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Cooper set for final season at Dartmouth

By Gary Hawkins ghawkins@centralmaine.com
Staff Writer

Cassie Cooper was primed for a big year last season at Dartmouth College.

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BACK IN ACTION: After missing last season with a knee injury, Cony graduate Cassie Cooper returns to the Dartmouth lineup. Cooper was elected captain by her teammates.

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Who: Cassie Cooper, senior basketball player at Dartmouth
Statistics: 8 points, 3 rebounds per game (2008-09)
Hometown: Chelsea
High school: Cony (2007)
Major: Anthropology
Parents: Bruce and Maureen Cooper

The Cony High School graduate secured a starting spot for the Big Green and poured in 14 points and grabbed seven rebounds in the first game of the season. A game later, Cooper was out for the year after a meniscus tear her left knee. She underwent surgery on Nov. 20.

"I had three surgeries on my other knee," Cooper said. "They had always been easy, in and out snips. This one was a complete repair."

Cooper continued to attend games and practices, but it wasn't until last April that she got back on the basketball court.

"It's always hard coming back from a surgery like that," Cooper said. "I was a little hesitant."

Cooper spent the summer in Philadelphia, Pa., working an internship and playing pickup games every day at the Drexel University gym. Now a senior, she was selected as a team captain.

"She's on a mission right now," veteran Dartmouth coach Chris Wielgus said. "She just has to get her feet wet."

Cooper jumped into the fray Friday night as Dartmouth opened the season at Northwestern, one of the top teams in the Big Ten Conference. Among her roles and assignments, Cooper expected to guard 6-foot-5 senior center Amy Jaeschke.

Cooper is listed at 6-2 which could be a stretch, but she'll play the power forward position and Wielgus said Cooper's ready for it.

"She's become much more physical," the coach said.

Cooper has done an about face since her playing days at Cony where she helped the Rams to an 84-4 record and two state championships. Then she often played on a wing and faced the basket. Now she often posts up.

"It was weird at first," she said. "Now I'm more comfortable with my back to the basket."

Cooper said her role on the team is based on doing all the little things.

"It's all heart and desire," she said. "I'm not the go-to scorer or ballhandler."

Playing defense, not one of her fortes in high school, is also an important part of her role.

"It's a big change for me," she said.

As far as being elected captain, Cooper feels flattered considering there are several returning seniors and she sat out last season. She'll focus on leading by example and holding herself accountable for her actions on and off the court, she said. Wielgus said she's a good choice for captain.

"Cassie is very good at relating to other people," she added.

The Big Green had an uncharacteristic down year last season, finishing at 11-17 overall, just the second losing season in 25 years for Wielgus who has won 12 Ivy League titles.

"I love her," Cooper said of her coach. "She's made the Dartmouth experience amazing. She is a master at her craft."

With four returning senior starters and some promising freshmen, the Big Green hope to make run at a league title and an NCAA berth, something Cooper enjoyed her sophomore year.

An anthropology major, Cooper hopes to travel to the Marshall islands for a year after graduation and teach English. After that she is considering law school, and she hasn't ruled out the possibility of playing basketball overseas. For now, though, she's savoring her final season.

"I've felt blessed since I got accepted here," she said. "It's an amazing school. It's everything I dreamed of."

Gary Hawkins -- 621-5638

ghawkins@centralmaine.com