BOX SCORE

ST. GEORGE, Utah — The Dominican University of California women's basketball team  hung tough for a half but a depleted squad was unable to match No. 13 Dixie State College on Thursday evening, falling 87-66 in Pacific West Conference play at Burns Arena.

The Lady Penguins (5-16/3-8) were without sophomore Taki Te Koi, who suffered a knee injury on Jan. . Starters sophomore forward Melissa Wise and senior guard Kelsey Janusch, the team's top scorer, were also both unavailable for Head Coach Brianna Chambers.

The first several minutes saw the lead exchange hands and after a Tammy Brawner and-1 at the 14-minute mark Dominican held a slight 10-9 advantage. It wouldn't last though, as the Red Storm (17-2/7-1) marched back with an 11-0 run that saw them take a 20-10 lead. The Lady Penguins cut it to five but another Dixie State run pushed the lead to as large as 14. With 2:49 left in the half, Dominican regained possession on a jump ball at the defensive end and closed out the half on a 10-0 run. Eight of those points came from Brawner, who finished the half with a steal and lefthanded layup, followed by a dazzling spinning layup in the lane to end the half.

Dixie State came out of the locker room focused and went 16-of-28 (.571) from the field, outscoring Dominican 50-33 in the second half. In addition to shooting .526 for the game, the Red Storm scored 18 points at the free throw line, reaching the charity stripe 30 times, compared to just nine times by the Lady Penguins.

The Red Storm was led by senior forward Breann Hill's 18 points and shared a game-high eight rebounds. Junior guard Sheila Adams added 13 points and five assists while sophomore forward Johnna Brown went 4-of-5 from the field and finished with 12 points and shared the game-high with eight rebounds. Three more players finished with nine points apiece for the Red Storm.

Brawner led all players with a career-high 20 points and added four assists in 35 minutes on the floor, by far her most all season. Senior center Raquel Gomes added 12 points. Senior forward Shawna Bryant led the team with seven rebounds.

Dominican will now travel to Ariz. to face No. 10 Grand Canyon University on Saturday, Feb. 12. It's a getaway day for the Lady Penguins, who will have a 1:00 p.m. tipoff in Phoenix.