OAKLAND, Calif. — The Dominican University of California women's basketball team held on for a tough-fought 66-63 road win, besting Holy Names in PacWest Conference action.

Saturday's win marks the Penguins' best-ever start in the Division II era and matches the Penguins' best-ever PacWest start. Dominican last started 2-0 in 2012-13 when the Penguins split their trip to Hawaii.

The team effort but headlined by a triple-double performance by senior center Sarah Nelson. Nelson finished with 19 points, 13 rebounds, and set a program record in the Division II era with 10 blocked shots. Allyssa Weatherd balanced the attack with 13 points, four rebounds, and four assists while Carly Holboke came off the bench to score 10 points with a pair of three-pointers. Kelsey McKeon and Jessy Marshall both added nine points apiece, including two clutch free throws by Marshall. Danielle Yamauchi dished out six assists in the victory.

Dominican held the Hawks to 21-of-77 (27.3 percent) shooting from the field and are now holding opponents to 32.2 percent on the season. The Penguins were far more efficient, going 23-of-54 (42.6 percent) from the field.

A physical game prompted Head Coach Tim LaKose to defend his players. In doing so he picked up a technical foul seven minutes into the game. Dominican trailed by two at that point but responded to their coach. Less than three minutes later, Dominican tied the game at 9-9 on a second-chance score by Weatherd. That was part of a 12-3 run capped by a Holboke three-pointer that put the Penguins ahead 19-12 with 7:31 to go in the half. The lead grew to as large as 13 but Dominican was whistled for four fouls in less than two minutes. That cut the lead to three and resulted in a second technical foul on LaKose. The ejection marked only the second time in his 20-plus year coaching career that he has had to vacate the sidelines. A Marshall layup ended the half and sent Dominican into the locker room with a 35-30 lead and Assistant Coach PhyNique Allen helped keep the Penguins in front the remainder of the game.

Dominican was whistled for another foul to begin the second half but the Penguins never trailed in the half. Dominican grew the lead back to 11 but saw the lead shrink to a two-possession game in the final three minutes. With the lead down to three with 50 seconds left, Marshall knocked down a pair of free throws to keep the it a two-possession game. Garysha Youngblood hit a jumper with five seconds left but didn't get a good look to tie the game on their final possession with Mariah Winston's halfcourt heave coming up well short.

Youngblood was one of three Hawks to reach double digits and led HNU with 15 points.

Dominican will play its last non-conference game of the regular season on Saturday, Dec. 13. The Penguins host Northwest Nazarene in a 2 p.m. contest. Live stats and video will be available at dominicanatlhletics.com/live with audio provided by radio.dominican.edu.