Dominican University of California (9-7, 7-2) enjoyed the island life in many ways, shapes and forms, this time in the sculpt of a 75-60 win over The University of Hawaii at Hilo (5-8, 2-5) on The Big Island. 

Sophomore Mikayla Amoroso saw her best night as a Penguin as she tallied a gargantuan 27 points on 69% shooting . Graduate student Brittney Cedeno posted another impressive stat line as she piled on another double-double to her repotoire, earning 12 points and 15 rebounds while adding five assists and a hat trick of steals. Sophomore Alex Salise capped off the trio of Dominican players in double-digits, finishing with 11 points, four rebounds, three rebounds and an assist. 

Dominican jumped out to an early 4-0 lead behind an Olga Faasolo jumped and a pair of Alaijah San Juan free throws before Hilo found the basket with a driving layup. The Vulcans took their first lead of the game near the midway mark of the first quarter with a successful and-1 that set the score to 10-8 but the celebration was short-lived as a 7-0 Dominican run gave the Penguins a 15-10 advantage on the heels of an Amoroso deep ball and layup. Dominican clung to its five point lead until the conclusion of the first frame as Amoroso drained a hook shot for her sixth and seventh points of the quarter that gave Dominican a 19-14 lead. 

Dominican immediately extended its lead with baskets from junior Jenna Duley, freshman Keyonee Neal and San Juan as the team combined for a trio of baskets on its first three possessions of the second half. Hilo eventually broke the the 8-0 streak that dated back to the first frame, but a single successful free throw was immediately met by a Cedeno layup that gave Dominican a 27-15 lead. Graduate student Abreanna Lake tallied her third steal of the half with just over a minute remaining, eventually leading to an Amoroso free throw marking Dominican's last basket of the half as it took a 37-27 lead into the locker rooms. 

Amoroso continued her streak of strong play, tallying the Penguins' first basket of the half after a pair of converted Hilo free throws. A San Juan midrange jumper midway through the quarter gave Dominican its largest lead of the game up until this point as the score read 50-35 with the deficit only being slightly depleted before the teams ringed in the final frame with the score set to 57-44 in favor of Dominican.  

More Amoroso buckets brought back Dominican's 15-point lead as she drained a successful 15-footer to start the final 10 minutes. Hard fouls on both sides of the ball went called and uncalled before Lake subbed back in for Dominican, a move that proved immediately effective as Amoroso was sent to the charity stripe after a relay of quick ball movement started by the graduate student with Amoroso soon following-up with more points via an underhand lay-in that kissed the top of the back board before finding the twine. A Duley double with 3:58 remaining extended Dominican's lead to 69-50 marking a new game-high advantage for the Island visitors. Amoroso earned an and-1 with 1:41 remaining after taking a hard foul driving layup before using both fists to brutally deservedly punish an unsuspecting end mat behind the basket as she celebrated her success after netting a career-high 27 points that ended with a 3-pointer from the top of the arc before she and her team waltzed away with a 75-60 win over the Vulcans. 

Dominican will now enjoy a short flight to the island of Oahu before playing a pair of matchups against Hawaii Pacific and Chaminade universities.