BELMONT, Calif. — The Dominican University of California women's basketball team didn't get the start to 2017 it was looking for on Tuesday night with a 79-59 loss at Notre Dame de Namur.

Dominican (7-6/3-3 PacWest) led by eight points in the second quarter but only led 34-32 headed into halftime. The Penguins were held to 25 points on 26.5 percent (9-of-34) in the second half. The Argonauts (6-6/4-1 PacWest) tied the game at 36-36 with 6:40 to go in the third quarter. Alyssa Lorenzo twice gave the Penguins the lead back but NDNU responded with a 14-0 run. The Penguins never recovered and got no closer than seven points in the fourth quarter for their first loss to the Argos dating back to January 2013.

Sandra Ikeora notched her fifth consecutive and eighth double-double of the season in the first half. She finished with team-highs of 17 points and 16 rebounds. Natalie Diaz added 14 points, Vanessa Cruz scored 12 points, and Alyssa Lorenzo had 11 points. Only two others scored though, and the Penguins were without second leading scorer Taylor Donnot (ankle).

The Argonauts, who shot 43.5 percent (10-of-23) from deep and scored 23 points off of 23 Penguins turnovers, were led by Marissa Caballero's game-high 27 points. Emily Tevez added 18 points and Jerusha Paine had a double-double with 10 points and a game-high 21 rebounds.

Dominican returns home to the Conlan Center on Thursday, Dec. 5 when the Penguins host third place Point Loma (11-2/5-1 PacWest). That is Youth Night and tipoff has been bumped up by an hour to 4:30 p.m. Live stats and pay-per-view video will be available at dominicanathletics.com/live with live audio provided by the student broadcasters of Penguin Radio. Live updates will also be available on the @dominican_wbb Twitter account.