ORONO – Dartmouth College doesn’t wield the marquee magnetism of past University of Maine opponents at the Dead River Classic, and the Big Green certainly doesn’t raise eyebrows as high as Florida, Georgia or Oklahoma State.
But they were a far better fit for this year’s Black Bears, a young women’s basketball team that barely broke a sweat in season-opening games against Rider and Kennesaw State.
And by escaping Alfond Arena with a 70-63 victory in front of 1,757 partisans on a snowy Saturday afternoon, Dartmouth showed that it shared the Southeastern and Big 12 Conference scourges’ proclivity for penning unhappy endings.
Trailing by two at the break, the reigning Ivy League champions and NCAA Tournament veterans used their inside-outside game to grab the lead early in the second half and fought off four different Maine flurries.
Senior guard Angie Soriaga led Dartmouth (3-0) with 16 points, and six-foot sophomore Sydney Scott brought 11 off the bench. Fatima Kamara notched nine more points for the Big Green, while Ashley Taylor, Krista Perry and Elise Morrison each contributed eight as Dartmouth demonstrated both a stronger bench and a deeper well of go-to players.
“These are the kind of games you want to play,” said Ann McInerney, who sustained her first loss as the Black Bears’ head coach. “It’s about being a traditionally strong team, and I think the University of Maine, Dartmouth, Holy Cross and Harvard, when you’re talking New England Division I basketball other than (Connecticut and Boston College) are the traditionally strong teams. If these kind of games serve us well in March, we’ll know we did the right thing.”
Indeed, the absence of a Top 25 visitor in Maine’s holiday tournament doesn’t spell a dip in strength of schedule. After hosting Rhode Island on Wednesday night, Maine (2-1) will hit the road for the month of December with stops at Michigan, Mississippi, George Washington, and a post-Christmas tourney at Miami.
The Black Bears will need to take better care of the basketball (16 turnovers) and make more hay from beyond the 3-point arc (2-for-15) than they did against Dartmouth.
Abby Schrader led Maine with 17 points, but Dartmouth denied the 6-3 senior center the ball and allowed her only one bucket and two free throws in the second half.
Bracey Barker finished with 16 points but hit only 7-of-18 in the process, missing all five of her 3-point bids. Perimeter pest Ashley Underwood was held to two trifectas and seven points.
“It was a combination of shot selection and not running the correct plays,” Barker said of Maine’s offensive struggles after racing to early leads of 6-0, 11-4 and 22-16. “I think it was good for us to be in a close situation.”
Dartmouth scored a dozen unanswered points, five by Morrison, to spin a seven-point deficit into a 42-37 lead with 14:07 remaining.
Maine regained the lead for the final time with a 7-0 run, capped by Katie Whittier’s conventional 3-point play. But Jeannie Cullen’s open trey put the Big Green ahead to stay with 10:49 to go.
“People like Jeannie Cullen and Sydney Scott stepping in there and contributing is essential to this team,” said Courtney Banghart, who co-coached Dartmouth along with Chris Leazier. They filled in for 23rd-year coach Chris Wielgus, whose mother is critically ill.
The Black Bears crept within two points four times in the late stages, the last on Barker’s inside hoop to make it 61-59 with 1:43 to go. But Kamara drove the baseline for her second straight Dartmouth bucket, and Taylor and Soriaga followed by draining 7-of-9 from the free-throw line.
Whittier was a bright spot for the Black Bears with 11 points and 10 rebounds. Her board work represented a team high for the third straight game.
“She gave us everything she had,” McInerney said of the Gray-New Gloucester graduate. “She has been battle-tested. Four of our five starters played more than 30 minutes. Now, we need to develop some consistency on our bench.”
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