BOX SCORE

LAIE, Hawai'i — The Dominican University of California women's basketball team had plenty of ups and downs on Wednesday evening but it ended up being all worth it, as the Lady Penguins squeezed out a 65-61 Pacific West Conference victory at BYU-Hawaii.

A power outage pushed the opening tip back 10 minutes but it didn't seem to have much effect on the Lady Penguins (3-10/1-2), who took a 4-0 lead on free throws from seniors Raquel Gomes and Shawna Bryant. The Seasiders (1-10/0-3) would tie it six possessions later but Dominican responded with an 11-0 run that lasted into the nine-minute mark. The Seasiders pulled within four but were kept at a ten-point distance, 32-22, going into halftime.

Dominican came out aggressively in the second half, going on an 8-1 run in the first three minutes to take a 17-point lead. The Lady Penguins had a power outage of their own though and the Seasiders exploded for a 21-5 run that saw the lead shift to the home team, 44-42. From there, the lead kicked around a few times with BYU-Hawaii taking a six-point advantage into the final four minutes. Junior guard Taki Te Koi's three-pointer cut the lead to a point before another power outage stopped play for nearly 12 minutes with 3:34 left on the clock.

Coming out of the delay, a Zori Drew free throw and jumper put BYU-Hawaii back up by four but Bryant sank two straight buckets for Dominican to tie the game 61-61 with 45 seconds to go. Dominican got the ball back after a missed BYUH layup and at the other end, with time expiring on the shot clock, sophomore forward Melissa Wise got the lead back for Dominican with a jumper from the left side. Te Koi stole the ball on the inbounds and senior guard Kelsey Janusch was fouled and made both bonus free throws to seal the victory.

The Lady Penguins improved their recent shooting woes, shooting 25-of-55 (.455), their best all season. Dominican continued to struggle in the turnover category, losing the ball 27 times over the course of the game. They made up for it though in the rebounding category, outpacing the Seasiders 40-29.

“This was the best game we've played all year,” said Dominican Head Coach Brianna Chambers. “Teamwise, we got to see our best with a big lead. We knew BYU-Hawaii would make a run but the girls stuck together and the intensity picked up. That's pretty much been our entire season and this was it wrapped into one game.”

Drew and Madison Kite led the Seasiders with 14 points apiece. Richelle Rieben chipped in 13 points and led all players with seven assists.

Bryant led all players with a season-high 18 points and added five rebounds. Senior guard Tammy Brawner came off the bench and added a season-high 10 points. Gomes led all players with 13 rebounds and had a team-high 5 assists. Wise finished with five points, including the game winner.

Dominican will look to close out its four-game road trip to Hawai'i when they face Hawai'i Pacific University on Friday, Jan. 14. That game will also be played at the Cannon Activities Center on the BYU-Hawaii campus in Laie. Tipoff for the women is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. HST with the men to follow at 7:30 p.m. HST.