HILO, Hawai`i—A 15-0 run by visiting Dominican late in the fourth quarter made a close game look more like a blowout in the box score.

Second-place Dominican survived a Hawai`i Hilo upset attempt, ending their Hawaii road trip with a 76-60 win over the feisty Vulcans on Sunday night at the Afook-Chinen Civic Auditorium. The Penguins improved to 19-3 on the season and to 16-2 in the Pacific West Conference.

Hawai`I Hilo, who had three of their last four games, is now 7-13 on the season and 4-12 in the PacWest.

The Vulcans went toe-to-toe with the Penguins from the opening tap. After Dominican scored the first basket of the game, UH Hilo went on an 8-0 run to take a 8-3 lead. They would lead almost the entire first period, taking a 21-14 margin on a Malia Lee three-pointer.

But the Penguins answered with a 12-0 run into the second quarter, taking the lead back at 26-21. Amber Vaughn and Maddie Beck drained treys to keep the Vulcans within one point as the clubs traded baskets. Another Lee trey gave the lead back to the home team (34-32), and Alyssa Movchan found the twine from long range a few minutes later (37-35).

Natalie Diaz, the third leading scorer in all of NCAA Division II, scored right before the end of the half to give the Penguins a 44-41 halftime lead. UHH hit 7-of-12 treys in the first half to keep them uber close to one of the top teams in the west region.

The pace slowed in the third quarter, with Movchan's trey tying the game at 52-52 heading into the fourth. Moments into the final ten minutes, Lee hit another trey to give the Vulcans a 55-54 lead, but that would be their final margin of the night.

Dominican would launch out on a 15-0 run, keyed by Diaz. The 5-11 senior would finish with 33 points and 14 rebounds on a variety of inside moves and one outside three-pointer. Dominican outscored UH Hilo 24-8 in the final period to pull away.

Allie Navarette led UH Hilo with 18 points and 11 rebounds. Lee had 11 points and Sara Shimizu finished with seven assists and six rebounds.

The Vulcans now head to southern California for four games before returning for their final home games of the season on Feb. 26 and 28.