Stan Plewe/Utah Tech Athletics

Women's Basketball 2/6/2012 11:18:00 PM Jeff Cluff, Coordinator of Media Relations

Monumental Comeback, Red Storm Overcome 19 Point Deficit, Defeat Hawaii Pacific 78-75

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HONOLULU, Hawaii -- Trailing by 19 points at the half, the Dixie State College women's basketball outscored Hawaii Pacific 55-33 to extend their winning streak to six games and return home with a 78-75 win in the Blaisdell Arena tonight in Honolulu.

Dixie State (15-5, 10-2 PWC) shot an anemic 29.7 percent in the first half. They were 1-10 from behind the arc and 0-4 from the foul line. Nothing seemed to being going their way.

For Hawaii Pacific (11-10, 5-6 PWC), getting to the free throw line and connecting on 11 of 14, shooting 48.1 percent from the floor and hitting 5-10 from three point range were all factors that helped them build the large halftime advantage.

HPU's guard Paris Gravely was 7 for 8 from the field and 4 of 5 from three point range for 22 points in the first half. The PacWest's second leading scorer Mana Hopkins had 14 points at the half as well.

Coach Angie Kristensen said, "I was disappointed with our energy in the first half and we needed to make some adjustments and boy did we ever. I'm so proud of their effort."

In the first five minutes the Red Storm had cut the lead to 48-38 and then went on a 12-2 run to tie the game at 50-50 with 11:18 remaining in the game.

Following the 8-minute media timeout DSC would make a final push and go on an 11-1 run to take a 10 point lead at 71-61 with 5:55 remaining.

HPU didin't go away easily, chipping away at the Red Storm lead over the final four minutes of the contest. But, solid free throw shooting down the stretch curbed the Sea Warriors comeback.

In a gutty defensive effort, DSC held Gravely to just one point in the second half. She finished with 23 points and Hopkins had 19 points. HPU shot 40.7 percent from the field.

"We had to make adjustments at the half on how we were going to guard Paris and energy helped it work. We executed well in the second half." said Coach Kristensen.

The Red Storm shot 53.8 percent in the second half and connected on 8-12 from behind arc. They also shot 19-26 from the free throw line to help lead them to victory and a sweep (4-0) of the Islands road trip for the first time in school history. DSC finished the game shooting 39.7 percent from the floor.

Sheila Adams (Layton, UT/Layton) finished with 20 points and tied a career high with seven steals. Also scoring in double figures was Becca Thomas (Riverside, CA/Redwood) with 14 points and LaBrea Walker (North Las Vegas, NV/Desert Pines) with 11. Kirtsen Marie Liana grabbed 11 rebounds.

"We made huge second half shots. It was a special 20 minutes of basketball," concluded Kristensen.

Dixie State maintains the race for first place in the PacWest. At 10-2, DSC currently has a half game lead over Cal Baptist, Grand Canyon and Academy of Art.

DSC welcomes Academy of Art to town on Saturday night. Earlier this season AAU and former DSC assistant coach Lanay Larson knocked off the Red Storm 60-59 in January. Tip off is slated at 5:00 p.m. in the Burns Arena.

GAME NOTES: Feb 11 the Red Storm family will be celebrating mascot BIG DEE's birthday by having the Utah Jazz BEAR at the game.

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