IRVINE, Calif. – Dominican women's basketball fell 75-68 Monday afternoon to CUI after an uncharacteristically bad day with ball control at CU Arena.
Mahliya Wilson scored 21 points for the Penguins (6-2, 0-2 PacWest) to go with six rebounds and three steals.
Keyonee Neal added a double-double of 10 points and 16 rebounds. Asia Darcuiel led the Golden Eagles (4-4, 2-1 PacWest) with 22 points while Allison Shumate added 17 points and six boards. Dominican committed 12 turnovers in the first quarter and 19 in the game while CUI shot 41.2% from the field.
It took a few minutes for the teams to settle in as
Julianne Cotterill found herself alone for a pair of easy layups to push the Penguins to a 6-2 lead four minutes in. The teams traded baskets for the next three minutes until Darcuiel collected her own miss and drained the follow-up jumper to tie the game 11-11. Shumate got a steal underneath the hoop and laid it in to give CUI a 15-13 lead briefly, but Neal left a defender guarding air with a spin before connecting on a short floater to send the game into the second quarter all knotted up.
Wilson drove the lane for two to push Dominican ahead 18-15, but the Golden Eagles scored the next four with Shumate connecting on a layup to retake the lead on a fast break. Shumate continued to power the CUI offense with two more layups to push the lead to 23-21. The run continued as the Golden Eagle full-court press kept the Penguins out of sync with Ashari Cassell connecting on a short jumper to take the 28-20 lead with 3:46 until the half. Wilson finally ended the Dominican scoreless streak with a pair of free-throws and
Janiya Sawyer drained a 3-pointer from the right elbow. Neal stuffed a shot by Shumate and
Kaylyn Buchanon found Wilson all alone on the break for a layup to keep the run going. After the Penguins tied the game, Cassell hit back-to-back shots to retake a 4-point advantage with under a minute to play.
A pair of steals and a pair of run-out layups by Cotterill and Neal pushed the Penguins ahead 33-32 one minute into the new half. The teams began to trade ties until Buchanon stole the ball on one end and took it the other way for two before Wilson split a pair of defenders and laid it off glass for the 41-37 lead with 6:21 remaining in the quarter. The Golden Eagles battled back and forced two more turnovers and took a 45-43 lead on a short jumper by Darcuiel. After Ellana Klemp pushed the CUI lead to four on a layup, Dominican began to pick up the pace getting a pair of layups by
Adia Walker and
Alyssa Alvarado to tie the game 49-49 heading into the fourth.
After trading the first four buckets of the fourth, Darcuiel swooped into the lane for two and Hannah Vela knocked home a 3-pointer to take a five point edge with 7:13 remaining. Dominican trimmed the lead to two with 5:22 remaining, but four quick points pushed the CUI lead back to six and it remained that way down the stretch as Dominican was unable to string together stops and makes.
The Penguins will return home and look to regain some of their mojo Thursday as they face Jessup at noon PST at the Conlan Center.
