The women's basketball team ended its five-game home stand by dropping two games this weekend to Ivy League rivals.
The Bears were held to their lowest point total of the season in a loss to Dartmouth, 58-27, then dropped a 71-46 game to Harvard.
On Friday night, the Big Green of Dartmouth had the Bears (3-17, 1-5) on their heels right from the tip-off. An early 8-0 run by the Big Green put the Bears in a hole early in the game from which they would never recover.
Dartmouth continued to get to the hoop and make easy layups, capitalizing on Brown's mistakes to force turnovers and create easy transition points.
The Big Green built on their lead to take a 25-10 advantage into halftime. Going into the second half, the Bears wanted to turn the game around.
"Obviously we wanted to improve our shooting percentage, but we also wanted to continue our defensive intensity, because we held Dartmouth to only 25 points in the first half," Natalie Bonds '10 said.
Against Dartmouth, Brown was missing the inside game of former Herald Sports Editor Amy Erhart '09 against Dartmouth, who was out of town.
The second half proved to be more of the same, as Dartmouth jumped out to a 34-16 lead just five minutes into the half. Brown continued to struggle on the offensive end of the court, and Dartmouth extended its lead with a 12-0 run. Down 46-18 with just under nine minutes left in the game, Brown was unable to get back in it.
The Bears cut the lead to 25, but that was as close as it would get. Bonds ended the game with a career-high seven blocks, and also contributed seven points and four rebounds.
"Her play was tremendous and inspirational," Head Coach Jean Burr said. ''She played hard the whole game."
The Big Green's Meghan
McFee had 14 points and 10 rebounds, while teammate Darcy Rose chipped in with 11 points.
"We really struggled scoring. We moved the ball well and broke the press well, but struggled finishing," Burr said. "We needed to be aggressive on the attack when the defense broke down. When they (made) a mistake, we needed to pounce on them."
"We played their tempo and lacked aggressiveness," she said.
The following evening, Brown faced the same challenge against Harvard. The Crimson came out strong, but the Bears matched them for the first eight minutes of play. Brown shot 40 percent from the field, giving the Bears the lead in the game's opening seven minutes.
Harvard pulled away in the last 12 minutes of the first half, going on a 15-0 run to take a 27-12 lead with just under five minutes left in the frame. Harvard held the Bears to just five points in the final 12 minutes of the period while continuing to shoot well from the field and force turnovers, which helped them build on their lead going into the locker room.
"We must move forward from droughts and cannot afford to have those letdowns defensively," Burr said. "We must continue to be aggressive every single possession. Against Harvard, our weak side didn't rotate aggressively and they took advantage."
Harvard shot 48 percent from the field and 36 percent from beyond the arc in the first half.
The Bears looked to pick it up in the second half with aggressive defense and better looks at the basket.
"It was important for us that we played intense defense right from the start of the second half," Grace said. "Also, we focused in on running plays that would create stronger takes to the basket so that we could get to the foul line more. We were able to get a lot of looks to the basket but our shots just weren't falling."
Although Brown had a chance to regroup at the half, the Harvard attack continued in the second half - the Crimson built a 27-point lead just minutes in. Sadiea Williams '11 and Grace each scored a team-high 10 points to try to keep the Bears in the game. Williams also had a team-high six rebounds.
"I was fortunate enough to get my points in various areas - threes, lay-ups and foul shots," Grace said. "It always feels good to get shots in different ways because you feel like more of an offensive threat for your team. I just tried to play really aggressive throughout the game and take what the defense was
giving me."
They both contributed to the Bears' offense, cutting the Harvard lead to 18 points, but that would be as close as Bruno would get. Harvard regained control in the second part of the half and strolled to a 71-46 win. The Crimson had four players in double digits, led by Brogan Berry with 17 points.
The Bears will be on the road next weekend as they take on two more league opponents, Penn and Princeton, and look to break their current five-game skid.
"We match up well with both teams' inside game and guards," Burr said. "I think our first step is quicker, so we must continue to work on attacking the basket and finishing."
