On Saturday, March 5 at Notre Dame de Namur University, eight Dominican University of California basketball players will put on a Dominican uniform for the final time in their collegiate basketball careers. The women's game begins at 5:30 p.m. with the men to follow at 7:30 p.m. Both games will be broadcast live online at www.dominicanathletics.com/livevideo.

Four members of the women's team will take the court for the final time for Dominican:

#12 Tammy Brawner
Although Dominican only got a year and a half of Tammy's mesmerizing play, she has left a mark on her teammates and the program. She is currently pursuing her Masters degree in Global Management.  She is not sure what her plans are after Dominican but says her best memory at Dominican was beating Hawaii Pacific this season, where she matched a career high of 18 points — she has since raised her career-high to 23 points. Brawner leaves these words for her teammates: “Work hard, work often, and work when everyone else is sitting around doing nothing.”

#22 Kelsey Janusch
Janusch, a Marin Catholic High School Alumna, has enjoyed a successful career at Dominican.  She has been named to numerous PacWest Weekly Top 10 Honor Rolls the past two seasons, which included a season high 25-point performance last week against BYU-Hawaii.  She will graduate this May with a degree in Nursing.  Her plan is to be an emergency room or labor and delivery nurse.  She says her best memory at Dominican is being able to have her family at all our home games and starting her first IV. Janusch leaves these words for her current teammates: “Eat healthy, hit the weight room, and do what makes you happy.”

#44 Shawna Bryant
Bryant, has really developed over the years to become a tough rebounder and blue collar worker.  She will graduate this May with a degree in Psychology. After graduation, she plans to take a year off and work as a high school guidance counselor, then apply to graduate school to pursue her Master's in Psychology.  Bryant says her best memory at Dominican is “gaining such great friendships that I will never forget and of course, beating HPU this year.” Her advice to current teammates: “You only have four years in college and those years fly by faster than you know so start thinking about your future now!”

#32 Raquel Gomes
Raquel Gomes is the only senior that has played all 4 years in a Dominican uniform. She has 746 points and 520 rebounds and counting. Gomes will graduate with a degree in Liberal Studies. After Dominican, she plans to attend graduate school and earn her Masters in Special Education. Raquel says her best memories at Dominican will be the ones she made with her three best friends, Bryant, Janusch, and Alisha Flaaten; ?and of course running 57 sprints after losing to Holy Names her sophomore year. Gomes would like ?to offer these words of advice for her current teammates: “It goes by soooo fast so cherish every moment ?and every memory.”

Four men are also completing their time on the Dominican basketball team:

#10 Mike Wells
Wells was the first recruit to accept an offer from Coach Tovani — then he took a full-ride to Humboldt State and redshirted his freshman year. He returned to Dominican in 2007 and was named the Cal Pac Freshman of the Year. He sustained a severe foot injury in the offseason and redshirted his sophomore year. He displays leadership qualities of the highest order.  A Communications major, Wells is heavily involved in http://radio.dominican.edu and is the President of both the Dominican and PacWest Student-Athlete Advisory Committees.

#24 Brett Poncia
Poncia is a worker who has consistently tried to help himself and his teammates get better. Even though this has not paid off in playing time for himself has taken pride in the work that he has done for this team.  He had a setback his sophomore year when he became sick over Christmas break and missed the rest of the season. Poncia has appeared in 40 games for Dominican and is a .250 career-shooter from behind the three-point line. He is working towards completing a major in Business.

#40 Adam Chavis
Adam is one of the most athletically gifted players to ever wear a Dominican uniform.  In 2007-08, his first season at Dominican, Adam was the CalPac Player of the Year and Newcomer of the Year.  He was twice named to the CalPac all-conference team.  Has been our leading scorer during his tenure here at Dominican.  He missed time the last couple of years due to injury.  He has a 501 shooting percentage, a 380 shooting percentage from behind the arc, and has 359 career rebounds. Adam is working towards completing a major in Communications.

#45 Leon Hart
Hart came to Dominican for his senior year and stepped in quickly, starting half of the Penguins' games this season. He is second on the team with rebounds. He scored a season-high 17 points against Division I Hampton and followed that with his best all-around game at USF when he scored 16 points and grabbed 10 rebounds. Leon is working towards completing a degree in Biology.

Finally, one Dominican cheerleader has cheered on the Penguins for the final time in 2011. Karla Dajano is the lone senior Cheerleader, graduating with her Bachelors of Science in Psychology this year. Dajano has participated on Dominican Cheer Team for the past two seasons and has helped infuse life into the program. Karla brought to the team many years of training in dance and has been captain for the past two season. She has choreographed many of the dances you see at halftime. We are very lucky to have Karla on the team and she will be missed greatly!

Congratulations to these nine seniors who have given so much to Dominican Athletics over the past several years.