HILO, Hawai'i – Dominican women's basketball fell 77-63 to the University of Hawaii at Hilo on Monday night at Afook-Chinen Civic Auditorium.
 
Riley Friauf recorded a double-double of 18 points and 11 rebounds before fouling out early in the fourth quarter for the Penguins (8-8, 5-4 PacWest). Errayanna Hatfield added 12 points and eight rebounds. Mandi Kawaha finished 14 points, five rebounds and three assists to lead the Vulcans (7-2, 4-1 PacWest).
 
"Tonight was an extremely physical game," head coach Tim LaKose said. "I felt like we played well we outshot them from the field but we missed our chances at the free throw line and need to take better care of the ball on the road if we expect to win. Credit to Hilo for doing both in that second half. We look forward to getting back home to face Holy Names and trying to get back on track."
 
Friauf got Dominican off to a strong start with seven unanswered points in the opening four minutes capping off the run by finishing through contact for a 3-point play to take the 9-2 lead. Bree Olson answered by reeling off six points for UHH with a baseline jumper cutting their deficit to one at the four minute mark. The teams traded buckets down the stretch with Dominican holding on to a 15-13 lead heading to the second period.
 
Mandi Kawaha was able to break a seesaw battle in the opening minutes of the new period after knocking down back-to-back midrange jumpers, but Friauf answered with another 3-point play to put the Penguins ahead 22-21 with seven minutes remaining in the half. The teams traded buckets for the next three minutes until Mindy Kawaha hit a 3-pointer from the right elbow and an acrobatic layups from Heaven Samayoa-Mathis helped UHH pull ahead 34-28 with 2:14 left in the quarter. The teams continued to trade points with Alaiyah San Juan driving beneath the hoop and passing a ball behind a defenders back to Friauf for a short jumper to cut the Vulcan lead to 36-32 at the break.
 
After trading baskets for the first half of the third quarter, Friauf found Ysobelle Eustaquio cutting baseline for a layup before scoring the next four points for the Penguins to cut their deficit to 47-46 with four minutes left in the quarter. Noelle Sua-Godinet hit a jumper to slow the Dominican momentum before Samaria-Mathis made another impressive layup to regain a five-point advantage. The teams traded free-throws for the remainder of the quarter and UHH took the 57-49 lead into the final period.
 
The teams continued to struggle from the field as seven minutes of game time passed before Mandi Kawaha made a jumper with 6:07 left in the game, the first field goal since the three minute mark of the third quarter. Dominican was unable to find its offense down the stretch after Friauf fouled out with 8:26 left in the fourth quarter as the Vulcans pulled away.
 
Dominican will return home Friday to take on Holy Names at 5:30 p.m. PST at the Conlan Center.