SAN RAFAEL, Calif. — The Dominican University of California women's basketball team suffered its first PacWest loss of the season in a close 75-71 loss to visiting Azusa Pacific on Tuesday night in the Conlan Center.

The Penguins, who entered play limiting teams to 33.4 percent shooting, allowed the Cougars to shoot a tick higher at 36.8 percent (25-of-68). The Penguins went 43.4 percent (23-of-53) from the field and despite taking 15 less field goal attempts stayed in the game. Yet, Dominican's 20-of-31 free throw shooting cost the Penguins.

Dominican trailed early but surged ahead to take a nine-point lead of its own. However, the Cougars closed out the first half on a 14-6 run that shaved the Penguins' halftime lead to 34-33.

Three minutes into the second half, Azusa Pacific grabbed the lead. Dominican tied the game twice but never led again. The Penguins fell behind by as much as nine and were forced to foul. That strategy nearly worked, as the Penguins pulled within two with under a minute to go. Dominican was down by four when the Cougars' Kelly Hardeman threw the ball away on the inbounds play. Jade Castro came up with the ball and was fouled on the play. She made both her free throws to cut the deficit to 69-67 with 40 seconds left. Two more times the Cougars would stretch the lead to four and Dominican would pull back within two. Hardemann pushed the lead to four with 11 seconds and the Penguins were unable to score on their last possession.

Allyssa Weatherd, the reigning PacWest Player of the Week, continued her strong play for the Penguins with 24 points and 11 rebounds. Carly Holboke added 14 points on four three-pointers. Jessy Marshall and Danielle Yamauchi matched season-highs with nine and eight points, respectively. Sarah Nelson added eight points, eight rebounds, and six blocks in her first game back from being sick.

Three players reached double digits for the Cougars. Miriam Zabinsky had 19 points, Hardeman scored 18, and Katie Powell added 15 points.

Dominican will look to bounce back against California Baptist University on Thursday, Dec. 18 at 5:30 p.m. The Lancers enter the contest at 8-2 overall and 1-1 in PacWest play after having fallen 76-68 at Academy of Art. Both of those teams received votes in the latest USA TODAY Sports Division II Top 25 women's basketball poll. Live video and stats will be available on dominicanathletics.com/live with commentary provided by Alex Swan on radio.dominican.edu.