Following the horrific shooting that took place at Brown University on Saturday afternoon, the Ivy League basketball show went on in New Rochelle, N.Y. a few hours later with the Dartmouth women taking on Iona.
The Gaels cut an 11-point deficit to four with 75 seconds left in regulation, but junior guard Nina Minicozzi slammed the door shut on the Iona comeback by drawing two consecutive offensive fouls around the basket, grabbing a big defensive rebound and sinking two free throws.
When the buzzer sounded on the 65-57 victory, the Big Green stretched its winning streak to four and improved to 7-2 on the season, the program’s best start since 1995. On the other side, Iona’s five-game victory streak ended, and the team finished its nonconference schedule at 7-3.
“We have an amazing group of young women, and they’ve bought in. They really believe in each other. They believe in the staff,” Dartmouth coach Linda Cimino said to the ESPN+ reporter immediately after the contest. “It’s all coming to fruition right now, and I’m really proud of them.”
Dartmouth used an 11-0 run, featuring triples from junior guard Alexandra Eldredge, junior forward Cate MacDonald and sophomore Zeynep Ozel, to open up an 18-8 lead late in the opening quarter and kept that same 10-point advantage at the half.
With the game 38-28 in favor of the Ivy Leaguers, the Gaels scored the next seven points to make it a three-point game at the four-minute mark.
Just as she would do with greater urgency in the final frame, Minicozzi provided a much-needed spark, using a reverse layup to start an 11-2 run that made it a 49-36 contest.
Following a driving baseline jumper from Eldredge to make it 57-46 at the 5:06 mark of the final frame, Iona made its final strong, but ultimately, unsuccessful surge.
Some thoughts on very good win on a difficult night in Ivy land:
Dominant interior defense
Dartmouth had the bigger lineup, featuring three starters between 6-foot-1 and 6-foot-3 (MacDonald, sophomore forward Olivia Austin, senior forward Clare Meyer), as well as the tenacious 5-foot-8 Minicozzi, and used it to neutralize Iona.
The Big Green limited the Gaels to 35% (11-for-33) from two on the evening, while outrebounding its opponents by 39-25.
The work on the defensive glass was an especially important factor for the visitors, as Iona arrived with a 36% offensive rebounding rate (No. 104, nationally) and only managed to collect 25% of its attempts on the night.
“That (rebounding) was our point of emphasis coming into the game. It was our point of emphasis at halftime,” Cimino said. “Everybody stepped up on the boards.”
True to the coach’s words, Dartmouth put forth a team effort on the glass with MacDonald leading the way with eight, Austin and Ozel collecting seven each, and Meyer with five.
Balanced offense
Over the last five competitive seasons, there have been three years in which Dartmouth has had one player average in double figures and two years where there were none.
That information wasn’t relevant on Saturday night, as four Big Green athletes hit the double-digit mark.
Ozel led the way with 14 (11 in the first half), Austin and Eldredge each totaled 11 and Meyer added 10 in only 17 minutes of action. If MacDonald netted one more point, it would have been a clean sweep from the starters.
The team was also balanced at the charity stripe with five players combing for a perfect 11-for-11 effort on the night.
In the ultimate bit of balance, Dartmouth found itself with an identical 46% success rate from its two-point (18-for-39) and three-point (6-for-13).
Making more free throws than its opponent attempts
Entering Saturday’s contest, the Big Green were the best in the nation with regard to the number of committed fouls per game (10) and foul rate (13%).
Cimino stressed the value of her team making more free throws than its opponent attempts when talking to the broadcasters earlier in the week.
On Saturday, that held true as Dartmouth’s 11 made buckets from the charity stripe, aided by a clutch 8-for-8 effort during the fourth quarter, exceeded the ten attempts by the Gaels and puts the team at 5-1 on the year when meeting that standard.
(For what it’s worth, the Big Green are 2-0 when making as many free throws as their opponent attempts and 0-1 when making fewer attempts at the charity stripe as their opponent takes).
Sixty isn’t just a Philly thing
Fans of Ivy League women’s hoops know that Penn often focus on the number 60. The Quakers have won 166 of 182 games when reaching that number or higher on the offensive side in regulation, while wining 195 of 231 contests when holding its opponents under five-dozen mark.
Even with Iona nailing nine triples, the Big Green held the Gaels under 60 by limiting the home team to the aforementioned 11 two-point buckets and only ten free throw attempts.
The win upped Dartmouth’s record to 3-0 this year when scoring 60 or more and 7-1 when holding opponents to that number or below.
Up next
After games at NJIT and Iona, sandwiched between time spent in New York City, the Big Green head back to Hanover for a matchup against an in-state Division II opponent, Franklin Pierce, on Tuesday and a visit to New Hampshire next Saturday.