HANOVER, N.H. – The Big Red women's basketball team erased an 18-deficit to get back within three points with less than two minutes to play, but could not complete the comeback as Dartmouth escaped with the 60-52 victory this evening in Leede Arena.
 
Nia Marshall, who started the day ranked 11th in Cornell history for career points, finished with a game-high 22 points to move all the way to eighth overall (1,208). The 22 points also put the junior forward at 401 points for the season, good for 13th overall in Cornell history and making her just the third Big Red player to reach 400 points in a season twice in a career. Marshall also added six rebounds, two assists and one block.

Nicholle Aston and Megan LeDuc finished with nine points apiece, while Marisa Knox tied a career-high with six points and led the Big Red with a career-best seven rebounds.
 
Dartmouth (10-15, 5-4) had three players in double-figures, led by Lakin Roland's 18 points. Kate Letkewicz and Fanni Szabo finished with 16 and 11, respectively, while Szabo added a team-high eight rebounds.
 
Cornell (13-10, 5-4) held the edge in rebounds (31-25) but could not overcome its poor shooting night, finishing at .352 percetn (19-54), while the Big Green connected on .522 percent overall (24-46) and half of its 3-point attempts (6-12).
 
Both teams finished with 10 turnovers.
 
The Big Green shot nearly 70 percent in the first period to jump out to a 25-9 lead, forcing Cornell to play catch-up over the final 30 minutes, which it nearly did when Aston and LeDuc connected on consecutive trips down the court to make it a 55-52 game with 1:45 to play. Roland answered on Dartmouth's next possession and the Big Red did not score again as Amber Mixon hit 3-of-4 free throws down the stretch to account for the 60-52 final.  
 
Cornell used some impressive defense in the final period, holding the Big Green to just three baskets (3-10) and none from 3-point range (0-3), but it was the Big Red's offensive struggles early on that doomed the visitors.  
 
Dartmouth took its largest lead (18 points) after a trey by Letkewicz in the opening moments of the second period, but eight unanswered Cornell points, half of which came from Marshall, made it a 10-point game (33-23) at the 5:21 mark. Eventually, the Big Red cut the lead to seven points (37-30) after a tough defensive stand to end the period was punctuated by a foul line jumper from Christine Ehland right before halftime.
 
The Big Green responded once again early in the third period, pushing its lead back to 14 points (49-35) with just under five minutes to play in the stanza before going into the final break with an 11-point lead (51-40).  
 
Cornell opened the final period with a 12-4 run to get within striking distance, but could not get any closer than three points in the loss.
 
The Big Red is back in action tomorrow when it travels to Harvard for a 6 p.m. tip.