The Dominican University women’s basketball team improved to 15-4 on the season and 10-2 in the Northern Athletics Conference (NAC), clinching the program’s first NAC Tournament berth, with a 72-60 win over the visiting Edgewood College Eagles on Saturday afternoon.

The first half featured seven ties and ten lead changes as the two teams headed to the break tied 34-34. After the Eagles Danielle Dixon gave her team a two-point advantage on Edgewood’s first possession of the second half, the Stars’ Becky Christofferson (Summit, S.D.) gave the Stars the lead for good at 37-36 as she connected on her only three-pointer of the afternoon with 18:52 to play. The play sparked a 13-2 run for the Stars to put the home team ahead 47-38 after junior Kayla Blom (Circle Pines, Minn.) nailed a three with 16:20 remaining.

The teams exchanged baskets over the next three and a half minutes until junior Sarah Budz (Orland Park, Ill.) sparked another Stars’ run with a three-point play in transition. Freshman Ashley Oliver (Bolingbrook, Ill.) capped the 17-2 run with her own transition bucket to put the Stars ahead 65-48 with under eight minutes to play.

However, the Eagles kept the game interesting, holding the Stars scoreless over the next five minutes and outscoring Dominican 12-7 down the stretch.

Christofferson finished the game with a game-high 18 points, scoring 12 in the second half, to pace the Stars in the win. Christofferson was 7-for-17 from the field, going 1-for-7 from three-point distance. Blom added 12 points while freshman Magdalena Kaminska (Orland Park, Ill.) recorded her fourth double-double of the season with a 10-point, 12-rebound performance.

Melanie Walker led the Eagles in the losing effort, scoring 15 points and grabbing six assists in 28 minutes of work.

The Stars return to action on Wednesday, traveling down Division Street to take on the Concordia Chicago Cougars.  The Stars then return home to take on the Marian University Sabres on Saturday, February 5. Dominican could clinch its first NAC South Division Championship with a pair of wins, holding a three-game lead over the Benedictine University Eagles with five games to play in the regular season before the annual NAC Challenge Game.