The Dominican University women's basketball team scored its third straight victory, picking up a 74-63 over neighborhood rival Concordia University Chicago in the River Forest Rivalry series on Saturday evening at the Igini Sports Forum.  With the win, the Stars improve to 8-4 on the season and 4-3 in the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference (NACC).
 
"Even though we are still on break," commented Amanda Parker, the Stars' second-year head coach, "it was a really good atmosphere—the fans brought us a lot of energy to start the game. We played three fairly good quarters before we struggled to score the basketball in the fourth. It was good we had built a little lead before then. We need to make sure we play smart and not get in early foul trouble, because it makes things tricky for us. We either have to go really big or really small and that is not ideal for our success."
 
Leading 38-31 at the half, the Stars jumped the Cougars to start the third, with Amari Stafford scoring the first eight points of the quarter and the Stars forcing a pair of turnovers in the first minute of the period.  After a Cougar three-ball, the Stars continued the run, scoring the next six points to open their largest lead of the night, 52-34, with 7:03 to play in the third.
 
Concordia Chicago managed to trim the Stars' lead all the way down to six but Dominican managed to close the period on a 9-2 run to take a 63-50 lead into the final quarter.
 
In the fourth, Dominican managed just one field goal, a layup for Alexis Hoskins, but converted on nine of 16 attempts on the foul line to keep the Cougars at bay.
 
Hoskins finished with a team-high 19 points on 6-for-7 shooting, including 3-for-4 from three, for Dominican.  The senior rounded out a double-double with 13 rebounds in the winning effort.  Stafford added 15 points in 35 minutes of floor time while Nyema Burns and Stephenee Huggans chipped in ten points apiece.
 
For the Cougars, Tara Hastings dropped in a team-high 19 points, leading three in double-figures scoring.
 
Dominican will return to action on Tuesday night, hosting the Aurora University Spartans for a 7:00 p.m. tipoff at the Igini Sports Forum.