SAN DIEGO – Dominican women's basketball made a valiant comeback charge in the fourth quarter but fell 94-83 Thursday night to Point Loma Nazarene University at Golden Gymnasium.
Senior forward
Jerusha Paine led the short-handed Penguins (7-11, 4-8 PacWest) with a double-double of 36 points and 12 rebounds. Freshman guard
Brittney Cedeno added career-highs of 15 points and 13 assists to go with seven rebounds as she ended just shy of a triple-double.
Kennedi Byram led six Sea Lions (12-5, 8-3 PacWest) in double-figure scoring with 16 points. Point Loma made a mark on the glass as they outrebounded Dominican 45-37 on its way to 13 second-chance points.
Onjalise Carley-Hilliard and Carol Schroder sparked a 10-0 opening run for the Sea Lions as they attacked the rim in the first two minutes of the game. Alix Henderson started another run for PLNU as Carley-Hilliard found her for a 3-pointer to extend the lead to 17 with two minutes left in the first quarter.
After Carley-Hilliard knocked down a free throw to push the lead to 21, Paine asserted her will down low scoring eight unanswered points for Dominican in a 9-0 run that cut the lead to 32-20 with 6:06 left in the half. The teams traded points for the next six minutes with Cara Liggins connecting on a 3-pointer with time running out in the half to give the Sea Lions the 45-30 lead at the break.
The teams continued their seesaw battle in the second half, but PLNU slowly extended its lead back to 21 on another 3-point basket by Henderson with 6:30 left in the quarter. Cedeno highlighted a 7-0 Penguin run with a 3-pointer of her own from the right elbow as they cut the lead to 14, but the Sea Lions quickly answered with an 8-1 run to distance themselves again.
Camryn Figueroa heated up in the fourth quarter knocking down two 3-pointers in an 11-4 run to cut Dominican's deficit to 82-70 with 4:05 remaining. Figueroa then stole a ball and took it the other way for a layup to bracket four points by Paine to cut the lead back to single digits at 85-76 with two minutes left on the clock. The Penguins were unable to get any closer as PLNU sealed the game from the free-throw line.
Dominican will conclude its road trip Saturday as it faces Biola at 2 p.m. PST at Chase Gymnasium. Live video and stats will be available online.
