When Emma Koch was recruited to the Dartmouth College women’s basketball team by then-head coach Belle Koclanes and her staff, one of the selling points was the Big Green’s tradition of scheduling a homecoming game for seniors.
Koclanes has since left Hanover and been replaced by Adrienne Shibles, but Koch, a senior forward who grew up in Iowa City, Iowa, will still get her homecoming trip when Dartmouth heads to Carver-Hawkeye Arena to face No. 13 Iowa on Wednesday.
“I was pretty close with the Iowa staff growing up, and Iowa had actually been contacting us since my freshman year to play a game,” Koch said. “I remember last year talking last year with our old director of basketball operations, and she was asking me where my family is located (and) where in the state we would want to play.”
The Big Green played non-conference road games in or near seniors’ hometowns nearly every season under Koclanes, including one in Iowa for Tia Dawson in 2014-15. Dartmouth visited Northern Iowa that year, an hour’s drive from Dawson’s native Cedar Rapids. Other homecoming trips have taken the Big Green to Maryland, Ohio, California and Illinois.
Both of Koch’s parents are University of Iowa graduates, and Hawkeye sports were central to her childhood — the family would regularly attend football and basketball games, especially for the women’s team. While Iowa coach Lisa Bluder recruited Koch’s younger sister, Audrey — now a sophomore guard at Providence College — the Hawkeyes did not show interest in the elder Koch, who helped Iowa City West High School win a state championship as a sophomore in 2017.
“It was great to grow up there. Always lots going on,” Koch said. “The town is really involved in everything the University of Iowa does, so I really liked the experience growing up in that big college town.”
Koch did not see the floor in college until her junior season, missing her freshman year due to injury and losing her sophomore year when the Ivy League canceled sports due to COVID-19. But she broke into the rotation last season, making 10 starts and coming off the bench in 14 other games. Koch scored a season-high 10 points on Feb. 26 at Penn, and pulled down 11 rebounds at Cornell on Feb. 18 to help Dartmouth to one of its three victories.
This year, Koch has started 10 of 12 games for the Big Green, setting a career high with 12 points in the season opener against Bryant. Her 7.5 rebounds per game are twice as many as any teammate.
Iowa City is actually familiar territory for Dartmouth’s seniors, who rented an apartment there together in the fall of 2020 while classes were being held remotely. Allie Harland and Karina Mitchell lived with Koch for the full quarter, and Kaiyah Corona visited them for a week and a half. None of the group, who were sophomores at the time, had spots on campus that fall, so they took online classes and worked out together in Iowa City.
“We try to do (these trips) as much as we can,” Shibles said. “It is tough because we have such a geographically diverse team, but we love the opportunity to take our team to the birthplace or hometown of our players and get to have dinner at their home, and have all their friends and family to come watch us play.”
The Big Green (2-10) are likely to have their hands full against Iowa, an NCAA Tournament regular led by the nation’s third-leading scorer in Caitlin Clark, who regularly hits NBA-range 3-pointers and is averaging 27.6 points per game. The Hawkeyes also boast Monika Czinano, who complements Clark in the post with 17.2 points per game.
Koch played against Clark in high school and was an AAU teammate of Iowa center Sharon Goodman, and said her family is close with Goodman’s. While the scoreboard may not look pretty from a Dartmouth perspective, Koch said she is looking forward to welcoming the full team to her family’s home for dinner and to play against a national title contender with a large, passionate fan base.
“It’s been on my mind since the beginning of the season, but now it’s fast approaching,” Koch said. “I’m excited that a lot of my extended family that would probably never have been able to see me play a live game will get to see me play. Growing up going to those games, and now getting to play at that arena, it’s a cool full-circle moment.”
Benjamin Rosenberg can be reached at brosenberg@vnews.com or 603-727-3302.