SAN RAFAEL, Calif. - Dominican women's basketball defeated Hawaii Pacific 65 to 60 Thursday night to open the new year. This victory pushes the Penguins to 4-2 in PacWest play and 11-3 overall.

The Sharks showed no Hawaii jet lag to begin the game as they came out the gates strong. HPU boasted a 42% from the floor in the first period with their biggest lead being 10 points.
Junior Andraya Perez was the story of the second quarter for the Penguins. The Stockton native couldn't miss from deep. After being down double-digits going into the second period, Perez ignited the offense hitting three straight from deep.

Perez's instant offense rubbed off on the rest of the team as sophomore Keyonee Neal also heated up in the second period. Neal, fresh off her PacWest Player of the Week honors, posted seven points in the first half on 3 for 5 from the field. She ended the game with 12 points. Perez and Neal helped the Penguins erase the deficit and going into halftime Dominican lead 32 to 27.

Defense wins games, and in the second half the Penguins turned up their defensive effort. Dominican defenders were suffocating the Sharks all night which led to 27 turnovers. Junior Alaiyah San Juan led the way with seven steals on the night which is a season high.

Not only was the Millbrae native active on defense she came out for the second half and dropped 15 points ending with a game-high 19 points. San Juan was giving the Sharks defense fits sending her to the line where she was 5 for 6.

HPU inched closer late in the fourth period, but consecutive swarming defensive series from the Penguins secured the victory.

Dominican will now pack their suitcases for Hawaii as they embark on a three-game road trip starting Jan 11^th at Hilo.