GAME INFO: Dixie State travels to the Pacific West Conference Tournament in San Diego, Calif. at the Golden Gymnasium on the campus of Point Loma Nazarene University. The Red Storm square off with the No. 5 seed Dominican at 7:45 p.m. Pacific Time. The contest will have live stats, live audio, and live video with the links available on DixieAthletics.com. John Potter, "Voice of the Red Storm," will cover play by play via DixieAthletics.com Showcase and 91.3 FM.
PACWEST TOURNAMENT: The Red Storm qualify for PacWest Tournament for the second time in as many years. Tournament Central can be found on THEPACWEST.COM
The field is set for the 2014 PacWest Basketball Tournament, which will be held at Point Loma's Golden Gymnasium March 6-8. After another epic season of PacWest basketball, 12 teams will battle for two automatic bids to the NCAA Tournament.
In the men's tournament, California Baptist locked up the No. 1 seed and its first PacWest regular season title last week. Dominican secured the No. 2 spot and the other opening-round bye with a win Saturday night, running its winning streak to 10 games. Dixie State is No. 3 and will face No. 6 Hawai'i Pacific in the opening game Thursday at 1 p.m. PST. The other opening round game will pit No. 4 BYU-Hawaii against No. 5 Chaminade at 3:15 p.m.
In the women's tournament, Academy of Art has been No. 1 all conference season and enters the tournament at 18-2. Cal Baptist clinched the No. 2 seed Saturday morning with a win over Dixie State. No. 3 Hawai'i Pacific takes on No. 6 Hawai'i Hilo in the opening round at 5:30 p.m. In the nightcap, No. 4 Dixie State will face No. 5 Dominican at 7:45 p.m.
The PacWest Tournament is a six-team, single elimination format with the top-two seeds receiving byes into the semifinals. The men's games precede the women's on each day. The championship team in each tournament will receive the PacWest's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
Fans can pre-order single-game tickets and all-tournament passes here, until Wednesday March 5. Tickets will also be sold at the door for each day, but all-tournament passes are only available for pre-sale. Order your tickets today and cheer on your favorite team in San Diego!
ALL-TIME vs. DUC: Dixie State leads the all-time series 8-2, after having their seven game winning streak snapped on Feb. 1, 2014, the Red Storm defeated the Penguins on Feb. 22, 86-65 in San Rafael.
FIRST TIME AGAINST the PENGUINS: The Dixie State University women's basketball team lost a 64-47 Pacific West Conference game to Dominican University on Saturday night in the Burns Arena. The loss is the second straight for the Red Storm as they move to 8-11 overall and 6-7 in the PacWest. Haley Holmstead (American Fork, UT/American Fork) led DSU with 15 points in the loss. For Dominican, they won the game on the glass by outrebounding Dixie State 59-37 to improve to 5-15 overall and 5-9 in the PacWest. Quewon-Owens led the Penguins with 18 points and 13 rebounds. The two main areas of difference came via the paint and free throws. The Penguins outrebounded the Red Storm 59-37 and garnered 16 more attempts from the charity stripe. In other words, Dominican was the aggressor in this matchup, which is an unusual characteristic for Dixie State given their play this season. Dominican entered with a lackluster overall record of 4-15, and on paper, didn't seem like they could match up with Dixie State's talent level. Nevertheless, those evaluations and figures didn't mean anything once tipoff commenced. Even if the Red Storm might have overlooked their opponent is beside the point. What does matter is Dixie State missed an opportunity to make up ground in the standings against a team that they theoretically should have beaten. Both teams played a physical matchup that featured a back-and-forth flow in the first half. Dixie State (8-11 overall, 6-7 Pac West) was paced by Haley Holmstead (American Fork, UT/American Fork), who continues to be on the path of landing a spot on the all-Pac West team. She got off to another great start, scoring DSU's first nine points, which was highlighted by her baseline drive where she drew contact to get the and-1 sequence. Her ensuing free throw gave the Red Storm an early 9-8 lead. Holmstead knows there is still work to be done before the start of the Pac West Conference tournament next month. And if the Red Storm are to snap their current two-game skid and four of their last five overall, she will likely be the individual to lead their turnaround. After a 30-30 tie at halftime, the Penguins built momentum in the second half and soon took control with a 12-2 run. Holmstead's minutes were cutback in the second half as Turner hoped to speed the game up and switch their defensive schemes. At any rate, the Penguins rolled on both ends of the court, holding the Red Storm to just 21 percent from the floor (7 of 32) in the final 20 minutes. In addition, they produced 11 more free throws in that span. Dixie State would cut the deficit to 51-41 with about five and a half minutes left, but never could get any closer than that. Kaylah Miller (San Diego, CA/La Jolla Country Day) added eight points, but went just 3 of 14 from the field. Brianna White (Phoenix, AZ/Tolleson Union) had eight points and Taylor Mann (Castle Dale, UT/Emery) had five rebounds in the losing effort.
LAST TIME AGAINST the PENGUINS: Looking to exact some revenge from two weeks ago, the Dixie State women's basketball did just that as they cruised to a 86-65 win over Dominican (CA) at the Conlan Center on Thursday night.The Red Storm (13-11/11-7 PWC) needed the victory to maintain its position and possibility of jumping into the No.2 seed in the upcoming Pacific West Conference Tournament. The Penguins (8-16/8-10 PWC) didn't play with the same vigor tonight as they did on Feb.1, when they handed the Red Storm a 47-64 loss in the Burns Arena. Four DSU players scored in double figures, with Kaylah Miller (San Diego, CA/La Jolla Country Day) leading the way with 22 points. She connected on five three pointers. Leading 35-24 at the intermission, DSU outscored the Penguins 51-41 in the second half to cruise to the victory. Haileigh Emerine (Spanish Fork, UT/Spanish Fork) earned her third double double of the season with 11 points and 14 rebounds. Brianna White (Phoenix, AZ/Tolleson Union) scored 20 points and the PWC leading scoring Haley Holmstead (American Fork, UT/American Fork) chipped in 18. DSU committed a season low 11 turnovers, while shooting 44.4 percent from the field.
SCOUTING DOMINICAN (CA): The Penguins are 9-17 overall and 9-11 in the PWC, they won their final game against Notre Dame de Namur 74-70. Leading the way in scoring and rebounding is Salonika Quewon-Owens at 12.8 ppg and 8.0 rpg. She has led DUC in scoring on twelve different occasions. All the offense seems to run through the 5-9 senior guard and as she goes, so does DUC. The Penguins average 62.2 ppg, while allowing 70.2 ppg. They shoot 35.2 percent from the field, 26.6 percent from behind the arc, and 61.7 percent from the line. They average 43.3 rebounds and 18.4 turnovers a game.
CAREER MAKER: Completion of her senior year, guard Haley Holmstead (American Fork, UT/American Fork) has set single season records in points (612), scoring average (23.5), field goals made (224), field goals attempted (447) free-throws made (160) and free-throws attempted (196).
ON THE BRINK: Junior guard Kaylah Miller (San Diego, CA/La Jolla Country Day) set a single season record for three-pointers made with 76. She set the mark in the win over the Penguins on Feb. 20. She is also just one three pointer away of tying Sheila Adams mark of 133. If she can hit two on Thursday, she will be the new all-time leader.
LAST TIME OUT: Senior point guard Haley Holmstead (American Fork, UT/American Fork) continued to the Dixie State women's basketball single season scoring records and she added to it today by scoring a game-high 36 points in a 96-85 loss to California Baptist this morning at the Burns Arena. Head coach Catherria Turner concludes her first regular season with the Red Storm (13-13/11-9 PWC) by earning the No. 4 seed in next week's Pacific West Conference Tournament in San Diego, Calif. Holmstead finished 15-31 from the field and 4-4 from the field. Her 23.5 points per game puts at the top of list in the PacWest and the single season record for Dixie State. She also set four other DSU single game records. After jumping to and early 13-8 lead on a Kaylah Miller (San Diego, CA/La Jolla Country Day) three-pointer, the Lancers (15-11/13-7 PWC) responded with a 20-4 run that put some separation between the two teams. CBU shot a blistering 65.6 percent from the field in the first half, including five three-pointers. DSU maintained pressure by shooting 50 percent from the field, including a 5-0 run to end the half and cut the CBU lead to just ten points at 44-54. In the second half, Miller started with a three pointer from the corner to cap off a 9-2 DSU run and cut the CBU lead to just three points with 16:12 left. The squads traded baskets over the next four minutes, but out of the 12-minute media timeout, the Lancers went on a 7-0 run to extend their lead back to 11 points. Down the stretch, the Red Storm continued to chip away at the California Baptist lead, but continued to stymie the run with hot shooting of their own. Taylor Mann (Castle Dale, UT/Emery) scored two baskets to cut the lead to five points, but Kamille Diaz used her dagger with 2:11 left to prevent DSU from getting any closer. Several free throws down the stretch helped extend the lead back to 11 points and lead CBU to victory and the No. 2 seed in next week's PWC Tournament. Three players finished in double figures for DSU, Miller chipped in 19 and Mann earned her eighth double double of the season with 17 points and 13 rebounds. Dixie State finished shooting 46.1 percent, the Lancers shot 49.2. Both Ashley Jones and Diaz finished with 18 points to lead the Lancers.
RED STORM NOTES: After winning five straight, the Red Storm ran into PacWest leader Academy of Art last weekend, but enter the matchup with a 13-13 overall record and 11-10 PWC mark. Thanks in part to the play of PWC scoring leader Haley Holmstead (American Fork, UT/American Fork) (23.5 ppg), who has single handedly rewritten the single season scoring records at DSU. She also is 5th in the NCAA DII in scoring. Kaylah Miller (San Diego, CA/La Jolla Country Day) (13.1) is a streaky shooter and has potential to light of the nets from behind the arc. Brianna White (Phoenix, AZ/Tolleson Union) gives coach Turner the refreshing spark that she needs off the bench both on the offensive end (10.3 ppg) and the defensive end (32 steals & 2.9 rpg).
DSU leads the PacWest and are 5th in the NCAA in rebounding The Red Strom are led in rebounding by Haileigh Emerine (Spanish Fork, UT/Spanish Fork) at 8.7 rpg, but Taylor Mann (Castle Dale, UT/Emery) is just behind her at 8.5. Both have potential to put up large rebounding numbers. Emerine has 10 double figure rebounding games and Mann has seven. Mann also set a new school record with 26 against Hawaii Hilo on Feb. 13.
Early in the season the Storm had trouble with holding on to the ball, they have committed 20 turnovers in 13 games this season, but have not done it for the past seven games. Dixie State averages 74.1 points per game and shoot 38.4 percent from the field and 26.9 percent from behind the arc. The real issue for the DSU squad has been allowing 75.9 ppg, but they have their turnover margin under 20 (19.3) for the first time this season.
In their first appearance in 2013, the Red Storm went 1-1 as they defeated Hawaii Hilo in the opener and lost to Hawaii Pacific in the semifinals. In order for them to move on to the NCAA Tournament next week, the Red Strom will need to rattle off three straight wins to secure the PacWest's automatic berth.
