Box Score SAN RAFAEL, Calif. — The Dominican University of California women's basketball team was whistling Dixie in the first half of its Pacific West Conference game at the Conlan Center on Thursday night.

In the second half, the Lady Penguins' whistle went dry. Visiting Dixie State broke open a competitive contest by scoring the first 11 points of the second half, then extended its lead to as much as 35 points before Dominican regrouped toward the finish in an 89-59 defeat to the Red Storm.

Sophomore Kayla Valentine led the Penguins (1-11, 0-2) with 11 points, nine in the first half. Melissa Wise, a Marin Catholic High product out of Novato, scored eight of her 10 points in the second half while freshman Ariana Flynn and junior Kimi Nakamura both had nine points (all on 3-point shots) and redshirt freshman Lauren Hyatt added eight points and two blocked shots for Dominican.

Sheila Adams, the PacWest's sixth leading scorer on the league's second highest scoring offense, topped the Red Storm (7-4, 2-1) with a game-high 26 points on 10-of-14 shooting, 6-of-8 from three-point range. Dixie State, with an all-upperclassmen starting lineup, shot 53.8 percent from the floor in the second half when it outrebounded the younger Lady Penguins 31-12, 10-4 on the offensive boards.

“I'm proud of our effort in the first half. We were more patient on offense, trying to work for better shots,” said Head Coach Brianna Chambers. “The game just got away from us in the second half.”

The Lady Penguins started slow in the game — their third in eight days — falling behind 9-0. However, Dominican was more aggressive offensively, focusing on forcing the ball into the paint instead of taking 3-point shots. The Lady Penguins came into the game second in the PacWest in 3-point field goal attempts and sixth in 3-point shooting percentage.

Valentine led the charge to the lane, at one point scoring nine straight Dominican points in less than two minutes to knife Dixie State's advantage in half to five points, 20-15, with 11:14 left in the first half.

The Red Storm responded, scoring eight consecutive points and eventually built their lead to 14, 32-18.

Dominican rallied again, this time utilizing the 3-point shot. Senior Te Manu Whakataki "Taki" Te Koi, making her first start of the season, scored then Flynn and Nakamura made consecutive 3-pointers to cut Dixie State's  lead in half again, to 38-31 with 1:28 to go before halftime.

Flynn had three of Dominican's four 3-pointers in the first half for nine points to share team-high scoring honors with Valentine in the opening 20 minutes.

The Lady Penguins will play their third game in five days and their fourth in the past 10 days on Saturday when California Baptist (9-1/2-0) comes to the Conlan Center. The Lancers, the newest member in the 10-team PacWest, will tipoff at Dominican at 5:30 p.m. with the men to follow at 7:30 p.m. Both games will be broadcast live online at http://radio.dominican.edu and www.dominicanathletics.com/livevideo.