Bulldogs fall to Dartmouth 64-53 in opener

WOMEN'S BASKETBALL DROPS SEASON-OPENER TO BIG GREEN SATURDAY AFTERNOON

SMITHFIELD, R.I. – The Bryant University women's basketball found itself on the wrong end of its hard-fought season opener Saturday afternoon in Smithfield, falling to Dartmouth, 64-53.

By the time it was all said and done, the Big Green (1-0) held an eleven-point advantage over the Bulldogs (0-1), however, a double-digit margin is not indicative of how competitive Saturday's contest was.

Senior Katie Whittington (Twinsburg, Ohio) led the Bulldogs with 13 points on 5-of-11 shooting, hitting three of her six 3-point attempts. Classmate Danielle Douglas (Silver Spring, Md.) put up eight of her 11 points in the second half, while junior Naana Ankoma-Mensa (Brampton, Ont.) finished with 12 points and nine boards.

Dartmouth's Kamala Thompson led all scorers with 17 points, adding seven rebounds and three steals, while Abbey Schmitt put up a double-double, dropping 11 points and snagging a game-high 14 rebounds.

The Big Green jumped out to a quick 10-2 lead five minutes into the contest, extending their advantage to 18-9 halfway through the first period. Thompson accounted for nine of Dartmouth's first 18 points.

Despite the Big Green lead, the Bulldogs hung tough, not allowing the Ivy League foe to pull away. Bryant's resilience in the opening half was attributed in part to the play of junior Courtney Schissler (Branford, Conn.) who was all over the glass, grabbing a career-high nine rebounds, including seven on the offensive end.

Back-to-back threes by Whittington and freshman Tiersa Winder (Baltimore, Md.) with under two minutes left in the first half cut the Dartmouth lead to just two, but the Big Green added a pair of free throws and a last-second score to grant themselves a 30-24 lead going into the locker room.

Bryant opened the half with a ton of energy, slicing the lead to just three at the 15:52 mark. Throughout the opening ten minutes, the Bulldogs pulled within a single point on two separate occasions, but the visitors responded to every Bryant push, maintaining the steady advantage.

"I thought we really struggled defensively today," said Bryant head coach Mary Burke. "Dartmouth came out with a lot of energy, putting us back on our heels to open the game."

"Every time we started to get things going, [Dartmouth] would always respond with a basket, making it difficult for us to get over the hump."

The Big Green opened the game up as the second half continued, increasing the lead to 14 points with just less than five minutes to play.

In an aggressive game that included 41 fouls, the Bulldogs forced 19 turnovers, scoring 18 points off their defensive pressure.  The Big Green, however, were able to hold Bryant to only 30 percent shooting from the field.

The Bulldogs will hit the road for the remainder of November, heading to URI on Tuesday before a pair of games in Ohio over the weekend.

For all the latest news on Bryant University women's basketball, visit BryantBulldogs.com.