Despite four Storm players scoring in double figures, Dixie State's women's basketball team could not overcome a slow start in dropping an 89-75 Pacific West Conference decision at league newcomer Concordia University Saturday night in Irvine, Calif.

The Storm (2-10/2-4 PacWest) won the opening tip and scored the first point of the night on a Leslie Tademy (Phoenix, Ariz./South Mountain) free throw just 10 seconds into the game. From there it was all Concordia in the opening frame as the Eagles went on an 19-8 run, taking advantage of early DSU foul trouble while holding Dixie to just 4-of-13 from the field over that stretch, en route to a 24-16 lead after one quarter of play.

Concordia would extend its lead to as many as 12 points at 30-18 with 7:55 to go until intermission, but Dixie State hung tough, pulling to within a bucket at 32-30 after a Taylor Mann (Castle Dale, Utah/Emery) jumper with 3:10 on the clock. Tademy and Tomorie Sangster (Vacaville, Calif./Will C. Wood ) also connected from long range as the Storm outscored the Eagles 12-2 over that near five-minute span.

However the Eagles answered with five-straight points to wrestle back the momentum and would take a 41-35 lead into the locker room.

CUI scored five quick points out of the halftime break to push its lead back to double digits at 46-35. DSU clawed back to within six points on a couple of occasions, the last coming at 55-49 after a pair of Sangster free throws, but the Eagles rattled off a 9-1 spurt to take their biggest lead of the game at 64-50 in the waning moments of the third quarter.

Dixie State would pull to within eight points at 64-56 after consecutive lay-ups from Sangster and Chermayne Moore (Pinole, Calif./Hercules) to open the fourth quarter, but the Eagles were able to maintain a double-digit lead for much of the final stanza to come away with their first-ever PacWest win.

"Foul trouble hurt us early," DSU Head Coach Jenny Thigpin said. "Being down a post player [Ashlee Burge (Riverton, Utah/Herriman) DNP – injury] took away our offensive flow, but honestly we just need to work harder in executing on both ends of the floor."

Mann led all scorers with 22 points on 9-of-11 shooting to go with nine rebounds, while Tademy almost posted a triple-double with 14 points, 10 boards and a game-high eight assists. Tademy was also credited with four steals in 36 minutes of play. Moore added 13 points and Sangster chipped 10 points in her second start of the year.

DSU shot 39.4 percent from the field (28-of-71), which included a 17.4 percent clip (4-of-23) from the perimeter, and hit on just 15-of-25 (.600) from the line.

Concordia connected on 46.9 percent of its shots (30-of-64), led by Brittany Stafford who led five Eagles in double figures with 21 points, while Zoe Goss added 18 points on 7-of-10 shooting off the bench. The Eagles also shot 4-of-13 (.308) from beyond the arc and outrebounded the Storm 49-47.

Dixie State returns home for a pair of PacWest games next week beginning with a match-up against Notre Dame de Namur Thursday night, Jan. 14, at 5 p.m., in the Burns Arena.