SAN RAFAEL, Calif. – Dominican women's basketball was unable to overcome early foul trouble to senior forward Natalie Diaz in an 87-66 loss to Azusa Pacific on Monday night at the Conlan Center.

Diaz was limited to 25 minutes of play and fouled out for the first time this season, but she still finished the game with 21 points and five rebounds. Senior guard Alanna Scott added 15 points, while junior guard Vanessa Cruz scored 13 points to go with seven assists. After the Penguins (6-2, 4-1 PacWest) hit 9 of their first 15 shots, they finished the game with a 35.4 shooting percentage.

Laura Pranger played a large part in Dominican's struggles on the offensive end, finishing the game with seven blocks. She also benefitted from the foul trouble to Diaz to score 30 points and grab 11 rebounds. Daylee Hanson added 22 points and 11 rebounds for the Cougars (9-3, 6-0 PacWest).

After trading points for the first five minutes of the game, Marisa Mondave came off the bench and knocked down a 3-pointer to spark a 6-0 Penguin run that gave the Penguins the 17-11 lead. Diaz took a seat on the bench after picking up her third foul of the game during the run, but Dominican was able to increase its lead to eight on a driving layup from Sydney Larocca with 56 seconds left in the period. APU scored the last five points of the period to close the gap to 23-20. 

Hanson continued the charge in the second quarter, scoring the first eight points of the period to extend the run to 13-0 and give the Cougars a 28-23 lead with 7:31 left on the clock. Scott knocked down a 3-pointer to close the gap back to two and keep the Penguins close for the next several minutes. APU was able to limit Dominican's offensive chances down the stretch going on a 14-5 run over the final five minutes of the half to take a 44-33 lead into the break.

Pranger hit a jumper and a 3-pointer in the early part of the third to extend the Cougars lead to 16 as they created some breathing room. Diaz came off the bench to score six unanswered of her own and cut the lead to 59-46 with one minute left in the period and give the Penguins some hope at the comeback. 

It was not enough as the teams traded buckets for the rest of the game until APU scored the final six points of the game to push its lead to the largest margin of the night at 21 at 87-66.

Dominican will step away from conference play to take on Cal State Monterey Bay on Wednesday at 2 p.m. PST at the Conlan Center. Live stats and video will be available online.