SAN RAFAEL, CA (January 23, 2013)- Melody Ladrido continued her electric road trip, lighting up the scoreboard for 21 points, as the Hawai'i Pacific (11-3, 7-1) women's basketball team defeated Dominican (5-11, 4-4) 77-53. The win extends the Sea Warrior's winning streak to six games.

The visiting Sea Warriors looked good early, jumping out to a 16 point lead as Mikela Thoemmes hit back-to-back layups to make it 22-6 HPU with 12:19 remaining in the first half. The HPU lead would hover around 15, but the Penguins would go on a 14-6 run to close the half leaving HPU with an eight point lead at the break, 33-25.

The Sea Warriors struggled shooting the ball in the first half hitting only 14-43 (32.6%) of their shots from the field including 2-11 (18.2%) from behind the arc. Defensively the Sea Warriors held the Penguins to only 23 first half shots (10-23), thanks in large part to 12 offensive rebounds as well as 13 Penguin turnovers.

In the second half the Penguins would briefly cut the Sea Warriors' lead to six with 16:47 remaining after two Salonika Quewon-Owens free throws made it 40-34. The Sea Warrior defenders began clamping down, just as the shooters began heating up, as the Penguins failed to score a point over the next 8:09. By the time the Pens broke the drought the Sea Warriors had scored 23 unanswered points and the route was on. The two sides would exchange buckets for the remainder of the game, but the Sea Warrior lead would never become less than 22 points.

HPU shot the ball much better in the second half improving to 19-32 (59.4%) from the field and 4-6 (66.7%) from distance. The Sea Warriors also won the rebounding battle 41-34, including a game high 10 from Thoemmes and managed 13 steals, 4 from Susannah Walmsley.

After three road games in five days, the HPU women have a couple days off before concluding the California part of their trip on Saturday against Fresno Pacific University in Fresno, California; game time is scheduled for 2:30 PM.

Box Score