SAN RAFAEL, Calif. – Dominican women's basketball suffered from cold shooting as it fell 67-59 Wednesday night to University of Hawai'i at Hilo.
Taylor Linzie led the Penguins (19-10, 13-5 PacWest) with 12 points and 20 rebounds, while
Alaiyah San Juan scored 15 points to go with seven steals and four assists. KeanuMarie Huihui caught fire in the second half to lead the Vulcans (6-17, 4-13 PacWest) with 23 points and four rebounds.
Dominican continued to turn defense into offense to begin the game as Cooper attacked the rim repeatedly scoring six points to power a n 11-2 run to take the 13-4 lead with 3:25 remaining in the first quarter. Jazmine Soto and Mindy Kawaha hit a couple shots behind the arc to spark the Vulcan offense and they outscored the Penguins 13-4 down the stretch to take a 17-15 lead into the second quarter.
The Penguins found an offensive rhythm once again to open the second as Perez connected on her second 3-pointer to regain a 20-19 lead with 8:25 left in the half. The lead began to seesaw between the teams as neither could string together much of a run. Erica Ingram knocked down a 3-pointer from the left elbow to give UHH a 31-27 lead with 2:29 remaining in the second and they maintained the edge heading into the locker room.
Huihui started the third quarter on fire hitting three shots from behind the arc to take a 40-31 lead with 7:58 left in the period. The lead stayed there and Huihui remained the driving force behind the Vulcans success, but San Juan drove and kicked the ball out to
Mikayla Amoroso for a 3-pointer at the buzzer to cut the deficit to 49-43 heading into the fourth.
Dominican scored the first four points of the second quarter as San Juan found Linzie all alone under the basket to cut the deficit two 2-points with 8:33 left on the clock. Dominican was unable to get any closer as the Vulcans slowly opened the lead back up as the shots did not fall for the home team.
Dominican will hit the road next week as it begins its road trip Ferwat Vanguard on Thursday at Freed Center for Leadership.