Box Score SAN RAFAEL, Calif.—– The hopes of the Dominican University of California women's basketball team to make the inaugural Pacific West Conference tournament in March suffered another setback on Monday night.

Kimi Nakamura scored nine of her 11 points in a two-minute span to build a five-point lead in the first half and, sparked by Lauren Hyatt's double-double, the Lady Penguins tallied the first 11 points of the second half and built another five-point lead but visiting Dixie State College rallied for a 65-54 victory at the Conlan Center. Dominican, after leading 47-42, went cold and netted only seven points in the final 9:40 of the contest.

“We're in games and then we have stretches where we struggle,” said Head Coach Brianna Chambers. “If we were more consistent, our record would be totally different. We need to keep working hard to get that consistency.”

The loss was the seventh in a row for the Lady Penguins (5-17/4-10) and leaves them two and a half games behind BYU-Hawaii for the sixth and final spot in the PacWest Conference tournament at Azusa Pacific University on March 7-9. The Lady Penguins play three of their remaining four regular-season games at home.

Hyatt netted six of her 10 points and 10 of her 13 rebounds in the second half. Teammates Stephanie Carnes and Jasmine Cox added eight points apiece. Cox and Salonika Quewon-Owens had seven rebounds each for the Lady Penguins.

Erica Hayes and Mandy Mundy came off the bench to combine for 35 points and 14 rebounds for the Red Storm (11-10/9-4), who currently hold the No. 3 seed for the tournament.

Nakamura gave Dominican its biggest lead of the game when she scored nine consecutive points. She netted a go-ahead three-point play for the eighth lead change of the first half then swished a three-pointer over the Dixie State defense, the second best in the PacWest this season in defending the perimeter.

That followed a possession when Cox and Sarah Nelson both recorded blocked shots. Nakamura's trey pushed the Lady Penguins' lead to 20-15 but the Red Storm rallied and reeled off a 10-2 run to regain the lead. They never relinquished it.

Dominican, which has only been outscored by an average of four points in the opening 20 minutes of games this season, committed only three turnovers in the first 14 minutes on Monday night and had eight assists in the first half, four by Danielle Yamauchi.

However, the Lady Penguins couldn't cool off the Red Storm. Dixie State shot .516 from the floor in the first half but then proceeded to miss 16 of their first 18 shots of the second half. That allowed Dominican to regain the lead. It reached five points when Yamauchi dribbled coast to coast for a layup and a 47-42 advantage.

The Red Storm then went on a 16-2 run to assume control of the contest. Dixie State played without Johnna Brown, the team's leader in scoring, rebounds and assists. Brown, who is seventh in nation in rebounding, was nursing an undisclosed injury.

The competition doesn't get any easier for the Lady Penguins. On Saturday, they host PacWest leading Grand Canyon University, the No. 13 ranked NCAA Division II team in the country. Game time is 5:30 p.m. at the Conlan Center. Live coverage will be available at www.dominicanathletics.com/live.