BELMONT, Calif. – Dominican women's basketball struggled to find any offensive rhythm in a 52-41 loss Monday night to Notre Dame de Namur at Walter Gleason Gymnasium.

Senior forward Jerusha Paine led the Penguins (7-10, 4-7 PacWest) with her eighth double-double, finishing with 19 points and 13 rebounds. Freshman guard Nicole Gleeson added a career-high five blocks to go with four rebounds. Auren Isaacson led the Argonauts (5-13, 3-9 PacWest) with 20 points and five rebounds. 

NDNU made the biggest difference in the game by knocking down eight 3-pointers, four from Isaacson, and holding Dominican to two makes from beyond the arc.

The teams began the game trading points until Lauren Rebena sparked a 7-0 run for the Argonauts with a 3-pointer in the corner to take a 14-7 lead with two minutes left in the quarter. Neither team could find any offense in the final two minutes with the exception of a free throw made by Sydney Larocca for Dominican.

After once again trading the first few points, a 6-0 run helped NDNU push the lead to double-digits at 22-12 on a long jumper from Isaacson with seven minutes left in the half. Jessica Armstrong responded with three quick points to spark the Penguins on their first run of the game as Gleeson found Jordan Charlton in transition for a fastbreak layup to cut the deficit to 22-19 and force NDNU to take a timeout with two minutes left on the clock. Gleeson had back-to-back blocks to keep the Argonauts off the board and Paine knocked down a midrange jumper to make it a one-point game as the teams headed to the locker rooms.

Gleeson continued to create havoc to start the second half with two more blocks to run the NDNU scoreless streak to nine minutes, but the Penguins were unable to take advantage at the offensive end as the teams began to trade points. Brittney Cedeno eventually tied the game at 26 with a 3-pointer from the elbow with 5:42 remaining in the third quarter. The Argonauts gained some breathing room with back-to-back makes from beyond the arc by Isaacson, but Cedeno answered with one of her own for the final basket of the period to make 36-33 heading to the fourth.

Larocca laid the ball in for the first basket of the fourth and Paine followed up with a jumper from the free-throw line to give Dominican its first lead since the first basket of the game at 37-36 with 8:29 left in the game. Katie Campana knocked down a pair of free throws to give NDNU back the lead and Isaacson capped the 11-0 run with a layup and two 3-pointers to make it 47-37 with five minutes remaining and it was all the room they would need.

Dominican will take on Point Loma Nazarene University on Thursday at 5:30 p.m. PST at Golden Gymnasium. Live video and stats will be available online.