Feb. 22, 2009

Box Score

River Forest, IL - The Dominican University women's basketball team closed out the 2008-2009 season on Saturday with a program record 12th win as the Stars topped the Maranatha Baptist Bible College Crusaders 67-63. The Stars 12-13 overall record to close out the season is the program's best record during the University's NCAA era dating back to 2000.

The Stars trailed 34-29 at the break after shooting just 35 percent (13-37) from the field in the first half and converting on just two of the team's five trips to the free throw line. Senior guard Lindsey Trent (Frankfort, IN), the Stars' leading scorer on the season at 16.9 point per game, was held scoreless in the half, managing just two attempts from the field.

The Stars opened the second half on a 9-4 run capped by an Angel Betts (Pontiac, IL) three-pointer to knot the game at 38-38 with 18:00 remaining in regulation. After a Crusader 6-0 run, the Stars rallied back with three straight three's, two from Betts and one from Trent to take a 55-49 lead they would not relinquish.

Dominican's Jessica Salinas (Bolingbrook, IL) poured in a game-high 23 points and grabbed 15 rebounds, 11 on the offensive end of the floor, to log a double-double in the winning effort. The Stars' junior forward was just one rebound shy of the double-double in the first half after grabbing nine boards and going 7-of-11 from the field for 14 points. Salinas finished the season with 404 points and now has 1,269 points in 75 career games.

Betts finished the night with 20 points, including four three point field goals. The 5'2" junior finished the season with 46 three point field goals, the fourth most three pointers in the Northern Athletics Conference (NAC). After averaging just 1.4 points per game in her first two seasons with the team, Betts emerged as the Stars' fourth-leading scorer in 2008-09, averaging 8.4 points per contest.

Trent was the only other Star player to reach double-figures on the night, scoring 11 second half points as Dominican outscored the Crusaders 38-29 in the final 20 minutes. The senior guard finished the season as the conference's leader with 4.3 assists per game and ranked in the top five in scoring and minutes play.

The Stars finished the season with a 6-12 mark in the NAC, two games out of fourth place in the NAC South for the division's final spot in the NAC Tournament. In two seasons under head coach Mike Lane, the Stars have a 21-29 overall record, going 13-23 in conference play.