HANOVER — Basketball is a sport defined by its spurtability. Coaches often declare that the game is decided by runs, each team propelled by short or extended bursts of scoring while the other squad falls cold. The Dartmouth women’s basketball team knows that reality all too well early this season.

The Big Green used a 14-4 run in the fourth quarter against UAlbany last Wednesday to bring the game level before falling, 58-53; a 17-3 run in the final frame against UMass Lowell on Saturday saw coach Linda Cimino’s squad emerge with a 57-41 victory. 

Monday’s Twin State tilt with Vermont at Leede Arena was no different. The Catamounts’ 19-2 onslaught in the second quarter largely decided the game en route to a 61-37 victory.

Dartmouth (2-2), which was outscored by just seven points in the other three quarters combined, hit just one of its 11 shots in the second frame, its shooting woes only exacerbated by six turnovers. Cimino contended that her team got quality looks at the rim, shots just didn’t fall. 

“We missed a couple of easy layups, we missed a couple of put-backs, and the difference was (Vermont) came down and capitalized and scored,” said Cimino, now in her second year helming the Big Green. “So basketball is a game of runs, and that was a run that (Vermont) went on. You’ve got to put the ball in the basket, and we weren’t able to do that.”

The first half was defined by Vermont’s half-court defense, which largely took Dartmouth out of the actions it wanted to run. The Catamounts’ hard-hedging on ball screens and ability to tag the Big Green’s bigs — junior Clare Meyer and first-year Olivia Austin, especially — frustrated Cimino’s guards. If not for Austin’s seven points in the first quarter, all three buckets coming in late shot clock situations, Vermont’s 21-point advantage at halftime could have been far greater.

Cimino said she made it a point of emphasis during the intermission to get her players attacking downhill. Getting two feet in the paint and quality looks at the rim off the bounce were a priority in the final 20 minutes for Dartmouth. Senior guard Victoria Page, who shot 1-of-7 from the floor in the first half, led the Big Green’s second-half push offensively, scoring 13 of her team-high 16 points in the second half. 

“Coach (Cimino) is not going to lead me the wrong way,” Page said. “... So I’m just getting downhill, going off two feet, being on balance and actually going to look for the shot.”

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Dartmouth, with finals and Thanksgiving break fast approaching, will have some time off before its next game: a Dec. 1 date with New Hampshire at Leede Arena. The Granite State rivalry game wraps the Big Green’s five-game homestand to open the season. It also begins a 5-game, 10-day stretch to begin December. 

Cimino said the stretch of games should prepare the team, one that features six newcomers, for the rigors of Ivy League play. For Page and Austin, the team’s two leading scorers through four games, the goal for this season is simple.

“To restore this program to what it once was and hopefully get another Ivy League championship,” Austin said of Dartmouth, which hasn’t won a conference title since the 2008-09 season.

Said Page: “To win, to be better, to improve this program.”

Here’s how Dartmouth’s other sports programs fared this past week.

Welcoming fourth-seeded Brown to Brophy Field on Saturday, the top-seeded and undefeated Big Green picked up their eighth win of the season, beating the Bears, 47-33. The victory secures a fourth consecutive berth in the National Intercollegiate Rugby Association (NIRA) national championship game. 

A pair of tries and conversions from first-year Annie Henrich saw Dartmouth claim an early 14-0 advantage. Tries from sophomore Cindy Taulava and senior AsialeataMeni, plus a third conversion from Henrich, pushed the Big Green’s early lead to 26-7. The two teams exchanged tries early in the second half before tries from Katija Crawford and Katie Hansen — and two more Henrich conversions for good measure — put the game to bed. 

Dartmouth will now welcome second-seeded Harvard to Burnham Field for the national title game, which is slate for a 4 p.m. start. The Big Green and Crimson will now meet for a third consecutive time in the NIRA Division-I title game — Harvard avenged a loss in 2022 with a 20-12 victory last season. Dartmouth is looking for the program’s fourth national title. 

Sophomore quarterback Grayson Saunier’s 8-yard touchdown scamper reclaimed the lead for the 24th-ranked Big Green midway through the third quarter Saturday. Dartmouth, which has made playing one-score games its identity this season, seemed destined for another narrow affair with Cornell.

Then the Big Red offense, one that had hung 98 points on opponents the previous two weeks, rattled off 23 unanswered points across the third and fourth quarters, en route to a 39-22 win. The loss in Ithaca, N.Y., knocks the Big Green (7-2, 4-2 Ivy) from their first-place tie atop the Ancient Eight standings with Harvard (8-1, 5-1). 

Dartmouth will return to Hanover to host senior day at Buddy Teevens Stadium on Saturday against Brown. Kickoff is slated for noon.

The loss sets up a little bit of Deja vu, the Big Green now once again entering the final Saturday of Ivy League play with two losses and the possibility of a three-way tie atop the conference still in play — with a little help from Yale, of course. Dartmouth’s message this week will almost certainly mirror the ones from the previous nine weeks: Go 1-0 and worry about the other results later.

The Dartmouth men’s team, ranked 10th in the country, opened its 2024-25 campaign with a resounding 7-2 victory over No. 13 Rochester on Sunday. Senior Christian Shah secured a 3-2 win at the No. 2 position, while the Big Green completed a sweep of positions 4-9, including a quartet of 3-0 wins. 

The Dartmouth women’s team, ranked 11th nationally, narrowly defeated 13th-ranked Georgetown, 5-4. Sophomore Zayna Usman’s victory at the No. 5 position broke a 4-4 deadlock to secure the win for the Big Green. 

After a 2-0 start to the season, coach David McLaughlin’s squad dropped its two games last week, first against UAlbany at Leede Arena and then away at Boston University.

The Big Green were doomed by their own mistakes in an 87-73 loss to the Great Danes. Albany punished Dartmouth on the offensive glass, the former’s extended halfcourt ball pressure also troubling the Big Green offensively. 

Dartmouth was unable to survive a horrid shooting day on Saturday in Boston. The Big Green shot 29.3% from the field, 26.7% from 3 and 47.1% from the charity stripe, splits that make it nearly impossible to win games, which they became privy to in a 78-50 loss. The game against the Terriers marked the first of seven away games for Dartmouth, a road trip that will stretch to Dec. 14. 

The 2024 season came to an end for Dartmouth’s men’s and women’s cross country teams on Friday in Hopkinton, N.H., at the NCAA Regionals.

The women’s team finished in ninth place, paced by senior Madeleine Locher, whose time of 20 minutes, 16.43 seconds secured her a 13th-place finish. The men’s team, meanwhile, finished in 14th place. Senior Maclean Hadden was the Big Green’s top runner, recording a time of 30:47.92 to finish 32nd overall. 

In front of a crowd of 2,801, No. 17 Dartmouth beat No. 6 Cornell, 4-3, on Friday, its first win over the Big Red since December 2019. The Big Green had a response for every Cornell goal, with senior Steven Townley providing the winner late in the third period.

Dartmouth took a lead four separate times against Colgate on Saturday, but the Raiders were able to equalize each time, ultimately tying 4-4. Sophomore Nikita Nikora, who assisted two goals in the win over the Big Red, scored a goal and assisted another against Colgate — he’s now tallied two or more points in five straight games.

Facing a pair of ranked opponents on the road over the weekend, Dartmouth and first-year coach Maura Crowell were hoping to pull off a victory. The Big Green’s dreams of an upset bid were unrealized, though.

Traveling to Hamilton, N.Y., to face No. 5 Colgate, Dartmouth conceded just 13 seconds into the game. A power play goal from senior Lauren Messier tied the game 1-1, but proved to be the Big Green’s lone tally. The Raiders would go on to secure a 5-1 victory, a 3-goal onslaught in the third period proving too much for Crowell’s squad.

A date with No. 10 Cornell awaited Dartmouth on Saturday. Conceding two first-period goals saw the Big Green dig a deficit they could not climb out of, ultimately falling 4-0 in Ithaca, N.Y.

Dartmouth won’t return to the ice until it hosts Minnesota State - Mankato on Nov. 29 and Nov. 30 at Thompson Arena.

Hosting Princeton and Penn in Hanover this weekend, Dartmouth was hoping to break its recent three-game skid in its final two contests of the 2024 campaign.

The Tigers, who are tied atop the Ivy League rankings with Yale, easily dispatched the Big Green on Friday, winning in three sets. 

It appeared Dartmouth was knocking on the door of a reverse sweep on Saturday against Penn following third- and fourth-set convincing wins of 25-13 and 25-18, respectively. A trio of kills to close the fifth-set tiebreaker saw the Quakers ultimately emerge victorious in the season finale for both squads.

The Dartmouth women’s swim team picked up its first Ivy League victory since the program’s reinstatement ahead of the 2021-22 season, knocking off Cornell, 159-141, on Saturday.

The quartet of JamiesonLegh, Kathy Jia, Lane Murray and Samantha Li won the 200 medley relay, posting the second-fastest time in the program’s history, 1:41.66. Legh’s time of 54.94 in the 100 back marked the second-fastest time in program history as well. 

The women’s and men’s diving teams competed on Friday, with the Big Green women taking a victory over the Big Red. 

The men’s swimming team was defeated by both Harvard and Cornell, but Alexander Ye’s lifetime best time of 49.70 in the 100 fly highlighted the team’s day.

Alex Cervantes can be reached at acervantes@vnews.com or 603-727-7302.