SAN DIEGO, Calif.- Dominican women's basketball put on their dancing shoes, and tore up the dance floor Thursday night. The Penguins opened the PacWest tournament facing Concordia University of Irvine in the first round and won 72-63 thanks to a huge offensive performance in the first half.

The game couldn't have started any better for the Penguins. Dominican scored 10 straight points after winning the tip forcing CUI to call an early timeout. Senior leader Jenna Duley, fresh off her second team All-PacWest award had six of the 10 points including two treys. A couple buckets later from fellow senior Olga Faasolo and junior Alaiyah San Juan CUI found themselves in a deep hole, trailing 19-3.

Dominican's early game plan on offense was to let the three's rip, and it payed off. The Penguins were an efficient 5 for 7 from the arc in the first half which was good for 71%. Sharpshooter Andraya Perez who had the miraculous game-winning three pointer against PLNU, joined Duley in the first half with a pair of threes. The offense wasn't the only thing working early on for the Penguins, the defense mad life tough for the Golden Eagles forcing seven turnovers and swatting away two blocks.

The Penguins headed to the lockers for halftime with a 39 to 27 lead. San Juan went into halftime with five points and by the end of the night she had a team-high 14. All year San Juan has orchestrated Dominican's offense alongside Duley masterfully, and that didn't change Thursday night. The Millbrae native made life tough for the Golden Eagles defense all throughout the second half. 

Duley was right behind San Juan in scoring with 12 points on 5 for 7 from the field, and Perez posted 11 points with five boards. Faasolo, Alex Salise, and freshman Adia Walker all had nine points each.

The Penguins will square off against Azusa Pacific tomorrow at 7:15 p.m. for the right to go to the championship game Saturday afternoon.