BOX SCORE

LAIE, Hawai'i — The Dominican University of California women's basketball team used a late run but it wasn't enough to overcome a 16-point halftime deficit, falling 66-56 Friday evening to Hawai'i Pacific University at the Cannon Activities Center on the campus of BYU-Hawaii.

HPU (9-3/3-0) led from the opening bucket. A poor first half of 8-of-31 (.258) shooting by Dominican (3-11/1-3) led to the defending PacWest Champs taking a 37-21 lead by the halfway point. The Sea Warriors tacked on in the second half, growing the lead to 24 before Dominican would work its way back late into the game, finishing play on a 21-7 run.

Despite shooting just 19-of-59 (.393) for the game, Dominican connected on 8-of-23 (.348) of its three-point attempts and went 10-of-11 (.909) from the the free-point line.

Senior forward Jazzmin Awa-Williams was a perfect 7-of-7 from the free throw line and led all players with 15 points for the Sea Warriors.  Junior forward Mana Hopkins added 11 points and junior guard Taylor Craig went 6-of-8 from the free throw line to finish her night with 10 points. Senior center Courtney Buster pulled down a game-high 13 rebounds and dished out four assists.

Senior guard Kelsey Janusch led the Lady Penguins with 14 points. Senior Raquel Gomes added nine points. Sophomore guard Stephanie Carnes and junior guard Taki Te Koi each finished with eight points. Senior forward Shawna Bryant led Dominican with eight rebounds in the loss.

With the loss, the Lady Penguins conclude their trip to Hawai'i with a 1-3 mark. They return home to the Conlan Center on Thursday, Jan. 20 when Dixie State College comes calling. Tipoff against the Red Storm is slated for 5:30 p.m. with the men to follow at 7:30 p.m.