There was a time when Dartmouth dominated Ivy League basketball—when the Big Green would win 12 or 13 of their 14 conference games before dancing off to the NCAA Tournament (and, yes, losing to the likes of Purdue, Connecticut and Maryland—this isn’t a fairy tale).
More recently, Dartmouth would lose 12 or 13 or all 14 of those Ivy games. The postseason consisted of waiting (and waiting) for spring to come to New Hampshire.
On Saturday, the Big Green arrived in West Philly to explain to Penn that times have once again changed.
This may not be a return to dominance—not yet, anyway—but the Dartmouth women have put their days as Ivy pushovers behind them. Specifically and emphatically, they took the lead early and never looked back, beating Penn, 61-49.
Consider that, last year, Penn edged Brown for the fourth spot in Ivy Madness. Now consider that Dartmouth’s first two Ivy games of the season have been comfortable victories on the road over Brown (64-48) and Penn. After two games, three teams are undefeated in Ivy play: Princeton, Columbia and Dartmouth.
Victoria Page led the way for Dartmouth, knocking down 26 points on 9-for-15 shooting, including 3-for-6 on threes, plus six rebounds. The 5-foot-8 senior guard endured 2-12, 0-14 and 1-13 Ivy seasons before this one. “I only have so many more games left in this uniform,” she told ESPN+ afterward. “I’m just trying to make the most of it.”
Also crucial for Dartmouth were Philadelphia’s own Clare Meyer, a junior forward who contributed 14 points, eight rebounds and four assists in front of her hometown fans, and Olivia Austin, a first-year forward who pulled down 11 rebounds. Dartmouth, which had been at the bottom of the Ivies in rebounding, beat Penn badly on the boards, 47-31, with 15 offensive boards to Penn’s 10. As a result, Dartmouth scored 22 second-chance points, to just six for Penn.
A game writeup might typically say something here like, “Dartmouth held Penn to just 33% shooting from the field.”
That would be accurate but not truthful.
The truth is that Penn’s dismal day wasn’t the result of remarkable defense: Penn just couldn’t buy a basket for much of the afternoon. The game was nearly three minutes old before either side scored, and Penn never got into the swing of things. It missed its first 11 attempted three-pointers before Sarah Miller mercifully knocked one in, nearly midway through the third quarter. That bucket brought the Quakers within two points of the Big Green—but that’s the closest they got. Once Ashna Tambe sank the next Penn three-pointer—after five more misses—the fourth quarter was half over, and Dartmouth held a 13-point lead.
The bright spot for Penn, as it so often is, was the play of senior Stina Almqvist, who drove her way to 21 points on 10-for-23 shooting, with seven rebounds. Tambe, one of Penn’s notable freshmen, had nine points in just 11 minutes off the bench.
Dartmouth (8-7, 2-0 Ivy) hits the road again Saturday to take on Princeton (11-4, 2-0), while Penn (9-6, 0-2) travels to Cornell (4-11, 0-2).