BOX SCORE

BELMONT, Calif. — Exactly one month after suffering a tough 73-66 home loss to Notre Dame de Namur University, the Dominican University of California women's basketball came to Walter Gleason Gymnasium on Saturday with something to prove. With five Lady Penguins suiting up for the final time in their collegiate careers, Dominican made its statement in the form of a 67-58 Pacific West Conference victory at NDNU.

With the victory, Dominican finishes with an 8-18 mark, including a 6-10 conference mark. The win, which dropped the Argos to 8-17/5-11, gives Dominican sole possession of fifth place in the nine-team conference standings.

“This is a huge moment for our program,” said Dominican Head Coach Brianna Chambers. “But saying goodbye to five seniors who have been instrumental to our success is bittersweet.”

Senior Raquel Gomes put Dominican on the scoreboard first and while the game remained close most of the first half, it always seemed that the momentum was in the Lady Penguins' favor. A Natellie Saia layup gave NDNU a three-point lead but Gomes was there at the other end with a layup of her own and graduate guard Tammy Brawner added a three-pointer at 11:46 that would give the Lady Penguins the lead for good. Layups by sophomore forward Melissa Wise and Brawner closed out the half and sent Dominican into the locker room with a 33-27 advantage.

Five minutes into the second half, Dominican built the lead to 10 thanks to the front-end make on a pair of Brawner throws. The Argonauts didn't roll over though and used a 9-2 run to cut the Dominican lead to three. It was clear that the Dominican seniors weren't going to allow another loss, though. Two more buckets from Gomes and a layup from senior forward Shawna Bryant quickly got the lead back to nine with eight mintues to go. Four minutes later, another Bryant basket kept the lead at 10. Fittingly, Dominican's leading scorer, senior guard Kelsey Janusch, sank a free throw to score the game's – and the season's – final point.

In all, 50 of Dominican's 67 points were scored by seniors. It also helped that the Lady Penguins turned the ball over just five times, their lowest total all season.

Rachel Brunson led the Argos with 15 points on 7-of-12 shooting. Saia added 14 points in the loss. Pilar Mullins pulled down 10 rebounds for NDNU.

Gomes led all players with 16 points and 11 rebounds. Brawner added 15 points and Janusch added 13 in the win. Bryant finished with four points and four rebounds. Senior forward Shelly Clermenco downed a pair of free throws in her final game for Dominican.

Entering the game, Gomes was 12th in the PacWest with 5.5 rebounds per game. Bryant was 14th with 5.1 per game. Janusch was 11th in scoring with 12 points per game, second in free throw percentage at .875 (91-of-104), and fourth with a .369 (41-of-111) three-point field goal percentage.

“I'm really proud of my teammates,” said Gomes. “We played well, we played hard, and we played together just like Coach Chambers always tells us to do.”