Some of the biggest plays in last night's women's basketball game weren't made by the people wearing shorts. They were made by the fellows in long pants and stripes: some overzealous officials.
The Big Green (8-7 overall, 3-0 Ivy) fell 60-56 to the University of Maine (13-6) in Leede Arena, in a game that featured 48 personal fouls, one technical, several missed calls and one very angry Dartmouth coach.
Chris Wielgus was steaming midway through the first half after Betsy Gilmore '94 was called for her second foul. But while Wielgus was screaming at the officials, she ranged too far out of the coach's box and was hit with her first technical foul of the season.
That call was a turning point in the first half. Maine's Stephanie Guidi sank the two free throws to tie the game at 10 with 11:22 left, and the Black Bears scored on their ensuing possession. Those four points keyed a 11-0 Maine run that gave the Black Bears a 19-10 advantage with six minutes remaining in the half.
The Big Green regrouped and closed the half with an 8-1 run to cut the Maine lead to 26-24.
Dartmouth tied the game in the opening minute of the second half on a nice scoop lay-up from behind the basket by Laurie Stucker '95. A Sally Annis '97 jumper gave the Big Green a 30-28 advantage with 16:33 to play, but that would be Dartmouth's last lead of the night.
Maine used some good shooting and a missed 30-second clock violation to retake the lead and extend it to 47-39 with 5:20 remaining. Free throws by Gilmore and Jen Stamp '96 cut the Black Bear lead to 47-42, but then the officials came into play again.
With 4:07 left, Ilsa Webeck '94 drove to the basket and scored, knocking over a Maine defender in the process. The officials called the offensive foul and disallowed the basket. It was Webeck's fifth foul, and the Big Green was forced to play the final minutes without their leading scorer and rebounder.
"Our players faced a lot of adversity tonight and part of it was due to the officials," Wielgus said. "But that happens sometimes and we didn't lose the game because of it."
Gilmore echoed her coach, saying that the team wouldn't use the officiating as an excuse.
"It's frustrating when things are called on defense and not on offense," she said. "It changes the game and makes you more tentative, but you just can't think about that."
Maine used some scrappy defense and an above-average shooting night to defeat the Big Green.
"Maine is a good club, though they normally don't shoot as well as they did tonight," Gilmore said.
"We were stagnant on offense at times, but we took nice shots," she said. "We just didn't hit them tonight."
Wielgus was pleased with her team's performance.
"We didn't give up and we played hard," she said. "We did what we had to do to win the game, but Maine just responded. Good teams do that."
Webeck lead Dartmouth with 11 points and 10 rebounds. Annis and Stamp each added nine and Stucker chipped in 10 points. Gilmore scored six , including an off-balanced three-point bank shot at the final buzzer. She also added eight assists and seven steals to a great performance.
