Box Score HANOVER, N.H. – With more than 1,100 fans on hand to watch Dartmouth honor former women's basketball head coach Chris Wielgus, the Big Green used a commanding first half to jump out to an 18-point halftime lead that proved to be too much for Cornell to overcome, as the Big Red fell, 84-74, at Leede Arena. The Big Red stormed back in the second half, cutting the home team's lead to just five points with 3:30 to play, but could not come all the way back in falling to 11-6 overall and 2-2 in Ivy League play.
Megan LeDuc matched a season-high with 19 points to lead the Big Red, connecting on 5-of-7 treys, to go along with a career- and team-high nine rebounds. With her five 3-pointers, LeDuc moves into fifth place in Cornell history with 122 for her career.
Kerri Moran and
Nia Marshall chipped in 17 and 15 points, respectively, and handed out four assists apiece, while
Samantha Widmann tallied 12 points off the bench.
Dartmouth (6-11, 1-3 Ivy) was led by Fanni Szabo's 23 points, while Andi Norman (14) and Olivia Smith (12) both finished in double-digits.
The Big Green finished with six extra rebounds (33-27) but two more turnovers than Cornell (10-8).
The home team shot a blistering .585 from both the floor (31-53) and from 3-point range (10-17), while the Big Red overcame a 2-of-12 start to finish at .462 overall (30-65) and .450 from beyond the arc (9-20).
After trading baskets to 4-4, the home team took advantage of some cold shooting by the Big Red to score 10 unanswered points. A pair of made free throws by Widmann ended the Cornell drought and the Big Red scored six straight to pull within a bucket, 12-10, but the Big Green took the 16-12 lead into the first break.
The first nine baskets of the second quarter were 3-pointers, including three consecutive by Dartmouth, to push its lead to double digits (25-12). Moran got the Big Red's first bucket of the stanza at the 7:25 mark and then knocked down a second one to make it a seven-point game (25-18) but Szabo answered and Dartmouth eventually pushed its lead to 20 (45-25) before taking a 49-31 lead into halftime. Altogether, seven of the Big Green's 10 3-pointers of the game came during the second quarter.
Cornell chipped away at the Dartmouth advantage through the first eight minutes of the third quarter, and a trey from LeDuc, followed by a pair of made free throws by Moran made it a 13-point game (61-48) at the 2:01 mark. The Big Green had a response and pushed its lead to 15 at the final break.
The Big Red stormed back in the fourth as a layup from Christine Ehalnd and a traditional three-point play from Marshall made it a 10-point game with 8:48 to play. Just over two minutes later, a steal and a finish on the other end by Moran got Cornell back within single digits for the first time since the 6:18 mark of the second quarter. The Big Red eventually pulled within five points twice down the stretch, with the last coming on a baseline jumper from Widmann with 3:30 to play, but that was as good as it would get as the home team hit its free throws and held on for the 84-74 victory.
The Big Red wraps up its five-game road trip when the squad heads to Brown and Yale next weekend. Cornell will face the Bears on Friday, Feb. 3, before taking on the Big Green on Saturday, Feb. 4. Both games are slated to tip off at 6 p.m.
