The Warriors were not going to be another CCAA team to fall victim to the Dominican Penguins in a non-conference contest Saturday at Fitzpatrick Arena.
Theresa Henderson scored a career high 21 points as Cal State Stanislaus won its second straight game this week with a 67-57 victory over Dominican. The Warriors improved to 2-1 before hitting the road next week for a pair of California Collegiate Athletic Association games.
Lauren Godde netted 13 points and grabbed 14 rebounds (a career high) for her second double-double. Jameiz Terrell added 14 points and Briana Cotton had 11 off the bench to pace Stanislaus.
The Warriors were trying not to be the second CCAA team to fall to Dominican (1-5). The Penguins picked up their first win and snapped a four-game skid with an upset over Chico State on Nov. 22.
After a sluggish start, and erratic play for a lot of the game, Cal State Stanislaus managed to hold off Dominican in the second half. Stanislaus' Henderson nailed the first bucket out of the break for a 9-point lead, but an 11-2 Penguin run tied the game at 41-41. Minutes later, Dominican took a 46-43 lead on an Ariana Flynn triple at 13:54 to gain momentum.
However, Terrell responded with a trey, Henderson hit a short jumper and another Terrell basket put the Warriors back on top with a 50-46 lead.
Stanislaus would hang on down the stretch thanks largely to Dominican's inability to make free throws. Dominican made just 4 of its 14 tries in the second half while in double-boons situation. Dominican was led by Kayla Valentine with 15 points and Melissa Wise chipped in 13. Kimi Nakamura had three three-pointers for nine points.
Despite being smaller in height, the Warriors again out-rebounded their opponents, this time with a 44-33 advantage.
Teams combined to turn the ball over 40 times (20 each) with Stanislaus scoring 22 points off turnovers (Dominican had 20).