SAN RAFAEL, Calif. – The Chaminade University women's basketball team continued their Bay Area road trip, dropping a 65-57 decision to Dominican University of California at the Conlon Center on Thursday.
Lilia Maio led the Silverswords (2-11 overall, 2-7 Pacific West Conference) with 19 points and eight rebounds while
Kristle Henry followed with 17 points and four boards.
Kennedi Akana grabbed nine rebounds and passed Samantha Saito as the program's all-time rebounding leader with 301 career boards. Also,
Glacen Florita contributed with 10 points on the night giving the senior guard 511 career points, just three behind Simrin (Cummins) Herington for second in Chaminade women's basketball history for career points.
Sarah Nelson had 19 points, eight rebounds and four blocks to lead the Penguins (8-9, 5-6). Allyssa Weatherd also had nine boards for Dominican, along with 18 points.
The Penguins jumped out to 6-0 lead early before Henry got the 'Swords on the scoreboard with a layup four-and-a-half minutes in. Two more DUC buckets made it a 10-2 advantage, but Maio scored five straight, putting Chaminade down by three at the 12:10 mark. The Penguins eventually built a 21-12 lead with just over six minutes left in the half, but back-to-back baskets by
Shana Kawakami and Maio brought the deficit to 21-16 with 4:41 left.
Dominican ended the first half strong, scoring seven of the half's final 10 points to own a 30-21 lead at the half.
Chaminade shot only 28 percent and didn't hit a three in the first half while Dominican was nearly 38 percent from the floor. The 'Swords were also out-boarded, 26-22.
Both teams started out cold to begin the second half as both teams were unable to muster a point. The Penguins finally broke through the ice after three scoreless minutes with an Allyssa Weatherd field goal to give them their largest lead of 11 at 32-21.
The 'Swords again battled back as a 7-0 run on an Akana jumper, Florita's 3-ball and Henry's layup to reduce the deficit to 32-28 with 14:38 remaining. An 11-5 run over the next six minutes put the home team up by double-digits again at 43-33. Chaminade managed twice to get back within single digits, but a six straight points by the Penguins proved to be the decisive run, giving them a 51-37 lead with just under seven minutes left.
The 'Swords were never able to get closer than nine for the next six minutes, but made things interesting in the final minute, getting two Kawakami free throws and a Henry triple to trail 63-57 with 33 seconds left. Carly Holboke's layup sealed it for the game's final points.
In the end, the Silverswords managed to even things in rebounds (45), points in the point (34) and second chance points (19). Dominican held the edge in the final numbers in shooting percentage, making 26-of-65 (40 percent) while Chaminade was 23-of-67 (34.3). The Silverswords also committed more turnovers (18-14), but managed to score more points off the giveaways (19-10).
The 'Swords end the road trip Saturday at Holy Names.
