Hanover -- Two meteorites completely out of the Blue (Sky) produced loud impacts for the Dartmouth women's basketball team last night in Leede Arena.

Sophomore reserve Meghan McFee ignored a sprained thumb for a career-high 14 points, and classmate Brittney Smith went all Rick Barry at the free throw line, sinking 10-of-10 in the Big Green's 69-56 victory over Wagner (4-7) in the consolation game of the Blue Sky Classic. Dartmouth is 3-8.

Picking a brighter -- or more surprising -- shooting star is impossible. Heading into yesterday's action, McFee had accounted for all of 14 points this season. Ten of those points had been from the free-throw line, and the Connecticut native had sunk one three-pointer in her entire college career.

With the thumb and wrist of her shooting hand wrapped due to a sprain suffered Monday versus Boston College, McFee proceeded to drain all four of her treys against the Seahawks. She went 5-of-7 from the floor, and -- irony of ironies -- recorded her first two missed free throws of the year.

“I don't know. It just felt right today,” McFee said. “It felt like a good shooting day. It's random, because I wasn't hitting in shoot-around.”

Quipped Big Green coach Chris Wielgus: “She was complaining about her hand. I'm thinking we should hurt the other one.”

Meanwhile, Smith poured in a career-best 24 points of her own, but her path was the one least chosen. A 55.2 percent shooter from the charity stripe while wearing the Dartmouth uniform, Smith tied a tournament record with her perfect 10 last night.

Smith credited a simple technical alteration for her stroke: “I'm getting the ball in the middle of my body. Sometimes I bring it up off to the side, but now I'm using the middle of my body.”

Despite the sophomores' star turns, Dartmouth did not dispatch Wagner without difficulty. The Seahawks whittled a 20-point second-half deficit to nine on several occasions before running out of steam.

Stephanie McBride exploded for all of her 14 points -- including four treys -- in a five-minute blizzard that dragged Wagner within 59-50 with 5:37 to play.

But Darcy Rose countered with two buckets and, fittingly, Smith's two free throws with 35.9 seconds left capped the scoring.

Sophomore Casey Stokes paced the Seahawks with 15 points, all coming from three-point range, while Andrea Reed added 12.

“I have to respect Wagner's fight,” Smith said. “They didn't give up. They made three-pointers, and any time you can do that, you're going to come back in the game.”

Rose wound up with 11 points and Koren Schram tossed in 10 more. Thanks to 11 boards from Brittney Smith and seven each from Rose and Margaret Smith, Dartmouth walloped the smaller Seahawks 44-21 on the glass.

The Big Green still struggled to protect the ball, turning it over 22 times, but 48.9 percent shooting from the field helped to offset the miscues.

“We've been on such a roller-coaster,” Wielgus said. “The effort was there. We weren't as efficient as we could be or as we have to be. But different people are stepping up at different times. This is what makes coaching this team fun.”

McFee sparked Dartmouth's not-so-hostile takeover of the first half. She accounted for eight points in a 12-2 spurt that spun a one-point deficit into a 25-16 lead with 7:35 left.

“It's so much fun to watch them grow,” Wielgus observed. “(McFee) gets in a minute, then two minutes, and then she proves herself and gets in more and more. And she gets a piece of a lot of things in there.”

Brittney Smith's uncharacteristic dead-eye from the line -- 8-of-8 for the half -- contributed mightily to the Big Green's 36-29 halftime edge. In fact, she scored eight of Dartmouth's last 11 points heading into intermission.

It was much smoother sailing for the Big Green post players against the diminutive Seahawks -- Kelly Clark was the only player on the roster taller than 6-foot-1 -- than it had been Monday against Boston College's tandem of 6-foot-4 Stefanie Murphy and 6-foot-6 Carolyn Swords.

“They were really physical, but we could go around them a lot easier,” Brittney Smith said. “It definitely helped that they were smaller.”

Added Wielgus, “It was an extremely physical game. (Today) they'll all be in for treatment. Not one of them won't be in. But this is like an Ivy weekend; you get beat up one game, you turn around and play the next (day).”

Yesterday's result ensured that the Big Green took at least one victory in its own tournament for the fourth straight year.

BC Prouder: Murphy and Swords stood tall again for the Eagles in last night's championship game, combining for 23 points in Boston College's 62-57 victory over Fairfield (6-6).

With BC clinging to a 52-51 lead and under four minutes remaining, Murphy and Swords each stepped out to the top of the key to swish jumpers and push the advantage to five. Fairfield got no closer than two the rest of the way.

Mickel Picco posted a game-high 18 points for the Eagles (10-3), despite going 1-for-9 from 3-point range. Murphy, the Blue Sky Most Valuable Player, tallied 12 points and six rebounds. Swords fended off early foul trouble for 11 points and seven boards. The Eagles tied a tournament record by sinking all 14 free-throw attempts.

The Stags were led by Stephanie Geehan's 12 points, and Baendu Lowenthal contributed nine points and nine rebounds.

Boston College claimed its first Blue Sky title in two trips; the Eagles were third in 1996.

Morrison Leaves: Freshman guard Bethany Morrison has left the team for personal reasons and will not return this year, Wielgus said yesterday. Morrison had appeared in six games without scoring, averaging 10.3 minutes per outing.

Tony Lane can be reached at alane@vnews.com or (603) 727-3227.