W. Basketball Heads South One Game Behind Dartmouth

The hated ones are back on top.

When the Harvard women's basketball team completely outplayed arch-rival Dartmouth in a 73-67 victory in front of 2,035 fans at Lavietes Pavilion on Jan. 7, it appeared that The Big Green and its captain Courtney Banghart had retained none of the chemistry from last year's championship team.

But six weeks later, Banghart is the Ivy Player of the Week, and Dartmouth is in sole possession of first place.

This was supposed to be a fairly uneventful weekend in conference play. Penn, Dartmouth, and Harvard were in a three-way tie for first, and with none of the three in action against each other, it was expected to stay that way.

But Brown and Columbia proved to be capable spoilers. The Bears, who previously had been winless in league play, pulled of a shocking 75-56 win over Harvard (14-7, 7-2 Ivy) on Friday night. Then a day later, the lowly Lions won 70-67 against Penn.

Dartmouth (16-6, 8-1), meanwhile, posted easy wins over Brown and Yale to stretch its win streak to ten. After sitting a game back of Penn and Harvard for much of the season, the Big Green found itself on top once again.

The Big Green's recent run of blowout victories can be primarily attributed to Banghart's return to last year's form.

In an 82-69 win on Friday over Yale, she racked up a career-high 31 points. Banghart could have had more, but after helping to build a commanding 53-26 lead at halftime with 22 points and five treys, she earned some rest.

The next day, Banghart kept Brown from repeating any of the upset magic that stunned the Crimson. She scored 28 points and hit six 3-pointers to lead the Big Green in an 85-54 win.

Junior forward Stephanie Kinnear has also stepped up her play for the Big Green. Against Yale she had a career high 12 assists. In wins over Penn and Princeton during the previous weekend, she put together 17 assists, while committing only one turnover.

Freshman center Katherine Hanks has quietly been the most consistent performer for Dartmouth. She is the Big Green's No. 2 scorer (14.9 ppg) and No. 1 rebounder (7.1 rpg). The Crimson will have to once again contain her when it heads to Dartmouth for the season finale.

The Quakers (16-7, 7-2) were in the driver's seat after a 78-76 win over Harvard on Feb. 11 made them the only unbeaten Ivy team. But Penn has struggled in its three games since then. Completely drained from the game against the Crimson, Penn was sloppy against Dartmouth the following night, committing 26 turnovers in an 89-71 loss.

Then last Friday, Penn came out completely flat on the road against Cornell, falling behind 17-4 early. But as usual, tri-captains Mandy West and junior Diana Caramanico, the two leading scorers in the Ivy League, led the comeback.

West scored 23, and Caramanico added 21 to lead the Quakers to a 74-65 victory. Caramanico's points were enough to break the school's career-scoring record, in only her junior year.

The next day at Columbia, however, Caramanico was cold. She shot just 4-of-17 on the day. Still, sophomore forward Julie Epton and West managed to pick up some of the slack, and Penn led the game all the way up until the last three minutes.

The game was tied until Columbia hit two free throws with 43.7 seconds left. On its subsequent two possessions, West could not find her usually clutch shot, and Penn went on to lose, 70-67, to a team that it had beaten 83-57 earlier in the year.

For the Quakers, their recent struggles come at a bad time. They will host the Big Green and the Crimson this weekend. Penn's Saturday night woes in particular definitely benefit Harvard, who will take on the Quakers weakened by Dartmouth the night before.

Yale (9-14, 5-5) has emerged as a solid fourth-place team in the Ivy League. Before this past weekend, the Bulldogs had won seven of eight games, and after getting thrashed by Dartmouth on Friday night, they bounced back and gave the Crimson a good run before falling 70-68 in overtime.

Freshman guard Maria Smear looks like she will be a force in the Ivy League for years to come. Her 12.1 points-per-game lead Yale, and her 47.4 percent 3-point shooting percentage is second only to Harvard captain Laela Sturdy.

Junior guard Alyson Miller has been a big part of the Bulldogs turnaround. The weekend before last, she led Yale with a career-high 18 points in an 64-60 win over Columbia, and hit 6-of-6 free throws to ice a 69-59 win over Cornell.

Columbia (5-17, 4-6), will get a few more chances to play the spoiler with Ivy games remaining at Dartmouth and at Harvard. Key to the upset over Penn was freshman center Shaunte Edmonds, who scored 15 points and held Caramanico to just a single field goal in the second half.

Junior forward Shawnee Pickney has been the most consistent player for the Lions. The team's leading scorer and rebounder, she hit two free throws to ice a 64-63 win against Brown in early February.

Princeton (6-17, 3-6) has failed to turn its season around after a terrible start, and will not meet its high pre-season expectations. This past weekend however, the Tigers did manage to post two wins in a row for the first time this season. Senior Maggie Langlas was the star in both games for Princeton. Her 14 points in a seven minute span highlighted a rally that iced a 62-44 win over Columbia. Also, her two treys in the second half against Cornell were critical in its low-scoring 46-42 victory.

Cornell (11-11, 3-7) has struggled since a school-best 9-4 start. Center Jumanna Salti is the No. 3 rebounder in the Ivy League with 8.71 per-game, trailing Caramanico and Harvard junior Melissa Johnson. She scored 11 points and grabbed 19 boards in Cornell's loss to Yale.

Brown (6-18, 1-9) had experienced a number of close losses before finally recording its first Ivy win of the year against Harvard on Friday. Freshman Barbara Maloni's recent hot streak makes the Bears a threat to upset Penn a week after next. She has averaged 24.5 points in her last four games, including a career-high 31 against the Crimson.