SAN RAFAEL, Calif. — Sarah Nelson recorded her second triple-double of the season but the Dominican University of California women's basketball team was unable to overcome a slow first half in a 61-60 PacWest loss to Fresno Pacific on Saturday evening.

Nelson had the game's first bucket and dominated both ends of the court. She had a double-double by the half with 12 points and 11 rebounds. The 6-foot-4 senior center finished with 20 points; half of the team's 38 rebounds with 19, which is second-most in a game by a Penguin player; and 10 blocks, which matched both a career high and a Dominican single-game record in the Division II era. The nation's leading shot blocker is now averaging 5.39 blocks per game.

Yet, Nelson's effort, plus a 15-point, nine-rebound outing from Allyssa Weatherd, couldn't help the Penguins finish off a second-half comeback. Dominican trailed by one with 5:35 to go in the first half but the Sunbirds finished the half on a 13-4 run to built a 40-30 halftime lead.

Dakota McLaran knocked down two of her team-high five three pointers and Jenay Herring added another long ball to carry FPU's momentum into the second half. At the 10-minute mark, Dominican finally made a run, going on an eight-point run to trim the lead to five, 57-52. McLaran broke up the run with a basket but Dominican went on yet another eight-point run. Back-to-back Weatherd baskets, a fast break layup from Melissa Boscarino, and a Nelson jumper gave Dominican a 60-59 lead with 1:52 to go. However, Jasmine Shedrick made a pair of free throws for the Sunbirds and Dominican went scoreless the rest of the way, despite three possessions. Dominican fouled and on two separate occassions FPU missed the front end of 1-and-1 opportunities but on the first came away with the offensive rebound and on the second shot, the ball bounced out with a second left. However, Dominican was unable to get a clean shot off from the inbounds.

Carly Holboke added 11 points in the loss. Lauren Hyatt had six points and Boscarino added five.

Herring finished with a game-high 20 points. McLarnan scored 17 points on five three-pointers. Shedrick scored 10 points and grabbed a team-high nine rebounds.

The Penguins will look to split the season series and remain in the hunt for the sixth and final seed in the PacWest Championships on Wednesday, Feb. 4 at 7:30 p.m. when Dominican heads to Fresno for a rematch with the Sunbirds.