Box Score SAN RAFAEL, Calif. — Two streaking teams going in different directions met at the Conlan Center on Saturday night and the Dominican University of California women's basketball team nearly pulled off a heart-stopping upset.

The Lady Penguins, with a seven-game losing streak, built a stunning 13-point first-half lead on visiting California Baptist University, which had a 10-game winning streak, and was leading with 16 minutes to play before the first-place Lancers rallied. Cal Baptist (11-1/4-0) went on a 12-2 run and eventually escaped with a 74-56 Pacific West Conference victory over Dominican (1-12/0-3).

Freshman Ariana Flynn had a career-high 17 points and redshirt freshman Lauren Hyatt had 14 points and a career- and game-high nine rebounds for the Penguins while sophomore Kayla Valentine and junior Kimi Nakamura added nine points apiece. But, in the second half, Dominican couldn't shoot with the high-flying Lancers. The Lady Penguins, after hitting 46.9 percent of their shots from the floor in the first half, made only seven of 30 (23.3) in the second half and missed several close-in shots that might have stemmed Cal Baptist's momentum.

“We were actually playing the way we're capable of playing. We played our style we're beating a top team in our conference by 13 points,” said Head Coach Brianna Chambers. “It's just frustrating because you see that and then in the second half we played down.”

However, Flynn, who began this season shooting a .237 percentage on 3-pointers, found her touch , connecting on 4-of-8 from trey land, 7-of-15 over the last two games. Her 3-pointer with 15:55 left in the game against Cal Baptist gave Dominican its last lead in the game, 42-41.

Myriah Hicks tallied a game-high 25 points, 20 in the second half, to key Cal Baptist's comeback. The Lancers shot 44.8 percent in the second half when they outrebounded Dominican 29-15.

The Lady Penguins played a brilliant first half and constructed a sizable lead. Dominican, outscored 33-0 on the opening minutes of its previous three games, strong and started fast against Cal Baptist, especially on defense. Hyatt had a pair of blocked shots on the Lancers' opening possession and Nakamura had one of her game-high five steals on the next one and the Lady Penguins' zone defense ultimately ignited their offense.

“Our defense is our offense,” Chambers said. “We're trying to get the girls to understand that. It starts on the defensive end.”

Beginning with a Nakamura basket with 14:17 left in the first half, Dominican put together its best stretch of basketball this season. A Valentine 3-pointer tied the game at 6 then Hyatt, Nakamura, and  Flynn teamed to score 16 points in a nine-minute stretch. A Hyatt field goal capped a 21-3 Dominican run and a streak of 14 answered points by the Penguins to catapult them into a 25-12 lead with 9:25 to go before intermission.

Cal Baptist, the league's leading offensive team averaging 78 points a game coming into the contest, struggled against Dominican's defense. Hicks, the Lancers' top scorer and fifth best in the conference, didn't take a shot until the 8:06 mark of the first half when the Lady Penguins forced 16 turnovers.

After a season-long seven-game homestand, the Lady Penguins will go on the road for the first time since November 26 when they play on Wednesday, January 11 in Phoenix at Grand Canyon University's brand new 5,000-seat arena. Gametime against the 'Lopes is 3:30 p.m. Pacific time.