FRESNO, Calif. – Senior forward Jerusha Paine broke her own record in her final game for Dominican women's basketball, but the Penguins (10-18, 7-15 PacWest) lost 87-83 Saturday to Fresno Pacific at the Special Events Center. 

Senior forward Jerusha Paine recorded a double-double by halftime and went on to finish with 45 points and 23 rebounds. Her 23 rebounds were the third most in Dominican's NCAA Division II history. Sophomore Camryn Figueroa added 10 points, nine rebounds and six assists. Ashley Cross led the Sunbirds (16-12, 13-9 PacWest) with 31 points, 14 rebounds and five steals. 

Paine sparked an 11-0 Dominican run to start the game with three straight layups and Julia Razo ended the run with an offensive rebound and putback followed by a 3-pointer to take the 14-4 lead. Felicia Dourva knocked down a step-back 3-pointer from the elbow and Landynn Munster drove the baseline for a layup began to slowly cut into the lead. Cross stole an errant pass away in the closing seconds and took it to the rim for the layup as time expired to end a 10-0 Sunbird run and tie the game heading to the second.

Cross kept things rolling in the second with a midrange jumper and then a steal and a layup to take the 21-17 lead in the first 30 seconds. Dourva hit a jumper to end the 16-0 run between the two quarter before Jessica Armstrong finally ended the run by drawing a foul and knocking down both free throws. Paine kept Dominican close for the next several minutes as she battled through double teams in the paint. Brittney Cedeno then ran up the court in transition and laid it in with the foul to complete a 3-point play and cut the FPU lead to 32-31 with 3:09 left in the half. Dominican was unable to capitalize on several open shots in the closing minutes to retake a lead and the Sunbirds entered the locker room ahead 39-35.

FPU was able to add to its lead in the third quarter as back-to-back 3-pointers pushed the lead to 51-49 with 5:21 remaining in the period. The teams traded points for much of the final five minutes as Paine single-handedly keeping the Sunbirds from running away with the game.

Razo and Cedeno knocked down back-to-back 3-pointers to start the fourth quarter and cut the FPU lead to 60-56 with 9:22 remaining on the clock. Paine then found a cutting Armstrong for the layup to cut the lead to 64-62 as the clock ticked under eight minutes. Cross created some separation for the Sunbirds knocking down a 3-pointer and a reverse layup to make it 71-63 two minutes later. 

Paine had other ideas scoring five straight to cut the lead back to three with 5:26 left on the clock. Cross once again had the answer for FPU as she scored four of the next six points to retake the nine-point lead. The Penguins continued to battle as Cedeno and Figueroa each cut down the lane in transition to cap a 6-0 run to get back within three. Paine cut it to two with four points in the final minute, but Cassie Pisik hit both free throws with four seconds remaining to seal the game.