MERCED, Calif. – Domincian women's basketball created havoc on defense and never trailed in an 84-70 victory Saturday afternoon over UC Merced in the PacWest/CCAA Tipoff Challenge at Greg and Cathie Hostetler Court.
Mahliya Wilson continued her impressive start to the season scoring a career-high 30 points to go with six steals, five rebounds and two blocks for the Penguins (2-0).
Alyssa Alvarado chipped in 22 points on 3-for-6 shooting from behind the arc, while
Kaylyn Buchanon ended the game with 14 points, five assists and five steals. Sarina Nagra led the Bobcats (1-1) with 24 points and three steals, but Dominican caused 23 turnovers to pull away in the victory.
Alvarado powered the Penguins early scoring six points during a game-opening 13-2 run as they quickly jumped to a double-digit lead over the Bobcats in five minutes of action. UC Merced was able to chip away at the lead over the final five minute but not by much as a Buchanon free-throw gave Dominican the 19-12 lead heading to the second. Nagra knocked down a corner three to cut the lead to four in the first minute of the new quarter, but
Julianne Cotterill converted from the charity stripe then stole a ball and scored to push the lead to 22-15 and take some momentum back for Dominican. After Wilson drove for two, Alvarado knocked down a shot behind the arc to push the lead back to 12 with seven minutes remaining in the half.
Cotterill swatted away a shot from Nicole Lukito right to the arms of Wilson who quickly passed the ball ahead to Alvarado for a layup to keep the run going. Wilson knocked down a pair from the charity stripe to cap the 14-2 run and push the lead to 33-17 with 4:35 left in the quarter. The teams traded points until Paloma Ramirez and Ixchel Rojo buried a couple of shots behind the arc for the Bobcats to cut the lead to six, but Alvarado answered with a step-back 3-pointer off the backboard at the buzzer to give Dominican the 43-30 lead at the break.
The third quarter saw the team trade points most of the way with the Bobcats able to take one point off their deficit trailing 63-51 heading into the final 10 minutes of action. Elise LaBeau knocked down a shot behind the arc for UC Merced to open the fourth to get back within single digits for the first time since the first quarter and Nagra knocked down another to make it 65-60 with 7:28 left in the game.
Keyonee Neal halted the Bobcat momentum as she drove for two with Wilson driving for a layup of her own before stealing the ball and taking it the other way for another layup to push the lead back to 11 with 6:23 left on the clock. Alvarado sparked a 7-0 Penguin run with a 3-pointer to push the lead back to the game-high 16 heading into the final minutes and putting the game out of reach of the Bobcats.
Dominican will have a week of rest before hitting the court across the Golden Gate bridge to take on San Francisco State on Friday at The Swamp at 7 p.m. PST.
