SAN RAFAEL, Calif. – Defending Champion Hawai`i Pacific is back into the PacWest Championships final after taking out host Dominican, 84-66, in the Conlan Center on Friday night, beating the Penguins for the first time this year.
BOX SCORE | HAWAI`I PACIFIC INTERVIEW | DOMINICAN INTERVIEW
Breanna Mackenzie continued her strong form from the previous night, scoring a game-high 27 points to lead the Sharks to their first victory against Dominican in three tries this year. Hawai`i Pacific is now 22-8 with a four-game winning streak. As the winningest team in the history of the tournament, the Sharks are now 9-4 in the seven-year history of the event.
Dominican dropped to 21-6 on the season after facing a regionally-ranked team in the second game in a row. The Penguins entered the tournament as the No. 8 team in the West Region and the top-8 teams in the region will qualify for the NCAA West Regional, putting the Penguins right on the bubble for postseason qualification. Dominican will find out its postseason destiny on Sunday with an eye on what happens in the CCAA tournament in the final rounds.
Dominican, who was the team to upset the tournament’s host last year, only led for 16 seconds in the game. The Sharks put together a 10-0 run near the start of the game to take a 12-3 lead. Amy Baum made a pair of threes in the first quarter to help the Sharks take a 25-17 lead.
PacWest Player of the Year Natalie Diaz was called for a pair of offensive fouls in the second and third quarter and began to spend some time on the bench with foul trouble. However, the Penguins’ offense wasn’t slowed down with Marisa Mondave and Alanna Scott making back-to-back 3-pointers to start the fourth quarter, cutting the deficit to 63-58.
That was the closest the Penguins got and Hawai`i Pacific answered with a 9-0 run later in the fourth quarter to take an 80-64 lead on a lay-up by Starr Rivera. The Sharks’ offense was led by Mackenzie, who made 10 of 25 field-goal attempts with six rebounds. PacWest Freshman of the Year Amy Baum recorded another near triple-double with 10 assists, nine rebounds and six points. Alysha Marcucci tallied 17 points and Samantha Lambrigtsen added 14 points, 11 rebounds and four assists.
Hawai`i Pacific will face the winner of No. 1 Azusa Pacific and No. 4 Point Loma on Saturday at 4:30 p.m. Hawai`i Pacific split against both teams during the regular season, beating both teams at home before losing to both teams in California.