post asking why we don't talk in depth about injuries on here. This person also asked if there was an "unwritten code" against it. To be honest, there are actually written rules that prohibit us from revealing details about a student-athlete's injury without her permission. So that's one reason why we don't go into detail on here. The other is honestly that this is a public forum and while we don't expect to keep everything about our team a secret, there are some things that we like to keep to ourselves. We enjoy giving our fans, friends and family insight into the program on here but that also means we're giving insight to our opponents.

Thank you all again, as always, for reading and supporting us! We're going through some adjustments and growing pains right now, but we've finished up non-conference play and have our sights firmly set on the long Ivy League road ahead! It's a whole new season come Jan. 15!