Box Score SAN RAFAEL, Calif. —
Yvonne Sanchez tallied a team-high 12 points and
Lauren Hyatt came off the bench to contribute eight points and a team-best 10 rebounds in 16 minutes, but the Dominican University of California women's basketball team couldn't recover from a slow start in both halves in a 60-38 non-conference loss Tuesday night at the Conlan Center.
The Lady Penguins (2-5) had seven turnovers and missed their first nine shots as the Gators (4-3) built an 11-0 lead. Sanchez, who has averaged 9.2 points per game in her last five games, ended Dominican's scoring drought with a 3-point shot at the 10:47 mark of the first half.
Sarah Nelson, Dominican's 6-foot-4 sophomore center who entered this week tied for first in the country in blocked shots in NCAA Division II, added four blocks, six points, and five rebounds. Teammate
Jasmine Cox chipped in with six rebounds while freshman
Melissa Boscarino had five caroms in a season-high 17 minutes. Boscarino and Hyatt both had three steals.
“We're still young and we're still learning,” said Dominican Head Coach Brianna Chambers. “The good thing is we haven't hit our stride yet. We still have more growing to do.”
Though the Lady Penguins made only seven of 24 shots in the first 20 minutes and turned the ball over 16 times, they had three possessions at the end of the opening half with a chance to cut San Francisco State's lead to five or four points. They went to halftime trailing 24-17, but the Gators came out to tally the first seven points of the second half to extend their advantage to 14 points.
Dominican trailed by as many as 27 points at one point, but the Lady Penguins kept battling. Hyatt had nine of her 10 rebounds in the second half. She also did not record a turnover in the contest in which Dominican recorded a season-high 29 against the Gators' aggressive man-to-man defense.
The Penguins travel to Lacey, Wash. this week to play in the St. Martin's University Tournament. Dominican meets Northwest Nazarene University (6-2) in the opening round on Friday at 5:15 p.m.
