Box Score SAN FRANCISCO — The Dominican University of California women's team is playing some of its best basketball of the season against some of the best teams in the Pacific West Conference. The Lady Penguins are just running out of time.

Senior Stephanie Carnes tied her season-high with a team-high 12 points and Salonika Quewon-Owens recorded a career-high 15 rebounds as Dominican put a scare into Academy of Art University on Tuesday night before bowing 72-61 in Kezar Pavilion.

Lauren Hyatt overcame foul trouble to contribute 11 points for the Lady Penguins (5-19/4-12) while Jasmine Cox and Noelle Roldan added eight points apiece. Roldan came off the bench to score six of her points in a two-minute span that cut a 16-point lead by the Urban Knights (17-8/10-5) in half, 58-50, with 6:54 to play.

Sarah Nelson, who is No. 6 in the country in NCAA Division II this week in blocked shots, had four rejections for Dominican. She and Cox had seven rebounds. Kimi Nakamura scored all seven of her points in the first half when the Penguins tallied 12 consecutive points to build a stunning 16-4 lead on Academy of Art, which leads the nation in turnover-to-assist ratio.

“The good thing is our good moments are coming against good teams,” said Head Coach Brianna Chambers. “We're trying to find the peaking part. We haven't hit our stride yet.”

The Lady Penguins started strong and fast and with a purpose after losing by 44 points at Kezar Pavilion last season. Dominican tallied 12 consecutive points to surge to a 16-4 lead and everyone seemed to have a hand in it. Six different Lady Penguins scored in that streak. Hyatt started it with an assist from Quewon-Owens and Nelson, replacing the foul-prone Hyatt, finished it with an assist from Danielle Yamauchi.

Hyatt in her last six games has shot 51 percent from floor, averaging 10.3 points and 6.8 rebounds.

Art U responded with its own streak of 12 points in a row but Nakamura netted a 3-point shot to return the lead to Dominican. The Lady Penguins twice built it to four points, the last on Nakamura basket off a slick pass by Carnes, driving Dominican ahead 27-23 with 4:03 left in the opening half.

However, the Urban Knights closed the half with a 9-2 run to take the lead for good. Dominican, led by Yamauchi, had seven assists in the opening 20 minutes, one more than Art U. Nelson had three blocks in the first half and recorded three of the Lady Penguins' six steals, the same number as the Urban Knights, who are third in the country in that statistical department.

The Lady Penguins conclude their 2012-13 season with Saturday night home games against Holy Names on Feb. 23 and Art U on March 2, which is also Senior Night for Carnes and Nakamura. Both games start at 5:30 p.m. in the Conlan Center with live coverage available at www.dominicanathletics.com/live.