RIVERSIDE, Calif. – No. 22 Hawai'i Pacific University got 19 points from Alysha Marcucci as the number two seed beat sixth seeded Dominican (Calif.) 71-67 in the PacWest Conference Tournament semifinals Friday afternoon at the CBU Event Center.
 
The Sharks (25-3) advance to the PacWest Tournament Championship game to meet fifth seeded Point Loma who upset top seeded and 16th ranked Azusa Pacific 76-68 in the second semifinal. Dominican (18-12) closed the season with the loss.
 
"I'm really proud of our team, our girls. They showed a lot of resolve today," said HPU head coach Reid Takatsuka. "We beat a good team in Dominican. They've got a lot of push back. I'm proud we were able to handle it and hand that pressure."
 
Marcucci, the 5-11 freshman forward from Melbourne, Australia/Marist-Sion, connected on 4-of-9 3-pointers on her way to leading the Sharks with 19 points. Junior guard Janessa Manzano of San Francisco, Calif./St. Ignatius, collected 15 points, while senior center Anna Mumm of Laguna Hills, Calif./Laguna Hills, came off the bench with eight points, and career-highs of 11 rebounds and four blocked shots. Junior guard Samantha Lambrigtsen of Oregon, Ill./Oregon HS pulled down 10 rebounds to go with six points.
 
PacWest Conference co-Player of the Year Natalie Diaz led Point Loma with 25 points to go with six rebounds. Sandra Ikeora added 18 points with five rebounds for the Penguins, while Julia Razo collected 10 points. Anjelica Collins grabbed 11 boards with eight points and three steals for DUC.
 
The Sharks shot 40 percent from the floor (26-of-65), including 7-of-23 (30 percent) from the 3-point arc. HPU made just 12-of-21 (57 percent) from the free throw line. Dominican was held to just 35 percent from the field (25-of-72), and just 3-of-15 (20 percent) from the arc while hitting 67 percent (14-of-21) from the foul line. HPU dominated the boards, outrebounding the taller Penguins by 10, 50-40. HPU also turned the ball over 22 times allowing DUC 19 points, while the Penguins gave the ball away 12 time for only eight HPU points.
 
HPU opened up an eight point third quarter lead in the third quarter, then withstood a Penguin attack in the fourth. DUC tied the Sharks in the fourth period, but HPU never trailed the last 14:47 of the game.
 
The game was tight through the first half with both teams holding four point leads. The Sharks opened the game 4-0 on layups by freshman forward Jessica Harley of Melbourne, Australia/Caulfield Grammar and All-PacWest first team senior guard Jessi Reeves of Coffs Harbour, Australia/John Paul.
 
Later in the first quarter, DUC rallied from a 3-point deficit with a 7-0 run for the Penguins first advantage and a four-point lead on a Diaz layup. HPU answered with a 3-pointer from Marcucci and a layup from Lambrigtsen to tie the game at 14-all.
 
The second period found HPU down by four again with 8:17 left before half on a Diaz layup, but the Sharks rallied with a 6-0 run that had Marcucci with a 3 and later a free throw to go with a Fotu put back. The teams swapped the lead to a 28-all tie at halftime.
 
The third rolled the momentum toward the Sharks. After falling behind 31-30 to the Penguins, Marcucci buried a 3-pointer to give HPU a lead it wouldn't relinquish. After getting the lead to four, the Sharks put together a free throw from Lambrigtsen, and two layups from Mumm to extend the lead to eight during 5-1 run. But two layups and a free throw by Ikeora made it 44-41 HPU at the quarter break.
 
The fourth saw Dominican rally from a five-point deficit to tie the game at 50-50 with 6:51 to play on an Ikeora layup. The Sharks answered with two 3-pointers from Manzano and a layup from junior forward Gabriella Fotu of Auckland, New Zealand/Rangitoto as part of an 8-3 run to re-establish the advantage.
 
The Penguins closed back to within a bucket with 3:57 left on a Collins triple, but Reeves followed with a layup and Marcucci popped a 3-pointer and the No. 22 Sharks were in control for the 71-67 win.
 
The Sharks make their third appearance in the PacWest Conference Tournament Championship Game on Saturday. They won the 2015 title (as well as the 2015 PacWest Championship) beating California Baptist, and lost to Academy of Art in the 2013 championship match.
 
The game will be live streamed free of charge via ThePacWest.com and a link is available on HPUSharks.com.