Hi All,
As Coach Wielgus mentioned in her blog, we recently had a visit from Koren Schram ’09 while she was in the US for her holiday break. Personally, it was great to see Koren as we became close friends during the three years that we were in Hanover together. Koren is currently playing professional basketball for a team called Hamar just outside of Reykjavik, Iceland. Her team is doing well, second in the league, and Koren is a big reason why! Her quickness, fearlessness and deadly three-point shot have translated well into the professional, international game. Koren won three Ivy Championships in Hanover and was a first team All-Ivy selection as both a junior and senior. We're really proud of what she and Sydney Scott ’08, in her second season playing professionally in Denmark, have been able to accomplish on the court after Dartmouth.
Before last season, ESPN.com's Graham Hays wrote a great article about Koren and her plans to pursue a career in medicine after playing college basketball. He also wrote a nice piece on her after our NCAA Tournament game at Maryland last spring. He mentioned at the time that it would be interesting to someday follow-up and see where she ended up with med school, basketball, etc. Well that opportunity came sooner than he thought when Graham was at our Blue Sky Classic to write a feature on Dayton and saw Koren making her rounds at Leede. He double-checked with me to make sure it was really her and the two sat down for a chat that he turned into yet another great article.
Check out the story here.
It's been a busy week for the players as winter term classes started on Monday along with preparations for ACC foe Boston College on Thursday. BC will be our second-to-last non-conference game and final tune-up before Ivy play. The Eagles will obviously present a formidable challenge but we believe they are a great precursor to preparations for Harvard on Jan. 16. We take on the BC down in Chestnut Hill this Thursday night at 7 p.m. and don't play again until the 16th, when we host the Crimson.
- Dara
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
Friday, January 1, 2010
Quick Turnaround and Back on the Road
Hi All,
Sitting in a hotel room in Worcester, Mass. with some time to kill before dinner and thought I'd give a quick update on things. We're at my old stomping grounds to take on Holy Cross tomorrow (Saturday Jan. 2) at 1 p.m. I graduated from Holy Cross in 2004, where I was an athlete and worked for the athletic department. I'm glad we've kept up our series with HC because it's a good measuring stick for us and is a great battle between two traditional New England powers. And people always ask me if I am torn - the answer is of course not! Dartmouth is who I am now and it's Go Big Green all the way! All the usual preview and multimedia info can be found here.
We're looking to turn things around tomorrow as we were unable to get a W at our own Blue Sky Classic, but there were some positives to come out of the tournament. We took a really tough 58-57 loss to Rhode Island in the opener. URI came out on fire and led us, 21-5, in the first seven minutes! We battled back, but they still held a 12-point lead at the half, that they quickly built back to 16 early in the second. Then we finally got our rhythm going, got the ball inside to Brittney and got some big threes to fall. Betsy Williams hit a particularly huge shot to pull us within two points late in the game. We were down 58-57 with a chance to win on the last possession, but things didn't go our way and we couldn't complete the comeback.
That loss seemed to really stir something in the players, however, and they came out with a rejuvenated determination the next day! The team had a great shootaround and just the players stayed longer to work on some more stuff. That competitiveness showed when we took on Dayton, who was just outside the top-25 in both polls this week (essentially #27 nationally). Dayton has ranked as high as 20th this year. The game opened as a real defensive struggle, knotted at 0-0 until Dayton scored at 16:21. It was just 7-5 eight minutes into the game. We trailed by eight at halftime and Dayton managed to pull away in the second and added to the total with a late press. We lost, 57-36, but it was a closer game than that and our defense battled against a much taller and deeper team. There were a lot of positives to take out of it.
Hope everyone has a healthy and happy new year and we are excited to share the Ivy season with all of you!
- Dara
Sitting in a hotel room in Worcester, Mass. with some time to kill before dinner and thought I'd give a quick update on things. We're at my old stomping grounds to take on Holy Cross tomorrow (Saturday Jan. 2) at 1 p.m. I graduated from Holy Cross in 2004, where I was an athlete and worked for the athletic department. I'm glad we've kept up our series with HC because it's a good measuring stick for us and is a great battle between two traditional New England powers. And people always ask me if I am torn - the answer is of course not! Dartmouth is who I am now and it's Go Big Green all the way! All the usual preview and multimedia info can be found here.
We're looking to turn things around tomorrow as we were unable to get a W at our own Blue Sky Classic, but there were some positives to come out of the tournament. We took a really tough 58-57 loss to Rhode Island in the opener. URI came out on fire and led us, 21-5, in the first seven minutes! We battled back, but they still held a 12-point lead at the half, that they quickly built back to 16 early in the second. Then we finally got our rhythm going, got the ball inside to Brittney and got some big threes to fall. Betsy Williams hit a particularly huge shot to pull us within two points late in the game. We were down 58-57 with a chance to win on the last possession, but things didn't go our way and we couldn't complete the comeback.
That loss seemed to really stir something in the players, however, and they came out with a rejuvenated determination the next day! The team had a great shootaround and just the players stayed longer to work on some more stuff. That competitiveness showed when we took on Dayton, who was just outside the top-25 in both polls this week (essentially #27 nationally). Dayton has ranked as high as 20th this year. The game opened as a real defensive struggle, knotted at 0-0 until Dayton scored at 16:21. It was just 7-5 eight minutes into the game. We trailed by eight at halftime and Dayton managed to pull away in the second and added to the total with a late press. We lost, 57-36, but it was a closer game than that and our defense battled against a much taller and deeper team. There were a lot of positives to take out of it.
Hope everyone has a healthy and happy new year and we are excited to share the Ivy season with all of you!
- Dara
Thursday, December 31, 2009
Coach’s Favorite Christmas Presents
Christmas was wonderful! Family time, good meals and lots of laughter all come together at this joyous time of the year.
But my favorite Christmas presents came late and never made it under the tree. They arrived on Dec 29 during our Blue Sky Basketball Classic. I was minding my own business at the press table watching Vermont beat Dayton, when I was tapped on the shoulder. I turned around and there was a tanned, fit, smiling Koren Schram’09! What a treat! Koren was home for the holidays from Iceland, where she is having a blast playing on a professional basketball team. It was so much fun to spend time with her, but I had to cut the conversation short ... we had a game to be played.
So I assumed my pre-game position on the bench waiting for the URI game to begin. Much to my surprise out of the stands comes Derrick Harrison ’07! Derrick was our team manager and my good friend. Derrick is teaching math in a middle school in the Bronx and he just completed his masters program. He had his delightful girlfriend Amber with him.
I can’t tell you what a joy it was to see Koren and Derrick. I think Christmas came twice to me this year!!
- Coach Wielgus
But my favorite Christmas presents came late and never made it under the tree. They arrived on Dec 29 during our Blue Sky Basketball Classic. I was minding my own business at the press table watching Vermont beat Dayton, when I was tapped on the shoulder. I turned around and there was a tanned, fit, smiling Koren Schram’09! What a treat! Koren was home for the holidays from Iceland, where she is having a blast playing on a professional basketball team. It was so much fun to spend time with her, but I had to cut the conversation short ... we had a game to be played.
So I assumed my pre-game position on the bench waiting for the URI game to begin. Much to my surprise out of the stands comes Derrick Harrison ’07! Derrick was our team manager and my good friend. Derrick is teaching math in a middle school in the Bronx and he just completed his masters program. He had his delightful girlfriend Amber with him.
I can’t tell you what a joy it was to see Koren and Derrick. I think Christmas came twice to me this year!!
- Coach Wielgus
Monday, December 28, 2009
Back for the Blue Sky
In my world, the holidays arrive and leave faster than Santa’s sled. One minute we are in sunny southern California playing in the Galen Center. Next minute, we are diving for presents under a Christmas tree and eating the best food ever. Within a blink of the eye, we are back in Leede Arena practicing on the newly varnished floor. The holidays and travel a blur.
It is always hard to leave your family and friends, but I have to confess I was excited see the kids back in Hanover. Post Christmas at Dartmouth means ... tournament time!!!
The Blue Sky Basketball Classic Tournament is a wonderful event made possible by the generosity of Blue Sky owner Marc Milowsky and the professionalism of our staff here at Dartmouth. Dartmouth and Marc know how to run an event. The Tournament was started back in 1978 by me and Sally Estes our administrative assistant at the time. It has been going on ever since. So many great teams have played here: Rutgers, Wisconsin, Kentucky, Marquette, Arkansas and Duke to name a few.
This year is not different. We welcome back an old friend and former assistant Coach Sharon Dawley now at Vermont, Cathy Inglese brings her Rhode Island Rams and Jim Jabor’s top-25 Dayton Flyers round out the field.
This tournament is a treat to us and our gift to the Upper Valley community — good basketball over the holidays played in front of our friends and family. It doesn’t get much better than that.
We tip-off against Rhode Island on Tuesday (12/29) at 7 PM but be sure to check out an exciting match-up between Dayton and Vermont at 5 PM. It's a classic format this year so we'll take on Dayton at 7 PM on Wednesday with Vermont-URI playing at 5 PM.
- Coach Wielgus
It is always hard to leave your family and friends, but I have to confess I was excited see the kids back in Hanover. Post Christmas at Dartmouth means ... tournament time!!!
The Blue Sky Basketball Classic Tournament is a wonderful event made possible by the generosity of Blue Sky owner Marc Milowsky and the professionalism of our staff here at Dartmouth. Dartmouth and Marc know how to run an event. The Tournament was started back in 1978 by me and Sally Estes our administrative assistant at the time. It has been going on ever since. So many great teams have played here: Rutgers, Wisconsin, Kentucky, Marquette, Arkansas and Duke to name a few.
This year is not different. We welcome back an old friend and former assistant Coach Sharon Dawley now at Vermont, Cathy Inglese brings her Rhode Island Rams and Jim Jabor’s top-25 Dayton Flyers round out the field.
This tournament is a treat to us and our gift to the Upper Valley community — good basketball over the holidays played in front of our friends and family. It doesn’t get much better than that.
We tip-off against Rhode Island on Tuesday (12/29) at 7 PM but be sure to check out an exciting match-up between Dayton and Vermont at 5 PM. It's a classic format this year so we'll take on Dayton at 7 PM on Wednesday with Vermont-URI playing at 5 PM.
- Coach Wielgus
Friday, December 25, 2009
Happy Holidays
All of us from Dartmouth Women's Hoops are scattered around the country this week, spending this holiday with our families and friends!
It's a brief break before reporting back on the 26th but I think everyone is used to taking full advantage of the time off. We're back at it soon after the holiday and looking forward to hosting the Blue Sky Classic - our 33rd annual tournament.
This holiday season we are so grateful to all of our loyal readers and fans. You make this program so special and we appreciate your support through all the ups and downs of the season. Hopefully you're enjoying this extra look into all that goes on behind the scenes and we look forward to defending our Ivy League title in 2010.
Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and a Wonderful New Year to All!
- Dartmouth Women's Hoops
Monday, December 21, 2009
California Dreamin
... Something we may all be doing by tomorrow night! Except for Kelsey Byrd, since she's our resident California girl!
The weather here continued to be beautiful, though we weren't basking in the sunshine quite as much the past two days, since we had games and tried to stick to our routine.
We lost to an impressive USC team on Saturday. They got some hot hands after the first 10 minutes and nailed some real back-breaking threes to pull ahead before halftime. Betsy Williams had another good game off the bench, leading us with 12 points while Sasha Dosenko hauled in a game-high 13 rebounds. Brittney Smith had nine points and eight boards.
Today (Sunday) we beat Delaware State in the consolation game, 49-38. While we are certainly working on more consistent offense, we were definitely pleased with the defensive effort to hold DSU to 27 percent shooting. Brittney had a big night on both ends of the court with 10 points, 15 rebounds and six blocked shots. Sasha added 13 points and eight boards while Faziah Steen scored 12 points. We took the lead early in this one and never really looked back.
It's 10 p.m. in California and everyone is winding down for a long day of travel in the morning. We will all be going our separate ways for the holidays and the first flights are at about 7 am so the first airport shuttle leaves at 4:30 am. Players report back to campus in Dec. 26, which makes for a short break, but is actually more time than a lot of teams get. We are also always excited to get back to host our own Blue Sky Classic Tournament on Dec. 29-30.
Thanks to everyone for their continued support and to all those who came out to watch us on the west coast! There were several families and friends in attendance and it was great to see familiar faces in the stands.
- Dara
The weather here continued to be beautiful, though we weren't basking in the sunshine quite as much the past two days, since we had games and tried to stick to our routine.
We lost to an impressive USC team on Saturday. They got some hot hands after the first 10 minutes and nailed some real back-breaking threes to pull ahead before halftime. Betsy Williams had another good game off the bench, leading us with 12 points while Sasha Dosenko hauled in a game-high 13 rebounds. Brittney Smith had nine points and eight boards.
Today (Sunday) we beat Delaware State in the consolation game, 49-38. While we are certainly working on more consistent offense, we were definitely pleased with the defensive effort to hold DSU to 27 percent shooting. Brittney had a big night on both ends of the court with 10 points, 15 rebounds and six blocked shots. Sasha added 13 points and eight boards while Faziah Steen scored 12 points. We took the lead early in this one and never really looked back.
It's 10 p.m. in California and everyone is winding down for a long day of travel in the morning. We will all be going our separate ways for the holidays and the first flights are at about 7 am so the first airport shuttle leaves at 4:30 am. Players report back to campus in Dec. 26, which makes for a short break, but is actually more time than a lot of teams get. We are also always excited to get back to host our own Blue Sky Classic Tournament on Dec. 29-30.
Thanks to everyone for their continued support and to all those who came out to watch us on the west coast! There were several families and friends in attendance and it was great to see familiar faces in the stands.
- Dara
Friday, December 18, 2009
Greetings from the Golden State
Hi All!
As you probably know, we've been in SUNNY California since Wednesday evening. We flew in a day early for our tournament at the University of Southern California this Saturday and Sunday. The weather has been amazing here in Los Angeles - low to mid 70's and plenty of sunshine.
While we're here to do a job on the court - beating USC on Saturday and facing Delaware State or Cal State Bakersfield on Sunday - we want to have some fun while we're out here too. After long travel day on Wednesday we had a quiet dinner and retired early to catch up on sleep, since it felt like midnight to us at 9 p.m.
Thursday we traveled about 30 minutes to Santa Monica, which is right on the Pacific Ocean and features a huge outdoor mall and a traditional boardwalk complete with rollercoaster, ferris wheel, carousel and more. Coach Wielgus, Coach Gleason and our trainer Mike Derosier even had a battle on the bumper cars. The outdoor shopping area was great and had any store you could want - the players enjoyed the chance to do some shopping for their "Secret Santa" gift exchange. We practiced Thursday night and had dinner joined by a special guest, Angie Soriaga ’06. As loyal fans know, Angie is one of the finest ever to wear the Green and White - she holds the all-time assists (462) record, scored 1,100+ points and had 200+ steals. She's in graduate school at UCLA and it was great to see a familiar face out here.
Friday we stayed in the neighborhood by our hotel, which is in a great downtown area. The highlight was a trip to the ESPN Zone, where we played all kinds of arcade games. There were some spirited racecar, air hockey and pop-a-shot competitions.
I'm courtside at practice right now but we're wrapping things up and will have dinner and a quiet night tonight. We take on USC tomorrow at 4:30 PST/7:30 EST. Game notes, preview and all the multimedia links are here.
- Dara
Team on the beach in Santa Monica
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