Box Score SAN RAFAEL, Calif. – Dominican women's basketball defeated Notre Dame de Namur 85-71 in their PacWest home opener Saturday at the Conlan Center.
Natalie Diaz led the Penguins (6-2, 2-0 PacWest), finishing with a career-high 32 points in her second 30-point outing already this season. Senior
Sandra Ikeora recorded another double-double, tallying 29 points and 17 rebounds, including seven on the offensive end. Freshman Julia Razo added 14 points on 4-8 shooting from three-point range for her third straight game in double-figures. Jerusha Paine finished with 17 points to lead the Argonauts (3-5, 1-1 PacWest).
Dominican got off to a blistering start, converting on their first three possessions and scoring the first 13 points of the game. NDNU responded quickly with a 15-6 run, capped by a layup from Marinel Alcantara. The Penguins got hot again, answering the Argonauts with a 7-0 run to extend their lead to 26-15 near the end of the first quarter.
Razo buried a three-pointer near the halfway point of the second quarter and Diaz followed with a bucket in the paint, putting the Penguins ahead 39-23. Diaz added another layup and a jumper later in the quarter and Razo knocked down her third triple of the afternoon just before the half, giving Dominican a 46-30 advantage heading into the break.
NDNU cut their deficit to 10 less than three minutes into the third quarter as Aaliyah Monroe put in a jumper to make it 48-38. Later in the quarter, back-to-back baskets in the paint from Diaz helped the Penguins maintain their lead, the second of which put Dominican on top 56-44. The Argonauts were able to cut their deficit to single digits on a three from Aubrey Mondanca, which made it 60-51. After the Penguins stretched the lead back out to 14 on a free throw from Diaz, Taylor Bates hit a last-second jumper to cut Dominican's lead to 65-53 heading into the fourth quarter.
The two teams exchanged baskets to start the fourth quarter, allowing the Penguins to keep their double-digit advantage. Dominican took an 18 point lead, their largest of the afternoon to that point, on a layup from Diaz with just over six minutes remaining in the game. A couple of minutes later, the Penguins' advantage ballooned to 21 on a pair of free throws from Diaz. Dominican preserved their lead in the last few minutes for their second straight win to start PacWest conference play.
The Penguins finished with a 46-28 advantage in points in the paint and also assisted on 16 of their 33 field goals, compared to just seven assists on 30 field goals for NDNU.
The Penguins take the court again Saturday, Dec. 9, as they travel to Fresno Pacific for a 2:30 p.m. tip. Live stats and video will be available online.
