Big Green took difficult route

The Dartmouth women's basketball team began the season on such a high note. The Big Green were returning four starters, led by 6-foot-4-inch center Elise Morrison, who had a team-leading 15.9 points per game the previous season and was on the all-Ivy team. In 2003-04, she had averaged 17.6 points per game, and was named the league's rookie of the year.

But a series of hardships both on and off the court meant the Big Green were forced to regroup.

They did, and are now going to the NCAA Tournament for the second year in a row.

Dartmouth is seeded 14th in the Cleveland Regional and will face third-seeded Rutgers (25-4) Sunday at 7 p.m., in the first round at Trenton, N.J.

''We were definitely underdogs, but we fought through it," said coach Chris Wielgus.

Dartmouth's season started off on a sour note when Morrison went down in the third game, and had to miss the rest of the season with a torn ligament in her foot. To make matters worse, the team was without Wielgus, who had gone to Connecticut to be with her 94-year-old mother, who was dying.

Then midway through the season, scorekeeper Matt Niely was killed in a car accident.

So needless to say, the team's morale wasn't high.

''We just had to readjust, and the kids rose to the occasion and we fought through it to a 23-6 record," Wielgus said.

The Big Green had a rocky time that a tough schedule made even more difficult. Dartmouth suffered road losses to nonconference opponents North Carolina State and Texas A&M, teams that also made the NCAA Tournament.

But once the Big Green started Ivy play, they found their comfort level. They wrapped up the season with six straight wins, and finished with a 12-2 conference record.

The trouble was, Brown and Princeton had the same Ivy record. The problem was exacerbated by the fact that the teams were 1-1 against each other, so the head-to-head tiebreaker that normally works couldn't be used.

Since the Ivy League doesn't have a postseason tournament, the conference had to figure out how to determine which team would get the automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. Last year, Dartmouth defeated Harvard in a playoff, but this was the first time three teams were deadlocked.

So it came down to Yankee ingenuity to settle the problem, and a coin pull -- not a coin toss -- was held among the three schools. Each of the teams submitted their state's quarters, and a league official pulled out the New Jersey quarter, giving Princeton a bye, while Brown and Dartmouth played each other.

The Big Green defeated Brown, then beat Princeton last week to earn the NCAA bid.

So maybe the hardships motivated the players to work even harder, Wielgus said.

''The kids have rallied," she said, adding that ''we have to be tough" against Rutgers.

The Scarlet Knights, who were undefeated in the Big East, defeated the Big Green, 84-70, in a first-round NCAA Tournament game in 1999.

Rutgers's biggest offensive threat is fifth-year senior Cappie Pondexter, who is tied for sixth in the nation with 21.5 points per game. She also is averaging 4.1 rebounds, 3.2 assists, and 1.7 steals this season.

Dartmouth is led in scoring by senior Jeannie Cullen with 13.9 points per game. She also has 272 career 3-pointers, which is one shy of the Dartmouth and Ivy record held by none other than Dartmouth assistant coach Courtney Banghart (Class of 2000).

Senior shooting guard Angie Soriaga and junior point guard Ashley Taylor each average 11.8 points and sophomore Sydney Scott -- who stepped into the post position when Morrison was injured -- averages 9.2 points and 6.2 rebounds per game.

Senior Krista Perry leads the team and is third in the Ivy League with 7.8 rebounds per game.