Dartmouth women’s basketball bested New Hampshire, 43-40, in a nail-biter at Leede Arena Sunday afternoon for the Big Green’s first win against a Division I opponent in nearly 12 months.
It was also the first Division I win for Linda Cimino as Dartmouth’s coach. Cimino took over the reins of the Dartmouth women’s hoops program in May after a successful five-year tenure at St. Francis Brooklyn.
With the win, Dartmouth improves to 2-2 on the season. The Big Green also defeated Keene State, a Division III program, on November 14.
The Big Green were led by senior Doreen Ariik, a 6-4 junior center from Nairobi, Kenya. Ariik, who missed last season due to injury, scored 12 points on 6-for-12 shooting, but she might have made an even bigger impact on defense, blocking a shot with the game tied at 40 in the fourth quarter and securing two key defensive rebounds down the stretch to secure the victory.
The biggest play of the game came courtesy of Victoria Page, a 5-10 junior from Murfreesboro, Tenn. With the two teams deadlocked at 40, Page drove the lane for the game winning layup with 50 seconds to go. Neither team had scored for nearly five minutes until Cimino called timeout and drew up the play to get Page the ball.
After Page converted, New Hampshire had several attempts to tie or take the lead, but the Big Green defense held firm, shutting out the Wildcats for the final 5:48 of the game.
“We have to learn to win and we did that today,” a beaming coach Cimino reflected to ESPN+ after the game.
When asked how she would prepare for the next game versus Vermont, the coach demurred.
“We haven’t won in a long time so we’re going to enjoy this win right now,” Cimino said.
Dartmouth won only two games all of last season, finishing 2-26 and 0-14 in the Ivy League. The Big Green now have equaled last year’s win total and have a two-game winning streak to boot.