HANOVER — As the Dartmouth College women’s basketball team jokingly danced around midcourt, coach Belle Koclanes walked down her bench to celebrate with her assistant coaches.
Somehow on Friday night, the Big Green left Leede Arena with an 82-79 overtime victory over Cornell.
“What we love about basketball is the ebbs and flows,” Koclanes said. “This group is task-oriented. You give them a specific task … sometimes it is playing catch-up. We stayed the course tonight to pull out the victory.”
The two entered as basement dwellers in the Ivy League standings, and neither team could convincingly pull away from the other.
Fewer than three minutes into the second quarter, the Big Green held a 12-point lead. Threes were falling thanks to solid ball movement, and defensive communication was strong.
Dartmouth (9-15, 3-8 Ivy) seemed points away from taking Cornell out of the game and cruising to a win, which has been a rarity this Ancient Eight season for the Big Green.
Instead, Dartmouth fell back into its bad habits and its trademark this season — lousy stretches of play — returned.
By the halftime buzzer, it was hanging onto a 39-36 lead.
Cornell (9-14, 2-9) didn’t stop in the second half, either. The Big Red used a 10-0 lead in the opening minutes of the third quarter to jump out to a 53-45 lead.
Dartmouth and Cornell only combined for 15 points in the fourth quarter.
With 2:05 to play, the Big Green tied the game on a Paula Lenart putback.
The Big Red answered with a 3-pointer from Samantha Widmann, though.
An Anna Luce jumper followed by Annie McKenna’s layup gave Dartmouth a 72-71 lead.
Lenart made a free-throw with 11 seconds remaining to stretch the Big Green’s lead to two.
But with fewer than five seconds left on the clock, Cornell hit a jumper to send it into overtime.
“Obviously, we wanted to end it in regulation,” McKenna said. “But, you know, five more minutes of basketball. I’ll take it.”
In the extra period, the two teams traded baskets until McKenna drew a foul and hit two free throws to make it 81-79 with 1 minute, 15 seconds remaining. Cornell missed a jumper, and this time Katie Douglas drew a foul and made the first free throw.
Leading by three points with less than 25 seconds to play, the Dartmouth defense clamped down and blocked a Big Red shot. Again, the defense forced a turnover as time expired to grab the victory.
“You can see when a team is locked in, and I thought they were all locked into it when it mattered,” Koclanes said.
Spirits were high as players trickled into the locker room after the game. Fans stayed behind to serenade Big Green sophomore Asha Taylor with a rendition of Happy Birthday.
Over the course of one night, Dartmouth watched the epitome of its season flash before its eyes.
“Definitely a lot more fun to come off a win knowing you have a game tomorrow,” Anna Luce said with a grin.
Somehow on Friday night, the Big Green left Leede Arena with a victory.
Stat sheet: McKenna scored a team high 17 points and Luce added 16 points. … The Big Green got 32 points off the bench, a season high. … Dartmouth holds a 61-22 edge over the Big Red. In the last 26 meetings, however, the Big Green only holds a 14-12 advantage. The last time Dartmouth swept the Big Red was in the 2009-10 season. … Friday night’s attendance was 600. … The Big Green had a moment of silence for former athletic director Seaver Peters, who died on Sunday.
Big picture: In a game that seemed over midway through the second and third quarters, the Big Green somehow climbed its way back in and exited with the victory. While the Harvard win to open Ivy League play was impressive, Dartmouth’s win Friday night was more needed.
Cornell and Dartmouth entered the game fighting for the title of worst in the Ancient Eight standings. The Big Green left Leede Arena being a notch above the visitors with a chance to finish sixth in the Ivies.
Up next: The Big Green return to Leede Arena on Saturday night for its last home game of the regular season as Columbia rolls into town. When the two teams met on Feb. 14 in New York as Dartmouth fell, 73-63.
Tip is set for 5 p.m. The Big Green will honor its four seniors in a pregame ceremony.
Pete Nakos can be reached at pn akos@vnews.com.