River Forest, Ill. – The Dominican University Women's Basketball team was inside the Igini Sports Forum to open their 2026 part of the season. The Stars hosted the Muskies of Lakeland University.

 Results:
Dominican: 47
Lakeland: 48

 How it Happened:
-Freshman Kennedy Yost got the Stars on the board with a three-pointer just after the one-minute mark of the first quarter.
-Junior Teagan Dahl collected three straight points for Dominican, all at the free-throw line.
-Junior Kaitlyn Milison hit a three to make the score 10-9 in favor of the Muskies, with 5 minutes to play in the first quarter.
-DU shot 25% from the floor in the first quarter and was down 14-9.
-The Stars started with a 3-0 in the second quarter to be down 14-12.
-Junior Lia Saunders makes the score 17-16 in favor of Lakeland with a bucket three and a half minutes into the second quarter.
-This ignited an 8-0 run for the Muskies before Junior Aya Deiri hit a layup before the halftime break to make the score 25-18 at halftime.
-DU shot just 23% from the floor in the first half but was only down by 7 while holding Lakeland to 26% from the floor in the first half.
-The Muskies got the first two points of the second half, giving them a 9-point lead.
-Sophomore Allannah Jackson scored four straight points for the Stars to make the score 27-22, with just under 7 minutes left to play in the third.
-Dominican kept up the incredible defense throughout the third quarter, holding Lakeland to just 7 points and 10% from the floor in the third quarter.
-Milison got the scoring going in the fourth quarter with a tip-in layup to make the score 32-29.
-This once again ignited a Lakeland 5-0 run to push their lead back out to 8 points.
-Dominican and Lakeland traded buckets for the next couple of minutes, with Lakeland being up by 9 at the 5-minute mark of the final quarter.
-Jackson checked back into the game shortly after this and brought the Stars back to life, scoring 7 of the next 9 DU points and making the deficit just four with two minutes to play.
-Dominican continued their 9-2 run with Deiri hitting a corner three to make the score 46-45 in favor of Lakeland.
-Saunders gave the Stars the lead with a layup after Deiri came up with a steal in the Muskie backcourt.
-Lakeland made a layup with 22 seconds left in the fourth quarter to regain the lead.
-DU had two tries at the game-winning shot in the final stretch, but both shots did not fall.
-The Stars scored 20 points in the fourth quarter and went a perfect 9-9 from the charity stripe.
-The Dominican defense was incredible all game long, holding Lakeland to just 26% from the floor.
 
 
 Shining Stars:
 -Sophomore Allannah Jackson was the leading scorer for the Stars with 12 points, this being a career high for the sophomore. Jackson also collected 2 steals in the game.
-Freshman Kennedy Yost was one point shy of a double-double as she earned 10 rebounds and 9 points.
-Junior Lia Saunders was all over the stat sheet for DU with 8 points, 1 steal, 4 assists, and 5 rebounds.
-Junior Aya Deiri earned 6 points and 3 steals.

Leading the Way:
 Points: Jackson (12)
 Rebounds: Yost (10)
 Assists: Saunders (4)
 Steals: Deiri (3)
 Blocks: Yost and Dahl (1)
 Minutes: Dahl and Saunders (30)

 What's Next:
 Dominican University Women's Basketball moves to 6-6 on the 2025-2026 season and is 0-4 in NACC play. DUWBB is back in action for a back-to-back road set with the first game being at MSOE on Wednesday night. The Stars and Raiders will tip-off at 7:00 p.m. in Milwaukee.

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