The Dominican University women's basketball team dropped to 0-3 to start the 2015-2016 season, suffering an 80-76 setback to the Olivet College Comets to close out the Quaker Classic hosted by Earlham College in Richmond, Indiana.
 
Shamia Clark (Rock Island, Ill.) scored a game-high 26 points on 7-for-12 shooting to pace four players in double-figures for the Stars in the losing effort.
 
The Comets outscored Dominican 23-15 in the first quarter and built the lead to ten, 40-30, at the half.  Dominican then answered with a 30-point third quarter to narrow the gap down to 62-60 heading into the final quarter.
 
Danielle McGruder's (Plano, Texas) jumper a minute in evened the score and a possession later, Clark gave the Stars their first lead of the matchup when she knocked down a three to put the Stars up 65-64 with eight minutes to play.  However, the Comets answered with a three of their own, sparking a 9-3 run that put the Comets on top for good, 73-68.
 
"Olivet put us in quite the hole early in the game," said Dominican's head coach Gabby Johnson following the loss.  "We fought back—even taking a brief lead—but need to learn how to eliminate the defensive lapses."


"This team is responding to setbacks better than we have in the past," continued Johnson.  "We have to learn to win."
 
Claudia DeNigris (Addison, Ill.) added 14 for the Stars while Angela Evola (Marseilles, Ill.) and Allie Tapanes (Winfield, Ill.) chipped in 12 and 11 respectively as the Stars shot better than 47-percent from the field (24-for-51) but turned the ball over 18 times.
 
Dominican returns to River Forest and will host the Albion College Britons on Tuesday for a 6:00 p.m. non-conference tilt.