SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – Dominican women's basketball could not overcome a third quarter surge by Westmont in an 84-78 loss Saturday afternoon at Murchison Gymnasium.
 
Alyssa Alvarado led the Penguins (19-7, 13-7 PacWest) with 19 points and four assists, while Keyonee Neal finished with 17 points and seven rebounds. Jazmyn Shipp finished with 18 points and five rebounds for the Warriors (20-6, 16-4 PacWest) with Lisa Kieffer finishing with a double-double of 14 points and 16 rebounds.
 
It was a tight start between the teams with Westmont jumping out to a 6-2 lead, but Neal knocked down a 3-pointer before Kaylyn Buchanon stole the ball and raced for a fast break to take the 2-point advantage at the halfway point of the quarter. Maliyah Wilson stole the ball three minutes later and found Julianne Cotterill in transition for an easy layup to highlight another 6-0 run that pushed the Penguins lead to 16-10 with 2:24 left on the clock. The Warriors battled back chipping away at the lead over the final two minutes with Noemi Bariteau hitting a shot behind the arc at the buzzer to cut their deficit to 21-19 heading to the second.
 
Alvarado hit a 3-pointer early in the second to keep the Penguins in front, but the margin remained razor thin between the teams. Aryn Bright and Alvarado hit back-to-back 3-pointer to spark another run and Buchanon followed with a steal and a score as Dominican began to build another lead. Alvarado had a steal and a score to push the lead to double digits with Buchanon hitting a pair from the charity stripe to take the 38-26 lead with 5:56 remaining. Mariah Brown hit a 3-pointer as Westmont used a 6-point burst to close the gap to four after a Shipp layup with 1:19 remaining in the half. The Penguins responded and Alvarado knocked down one more 3-pointer to push the lead to 46-38 at the break.
 
Neal opened up the third quarter with a 3-pointer to push the lead back into double-digits, but Brown scored the final five points of a 7-0 run to close the gap to 49-45 with 7:16 left in the third. Dominican did its best to hold to the lead but Brown and Shipp each found the bottom of the hoop on layups with Shipp adding a make behind the arc to give Westmont the 58-55 lead, its first since the opening minutes of the game. Bright tied the game with a 3-pointer on the other end, but Kiefer scored the final four points of the period to take the 64-60 advantage heading to the final 10 minutes of the game.
 
The Warriors lead great as high as 11 after Bailey Fong knocked down a 3-pointer during a 10-2 run with seven minutes left to play. Dominican was not out of it yet as Neal hit a 3-pointer to cut the deficit to single digits with Aryn Bright finished off a 6-1 run with a short jumper to pull the Penguins to a 77-72 deficit at the under five minute timeout. Alvarado was fouled on a 3-pointer and hit all three of her shots from the line to cut the lead to 81-78 with under a minute to play and Dominican got the defensive stop it needed to have a shot at the tie, but was unable to secure the rebound allowing Westmont to seal its victory from the free-throw line.
 
Dominican will return home to finish the regular season beginning with a matchup with Chaminade on Thursday at 5:30 p.m. PST at the Conlan Recreation Center.