Skip To Main Content
Skip To Main Content

Dominican University of California Athletics

Tammy Brawner

Women's Basketball Brandon Davis

Lady Penguins Can't Overcome Poor First Half at No. 10 GCU

Tammy Brawner scored a career-high 18 points and matched a career-high 7 assists in Saturday's loss to No. 10 GCU.
BOX SCORE

PHOENIX, Ariz. — The Dominican University of California women's basketball team dug a hole it couldn't get out of in the first half and, despite a strong second half of play, fell 79-59 to No. 10 Grand Canyon University in Pacific West Conference play on Saturday afternoon at Antelope Gymnasium.

A sloppy first half saw the ball turned over a combined 23 times by both teams. Dominican (5-17/3-9) started off well with a Raquel Gomes jumper on the opening possession and another Gomes layup kept Dominican ahead 8-6 with 17:01 to play. That would be the last the Lady Penguins would see the lead though, as the nation's leading scorer, Samantha Murphy, knocked down a three-pointer to put the 'Lopes (19-2/7-1) ahead 9-8. The 'Lopes converted 15 Dominican turnovers into 19 first-half points, 14 of which came on fast breaks, and finished the half on an 11-2 run to send Dominican into halftime trailing 39-18.

Dominican outscored GCU in the second half but could never get those crucial stops. After the GCU lead ballooned to 25 just four minutes into the half, Dominican responded with a 20-10 run to cut the deficit to 60-45 under 10 minutes to play. A Mary Kate Jankowski basket in the paint cut the 'Lopes lead to 14 but that's as close as the Lady Penguins would come.

Graduate guard Tammy Brawner led all players with a career-high 23 points and matched a career-high seven assists in 29 minutes before fouling out with two minutes left. Gomes added 10 points and senior forward Shawna Bryant added nine points and grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds.

Murphy, who came into the game averaging a nation-high 25.7 points per game, led GCU with 20 points. Despite going just 2-of-8 from the free throw line, senior guard Rosalynn Nelson went 7-of-8 from the field and finished with 16 points. Freshman forward Jenna Pearson added 10 points for the 'Lopes.

Dominican returns home and will finish the month of February with three home games, the first of which is Tuesday, Feb. 15 versus BYU-Hawaii. Tipoff is slated for 5:30 p.m. at the Conlan Center.
Print Friendly Version