SAN DIEGO, Calif. – Playing in the PacWest Conference Championships for the sixth straight season, the Concordia University Irvine women's basketball team tangled with the fourth-seeded Dominican Penguins on Thursday.
Concordia outscored Dominican in the final three quarters and out rebounded Dominican 34-31. The Golden Eagles also benefited from 10 offensive rebounds, which led to 13 second-chance points.
The Penguins however used a great start early on to earn a 72-63 victory in the first round of the tournament.
Dominican jumped out to a 10-0 lead and played solid defense out of the gate. Concordia did not score its first field goal until nearly seven-and-a-half minutes into the contest.
But Concordia clawed back into it by getting to the free throw line and feeding
Savannah Felix-Amoroso. The senior from Rosary Academy hit her team's first two field goals and finished 8-for-12 shooting from the floor.
Felix-Amoroso tied a career-high with 20 points while also collecting seven rebounds.
Senior
Teagan Thurman was a force on the boards too and finished with a team-high 12 rebounds along with 12 points. She hauled in eight rebounds in the first half alone.
CUI made a conscious effort as a team to crash the boards and it showed.
Dominican however came out on fire from three-point land, hitting five of their first seven attempts from downtown. CUI clamped down in the second half and did not allow another trey the rest of the way.
PacWest Freshman of the Year
Izzy Navarro chipped in with 15 points and
Erika Maggard added nine points and three assists. CUI made 50 percent of its shots in the fourth quarter and whittled the Dominican lead down to seven midway through the fourth.
But the Penguins made 13-of-18 free throws down the stretch to hang on for the victory. Alaiyah San Juan was a big part of that and finished 11-for-12 at the free throw line herself.
Dominican advanced to face No. 1 seed Azusa Pacific at 7:15 p.m. on Friday night.
CUI concludes the year 13-14 overall and has now made six straight appearances at the PacWest Conference tournament under head coach
Christine Collins-Kiernan.
CLICK HERE to hear post game press conference from Navarro, Coach Collins-Kiernan and Felix-Amoroso
CLICK HERE for the full CUI women's basketball schedule
