SAN DIEGO, Calif. – Dominican women's basketball matched up against the No. 1 seed Azusa Pacific University in the semi-finals of the PacWest tournament Friday night. After defeating CUI in the first round on Thursday night, the Penguins fell to the Cougars 76 to 65.
Sophomore
Keyonee Neal who was named to her second consecutive All-PacWest team earlier in the week, came out the gates strong. The Rohnert Park native led the team on offense in the first half going for 11 points on 4 for 7 from the field. APU is known to get their opponents by using their length, but Neal was unfazed scoring in many ways.
The Penguins bench also got off to a fast start in this one outscoring their counterpart 13 to 5. Junior
Mikayla Amoroso who has brought the intensity all year long led the second unit with five points while
Andraya Perez and
Adia Walker had four points each. Walker would finish the night with a solid nine points.
In last night's victory against CUI the Penguins led the three-point category, in tonight's game it was the Cougars who were draining them from deep. Many times, APU would grab the offensive board and find the open shooter for a knockdown three. The Penguins would answer the long-ball with trying to establish dominance in the paint, and it worked. Dominican went into the lockers for half having 16 points down low which helped them cut the Cougars led to 38-29.
The Cougars came out in the third period looking like the No. 1 seed. They would jump out to a 28-point lead hitting on all cylinders and limiting the Penguins to eight points in the period. The Penguins could've given in after the third, but that's not who they are. Dominican would go on to win the fourth period thanks to Neal who finished with a team-high 18 points and senior leader
Jenna Duley who posted 11 points with two treys. Juniors
Alaiyah San Juan and
Alex Salise helped cut into the deficit with their hustle plays and ended the night with 13 combined points.
A remarkable season came to an end for the Penguins Friday night. A season which included 20 wins and a victory over No.9/13 Western Washington University. The Penguins are building something special, and it's only a matter of time before they reach the top of the PacWest.
