SAN RAFAEL, Calif. – Senior forward Natalie Diaz continued her hot start to the conference season with 37 points to lead Dominican women's basketball to a 77-65 victory Saturday evening over Point Loma Nazarene University at the Conlan Center.

Diaz added seven rebounds and two steals to her totals, and sophomore guard Julia Razo added 22 points and eight rebounds for the Penguins (4-1, 2-0 PacWest). Dominican shot 42.2 percent from the field and 31.3 percent from behind the arc. 

Sydney Peterson led the Sea Lions (1-6, 1-1 PacWest) with 16 points and four rebounds. PLNU struggled to solve the size of the Penguins shooting 37.5 percent from the field.

Cruz got Dominican off to a strong start connecting on a 3-pointer from the elbow before connecting on a floater as the Penguins jumped ahead 7-0 two minutes into the game. The Penguins continued to pour it in as Julia Razo connected on two 3-pointers and Natalie Diaz added nine points during a 17-4 run to open a 17-point lead. Dominican drew several Sea Lion fouls to extend the lead to 29-10 with 2:03 left in the first.

PLNU began to cut into the lead in the second quarter behind Yuendi Guridi's five points and Cara Liggins added a 3-pointer to cut it to 36-28 with four minutes until the break. Diaz halted the Sea Lions momentum with back-to-back layups to put the lead back into double digits and the teams traded buckets down the stretch. Dominican entered the half leading 43-33.

Razo started the second half with a pair of free throws and another make from beyond the arc to extend the Penguins lead to 48-35 with 6:17 left in the third, but Diaz picked up her fourth foul and headed to the bench for most of the period. Carol Schroder finished on a layup in the paint and got a block on the other end to spark PLNU on a 9-0 run to end the period as it headed to the final quarter trailing by three. 

Diaz came back on the court to start the fourth and torched the Sea Lions on a personal 8-2 run to take the 64-55 lead with six minutes remaining. Sydney Peterson answered with six consecutive points of her own to close the game back to one possession, but the Penguins continued to attack the basket and get to the free throw line during a 9-2 run that made it 73-63 heading to the final minute of play as they sealed the game from the free-throw line. 

Dominican will head across the Golden Gate Bridge to take on Notre Dame de Namur on Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. PST at Walter Gleason Gymnasium. Live stats and video will be available online.