SAN FRANCISCO — Welcome back. The Dominican University of California women's basketball team rang in the new year with a come-from-behind victory over first-place Academy of Art University on Saturday at historic Kezar Pavilion. The Penguins handed the No. 9 regionally-ranked Urban Knights their first PacWest loss of the season as well as Dominican's first-ever victory in 12 contests against their Bay Area rivals.

In the first half, the Penguins limited the Urban Knights to 28.6 percent shooting (14-of-49) and had 24 points in the paint, in large part to big first halves from Sarah Nelson and Lauren Hyatt. Dominican led from the opening possession on Carly Holboke's three-pointer. That was just one of two threes made by the Penguins and while the Urban Knights made seven, they only went 7-of-33 from deep. A tight first half saw both teams hold court with four-point leads. Tied at 27-27 at the 3:19 mark, the Urban Knights seemed to take control of the game by finishing the first half on a 12-2 lead that sent the Penguins into the locker room trailing 39-29.

The Penguins came out firing and quickly trimmed the lead to one, 41-40, less than three minutes into the second half. Down 53-50, Dominican used a 12-point run to establish a 53-62 lead with four minutes to go. Dani Weatherd had eight of those 12 points and came alive with 19 of her game-high 23 points in the second half. The Urban Knights, who are currently without leading scorer Krystal Forthan (17 ppg), threatened by answering with an eight-point run that saw the Dominican lead cut to one. Weathered gave the Penguins some breathing room with a fast-break layup at the 1:50 mark. She was fouled on the play and made both free throw. She fouled out a minute later but Dominican had a six-point lead. Holboke bookended things with a pair of free throws to stretch the lead to eight in the final seconds.

Nelson had her fifth double-double of the season with 15 points and 13 rebounds. The nation's leading blocker (5.22/game), the 6-foot-4 senior center added another half dozen to bring her season total to 53. Hyatt added 12 points and nine rebounds. Holboke scored five points and pulled down seven boards. Point guards Jade Castro and Danielle Yamauchi dished out four assists apiece.

Dominican, which entered the game 25th in the nation in field goal percentage defense (35.1 percent), held ART U to just 25 percent shooting (11-of-44) in the second half for a total of 26.9 percent (25-of-93) for the game. The Urban Knights were led by Zoie Sheng's 17 points. Regina Camera added 12 points and Sha'Nice Storey had 10 points. Jasmin Guinn led all players with 14 rebounds.

The Penguins will pack their bags for a three-game trip to Southern California. The first game of that trip begins Thursday, Jan. 8 in Riverside against California Baptist.