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Dominican University of California Athletics

Tammy Brawner

Women's Basketball Mark Alexander

Brawner's 18 Helps Lady Penguins Past First-Place HPU

Tammy Brawner matched a career-high 18 points on Saturday in Dominican's win over first-place HPU.
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SAN RAFAEL, Calif. — On Saturday night, the Dominican University of California Lady Penguins won their second straight Pacific West Conference game, defeating first-place Hawai'i Pacific University, 70-65. Graduate guard Tammy Brawner repeated her performance from Thursday night, matching a career-high 18 points.

After an early 8-8 tie, the visiting Sea Warriors (13-4/7-1) started a run when senior center Courtney Buster finished a layup to go ahead by two. HPU added four more unanswered points before Dominican broke the scoring drought on a pair of Brawner free throws with 10:21 remaining in the half.

The Lady Penguins (5-13/3-5) played evenly for the remainder of the half. Allowing Dominican to stay in reach were the eight points from senior guard Kelsey Janusch in the half. Dominican trailed 33-28 going into the locker room.

Even when HPU had as much as a seven-point lead, the second half was close throughout. With 12:59 remaining, the Sea Warriors' senior forward Jazzmin Awa-Williams fouled Brawner on a three-point attempt. Brawner mad all three tosses, cutting the deficit to three. Following the free throws, senior forward Shawna Bryant got a key defensive rebound, outletting to Brawner who drove to the basket for a layup, only putting the Lady Penguins down one.

With 11:20 remaining, Brawner hit a three-pointer to put Dominican up 47-46. With 5:00 remaining, down four, Brawner hit another jump shot, followed by a defensive rebound by senior center Raquel Gomes. Off the rebound, sophomore forward Melissa Wise hit a jump shot to tie the game at 58-58.

After a lead-changing free throw by HPU senior Courtney Buster, Wise put the Lady Penguins back on top with a layup and there was no looking back for the Lady Penguins.

Attempting to retake the lead, Buster missed a three-point attempt and Brawner's rebound allowed Dominican to strecth the lead on a Bryant putback. Janusch added two free throws with 2:13 remaining and Brawner added a layup to make the lead 66-60 under two minutes.

HPU cut the lead to 66-63 but Brawner answered again with a driving basket with only 25 seconds left. A pair of free throws for Janusch would be seal it, putting Dominican up 70-63. Although Sea Warrior junior forward Mana Hopkins made a late jump shot, it was not enough.

The victory for Domincan was the second straight. Also, a 12-game winning streak ended for the Sea Warriors, who entered the game undefeated in PacWest play and ranked 10th in the NCAA Division II West Region poll.

For the Lady Penguins, Bryant's team-leading 14 rebounds was a career-high. Janusch went a perfect 6-of-6 from the free throw line and added 14 points. Wise went a perfect 5-of-5 from the field en route to a 12-point night. Kimi Nakamura also went 3-of-3 from the field and finished with 10 points.

HPU was led by Awa-Williams' 15 Points. Buster led the Sea Warriors with eight rebounds.

The Lady Penguins will cross the Golden Gate Bridge for their next game against Academy of Art University on Thursday, Feb. 3. Tipoff is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. at Kezar Pavilion in San Francisco.
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