Box Score SAN RAFAEL, Calif. — Salonika Quewon-Owens had another career-night and the Dominican University of California women's basketball team continued to crawl its way up the standings with a 63-53 victory over visiting UH Hilo on Thursday night in the Conlan Center.

For the second game in a row, Quewon-Owens poured in a career-high 23 points to go with six rebounds and four steals. Carly Holboke continued her hot shooting and scored 11 points with three three-pointers. Jessy Marshall went 4-for-5 for the game and finished with nine points. Sarah Nelson pulled down a game-high eight rebounds and had four blocks.

The win put Dominican (3-14/3-8 PacWest) in a tie with Bay Area rival NDNU in the Pacific West Conference standings as several teams eye the sixth and final spot for the PacWest Championships set for March 6-8 in San Diego. Those two teams will face each other down the home stretch in February and March.

The Vulcans (6-8/5-5 PacWest) scored on the opening possession but Dominican never trailed after Quewon-Owens put the Penguins on the board with a jumper. By the second media timeout, the Penguins led 18-8 and, while the lead would shrink to a single point, the Penguins never relinquished the lead.

That 10-3 run by UHH cut the lead to 21-20 with 7:11 remaining in the first half but the Penguins bounced right back with an 8-0 run to extend the lead to 29-20 on a Melissa Boscarino jump shot with 2:59 left before the break. The lead dwindled back to four by intermission.

Strong second-half shooting (13-of-22, 59.1 percent) by the Penguins helped maintain the lead and built the gap to as large as 11. Quewon-Owens, who had nine first-half points, drove the paint and  got to the free throw line four times for 14 second-half points.

Aggressive defense by the Penguins caused 21 turnovers by the Vulcans, a dozen coming by way of Dominican steals. The Penguins finished the night with 20 points off of turnovers.

Jordan Kealoha scored a team-high 13 points for the Vulcans.

Dominican, winner of three of its last five games, hosts Chaminade University on Saturday, Jan. 25 at 5:30 p.m. The Penguins notched their first win of the season with a 79-61 victory over the Silver Swords (2-14/2-8 PacWest) back on Jan. 6 in Hawai'i. Live coverage will be available at dominicanathletics.com/live.