The Dominican University women's basketball team closed out the 2019 portion of their schedule on Saturday with a 61-49 win over the Saint Mary's College Belles on the road in Notre Dame, Indiana.  With the win, the Stars snap a three-game losing skid and improve to 6-4 on the season with an 18-day break in the schedule before returning to action on Wednesday, January 8, with a Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference (NACC) tilt with the Illinois Tech Scarlet Hawks at the Igini Sports Forum.
 
"We still didn't have a complete game where we were in sync for all four quarters," commented Amanda Parker, the Stars' head women's basketball coach following the win. "However, we stuck together and made big plays down the stretch. It was really good to end the 2019 year with a win. We have plenty to work on, but hopefully this gives us a little boost for the start of 2020."
 
After a big first quarter that saw Dominican put up 20 points on 7-for-14 shooting, the Stars stalled a bit in the second period, managing just nine points on four field goals to fall behind, 30-29, at the break.
 
After the Belles scored the first bucket of the second half to equal their largest lead of the afternoon at three, Dominican rattled off ten straight points to open a 39-32 lead with 6:35 to go in the third and never trailed again.
 
Alisha Markley came off the Stars bench to score a team-high 15 points.  The junior sharp-shooter shot 4-for-7 from the field, connecting on four of six attempts from beyond the three-point stripe, and was a perfect 3-for-3 at the foul line.  Alexis Hoskins added 13 points in the winning effort while Timiya Ray finished with 11 points and ten rebounds for her fifth double-double of the season.
 
For Saint Mary's, Bella Dugas scored a game-high 18 points on 7-for-8 shooting from the field, going 3-for-3 from three and pulled down a team-high nine rebounds.