SAN RAFAEL, Calif.—A second quarter blitz by third-place Domincan was too much to overcome for Hawai`i Hilo during a 86-55 women's basketball loss to the Penguins at the Conlan Events Center on Saturday afternoon.
Dominican, who sat at the top of the Pacific West Conference standings in early January, won its third straight game to improve to 13-5 overall and to 7-3 in league play. The Vulcans, who had won two in a row, finished their northern California trip at 2-2. They are now 4-5 in the PacWest and 6-6 overall.
The Vulcans were led by freshman
Sara Shimizu, who tossed in a career-high 16 points.
Allie Navarette added 12 points and five rebounds, while
Kailani Jones dished out six assists.
Patience Taylor equaled her season-high with eight points, and
Alyssa Movchan added nine points and six boards.
Five players reached double figures for Dominican, led by Natalie Diaz's 22 points.
UH Hilo traded blows with the Penguins in the first quarter. The two teams exchanged leads throughout, with neither team leading by more than four points in the first ten minutes. The Vulcans had six different players pencil their names into the scoring column and they took a 19-17 lead into the second period.
But everything changed after that. The Penguins began the quarter on a 7-0 run and would never trail again. They would go on to out-score the Vulcans 26-7 in the period. Dominican's Alexis Price ended the scoring with a three-pointer with 25 seconds left, adding to numbers that saw the home team hit 7-of-13 treys before intermission.
The Penguins kept the pressure on in the third quarter, increasing their lead to 24 points (65-41) by out-scoring the Vulcans, 22-15. The hosts then scored the first seven points of the fourth quarter to squash any hopes the Vulcans had of mounting a comeback.
The Penguins finished the game with by hitting 10-of-24 from three-point range, and they made 56 percent of their shots from the field. The Vulcans converted just 33 percent of their shots and had 15 turnovers in the game.
The Vulcans now return home to host Point Loma on Saturday, Jan. 27. Start time is 5:30 p.m.
