Columbia University
DARTMOUTH
Women's Basketball Hangs On to Down Dartmouth, 67-61
1/29/2011 9:54:00 PM | Women's Basketball
NEW YORK -- Senior Lauren Dwyer tallied a team-best 19 points and classmate Kathleen Barry notched her second straight double-double with 14 points and 11 rebounds as the Columbia women's basketball team overcame a poor shooting second half to defeat Dartmouth, 67-61, at Levien Gymnasium on Saturday evening.
The Lions connected on just 24.1 percent of their shots in the second stanza but forced the Big Green into 13 turnovers and got to the line 26 times. Junior Melissa Shafer, sophomore Tyler Simpson and first-year Taylor Ward converted on 9-of-10 free throws over the final 36 seconds to withstand a three-point barrage by Dartmouth sophomore Faziah Steen, who hit back-to-back treys to cut the Columbia lead to three and had 28 points for the game.
Shafer and Simpson combined to score 25 of the Lions' 27 bench points to help the team to its third straight victory over Dartmouth, the longest streak in program history.
A jumper by Barry sparked a 10-0 run midway through the first half to push Columbia's lead to 21-10 at the 9:20 mark. Five straight by the Big Green cut the advantage to six but consecutive jumpers by Dwyer off passes from first-year Brianna Orlich bumped the lead back to double figures at 25-15 with 5:26 remaining in the opening half.
Four straight points by Shafer made the score 33-22 with just under two minutes to go before Dartmouth strung together six straight -- four on free throws -- to pull within five. Barry closed out the first half with a putback bucket at the buzzer to give the Lions a seven-point cushion, 35-28, heading into the locker room.
Despite the woeful shooting performance in the second period, the Lions were able to maintain a comfortable lead for the first 16 minutes of the half thanks in large part to foul shots. Simpson connected on four on three seperate trips to the line to swell the lead to 13 points at 46-33 with 14:10 to go.
Up by 11 at the 8:34 mark, first-year Blaine Frohlich tracked down a Columbia miss and dropped in the first two points of her career to regain a 13-point lead with 8:32 to play.
Steen scored five straight to get Dartmouth back to within single digits two minutes later, and a conventional three-point play by the Kalamazoo, Mich. native pulled the visitors to within five at 54-49 with 3:11 on the clock.
From there, the two teams traded baskets before a layup by Dwyer with 2:22 left put the lead back to seven. Steen split a pair at the line a minute later, and after two free throws by Simpson, Dartmouth's Sasha Dosenko hit a jumper to cut the Big Green's deficit to 58-52.
Columbia would miss on its next two free throws, and on the ensuing possession Steen nailed a three to get Dartmouth to make it a one-possession game for the first time since the early portion of the first half.
Another pair of missed freebies nearly gave the Big Green the ball with a chance to tie, but Simpson came up with a critical offensive board and cashed in on her two chances at the charity stripe to put the score at 60-55 with 36 seconds remaining.
After a solid defensive stop, Shafer went to the line and cashed two before Steen struck again with another three-ball with 20 seconds left. The story would repeat itself seconds later as Shafer drained a pair from the stripe and Steen again found the distance from long range to again pull Dartmouth to within three.
But that is as close as it would get as Ward hit on three-of-four free throws to provide Columbia with its final margin of victory.
In addition to Steen's 28 points, Dosenko added 15 and Cassie Cooper narrowly missed out on a double-double with nine points and 11 rebounds.
Columbia will continue its four-game home swing on Friday, Feb. 4 against Brown. Tipoff at Levien Gymnasium is scheduled for 7 p.m.
NOTES: Dwyer played the contest with a heavy heart and dedicated her performance following the game to her late grandmother, Evelyn Bradshaw, who passed away earlier in the day...The Lions led the battle of the boards, 40-35, and had a resounding edge in second-chance points, 19-5...Columbia had a season-high 16 steals in the game, including four from Simpson and three from Barry...Dosenko also had a game-high five blocks...Dartmouth closed the game with 28 turnovers.
