The Dominican University women's basketball team was downed in their home opener Tuesday night, falling to the Albion College Britons (3-0) 63-48 at the Igini Sports Forum.  The Stars (2-1) were plagued by a slow start that saw Dominican shoot just 7-for-22 in the first half while the Britons forced 22 first half turnovers leading to 18 points.
 
"Today we learned that you cannot come out flat and expect to dig yourself out of big hole," said Gabby Johnson, the Stars' sixth-year head coach. "You have to be ready from the opening tip."
 
The Britons raced out to a 14-3 lead late in the first quarter before freshman Alisha Markley buried a corner three in the final minute of the quarter to narrow Dominican's gap down to 14-6.  The jumper was just the second field goal of the period for the Stars, shooting 2-for-10 over the opening ten minutes.
 
In the second quarter, Albion's Maija Gillum scored nine of her 13 points to help the Britons add to their lead, building a 15-point, 32-17, lead at the break.
 
The Stars cut down their turnovers in the third quarter and were able to keep pace with the Britons behind nine of Markley's game-high 24 points.  The freshman went 3-for-5 from the field in the quarter, including 1-for-3 from three-point range, and knocked down a pair of free throws.
 
An early fourth quarter run by Albion helped the Britons build a 55-35 lead with 4:25 to play but the Stars refused to go quietly.  A 12-5 run for the Stars, capped by a lay in by Alexis Hoskins trimmed the Dominican deficit to 59-47 with just under two minutes to play but the Stars comeback ran out of gas.
 
Markley shot 8-for-17 on the night and converted on six of her eight attempts at the free throw line to become the second freshman to lead the Stars in scoring in just three games on the season.  Timiya Ray was the only other Star to reach double-figures, scoring ten points on 5-for-17 shooting while pulling down nine rebounds and collecting six blocks.
 
"It is nice to see that we have a lot of weapons and each night a new kid can be our leader," said Johnson.
 
For the Britons, Emily Bernas finished with a team-high 15 points to lead three in double-figures scoring.  Evelyn Wischmeyer and Gillum added 13 points apiece as Albion shot just under 38-percent (26-69) from the field.
 
"We will use this to regroup and get ready for our first conference game this weekend," continued Johnson.
 
The Stars will open Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference (NACC) play on Saturday, traveling to Milwaukee to take on the MSOE Raiders.  Tipoff is scheduled for 4:15 p.m.