SAN RAFAEL, Calif. – The old saying goes that close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades.
 
That statement describes the Chaminade University women's basketball team and their Tuesday 73-62 defeat to Dominican University of California at the Conlon Center.
 
However, it was an encouraging sign for the Silverswords against of the Pacific West Conference favorites, who have lost by an average of nearly 26 points per game in the last five meetings against the Penguins. Tuesday's differential was the closest in the series since an 11-point margin of defeat in December 2019.
 
Eleven of the 12 'Swords who saw game action scored at least two points, led by Sameera Elmasri's (Shawnee, Kan./Birmingham-Southern Univ./Saint Thomas Aquinas HS) 12 points followed by Morgan Escobedo (Scottsdale, Ariz./Pinnacle) and Dallas Martinez (Kaneohe, O'ahu, Hawai'i/Whittier College/Sacred Hearts Academy) with eight points each, despite the latter being in early foul trouble. Emma Morris (Tucson, Ariz./Tanque Verde) chipped in with seven.
 
Martinez pulled down seven rebounds while four others had five boards including Escobedo who also dished out a game-high six assists for Chaminade, which fell to 2-7 on the season and 0-4 in the conference.
 
Dominican, picked to finish third in the PacWest Preseason Poll, got 17 points from Alaiyah San Juan to improve to 7-2 and 1-1 in the conference.
 
The 'Swords got off to a rather slow start, missing five of their first seven shots and were outscored, 25-11, after the first quarter, hitting just 4-of-17 from the field while the Penguins made half of their 18 tries. Chaminade managed to get on track in the second quarter, making eight of its 18 attempts, outscoring Dominican 19-14 in the period to trail 39-30 at halftime.
 
The Penguins had the makings of yet another 20-point win by scoring the first six points of the second half to build a 45-30 lead. Ashley Holen (Watford City, N.D./Minot State University/Watford City HS) and Elmasri then buried back-to-back 3-pointers to get the deficit back to single digits. DUC managed to extend its lead to 50-36 but Dezaray Carter (Honolulu/Sacred Hearts Academy) scored six during Chaminade's 8-2 run to get the margin back to single digits at 52-44 with 2:30 left in the third.
 
The Silverswords managed to shrink Dominican's lead even further, getting to within 61-55 at the midway point of the fourth quarter and had a chance to close to within three but a missed CUH triple led to San Juan's third and final 3-pointer of the game to push the Penguins' lead back to nine. The 'Swords got it back to within seven twice but DUC got another triple and hit three free throws inside of a minute left to hang on.
 
Chaminade made 30.1 percent of its shots with seven 3-pointers and was 15-of-19 from the free throw line. They also had 44 rebounds, 12 assists with 15 turnovers. Dominican shot 39.1 percent with five triples, 47 boards and 14 giveaways.
 
The team will take the Christmas break off and return to action on Saturday, Dec. 30 at Point Loma.