The women's basketball team split this weekend's games, starting with an impressive 78-63 win at Harvard on Friday night but losing 63-48 to undefeated Dartmouth on Saturday in Hanover, N.H., as the team's momentum failed to carry over.
The Bears came out strong against Harvard, shooting 54 percent in the first half en route to scoring a season-high 40 first-half points. "We just came out on fire. We made it a point during practice last week that we were going to make all the open shots we got, and we were able to do that," said Bears co-captain Andrea Conrad '05.
The tone was set early on as Lena McAfee '07 hit a pair of threes to get the Bears off to a 6-0 lead. Those were only two of the seven threes that the Bears made in the first half, a total that exceeded their season's average for an entire game.
The Crimson were able to keep the game close after the Bears' initial scoring burst, but the Bears went on a 10-0 run at the end of the first half to stretch their lead to 34-25. During that time, the Bears were able to hold the Crimson without a field goal for 8:38.
A point of emphasis for the Bears was stopping Harvard's leading scorer, Reka Cserny. The Bears were able to do that, holding her to only two points in the first half and 11 for the game, nine below her league average. "It was just a great all-around defensive effort - our team defense and pressure was what was able to shut down Cserny," Conrad said.
The Bears won the battle of the boards 47-33 against the Crimson while holding them to a paltry 30-percent shooting from the field. "We knew if we were able to win the rebounding battle that we would probably win the game," Conrad said.
This was undoubtedly one of the Bears' best wins of the season, as they played their trademark defense and got very good point distribution offensively.
Sarah Hayes '06 led four Bears in double figures with 19 points while also grabbing a team-high nine rebounds. Hayes was followed by McAfee with 15 points on 5-of-6 shooting, just two off of her career high; Jackie Vocell '06 with 12; and Holly Robertson '05 with 11.
The Bears' hot shooting did not carry over to Hanover, as they only shot 32 percent from the field against the Big Green. The Bears jumped to a 6-0 lead on the Big Green, who missed their first nine shots from the field, but defensive lapses cost the Bears in the long run. "We came out strong at first, but they were able to take advantage of our defensive breakdowns," Conrad said.
Defensive breakdowns are uncharacteristic for the Bears, who pride themselves on defense and are second in the league in field goal percentage defense, holding opponents to only 37 percent from the field.
The Bears kept the game close, but three separate runs by the Big Green proved to be insurmountable. The Big Green scored methodically in the first half, going on a 19-3 spurt that gave them a 19-9 lead. The Bears answered with an 8-0 run of their own, but still found themselves down by 10 at the half.
A big reason the Bears struggled a little offensively was that they were out-rebounded 41-29. The lack of second-shot opportunities was something that really hurt the Bears. "Against Harvard we were able to get a lot of second shots, which helped us a lot, but against Dartmouth we didn't get any," Conrad said. "They made a conscious effort to keep us off the offensive glass."
The Bears steadily chipped away at the lead until the Big Green went on an 8-2 run that pushed their lead back to 10 points. "They were very patient on offense. They ran when they got the opportunity, but in the half-court game they were able to find the holes in our defense," Conrad said.
The Bears put together one last surge when Hayes scored six consecutive points, cutting the lead to seven, but the Big Green once again had an answer, going on a 10-2 run that put the game away.
The Bears were also out-shot at the free-throw line. The Big Green shot 20-of-23 from the foul line while the Bears only shot 5-of-7.
The loss drops the Bears to second place in the league while they continue to chase undefeated Dartmouth.
The Bears will look to get back in the win column next weekend as they travel to Princeton and the University of Pennsylvania. The Bears will try to sweep the season series against the Tigers and avenge an early season home loss to the Quakers.
