BELMONT, Calif. — The Dominican University of California women's basketball team used a balanced attack to open the season with an 80-67 victory over Chico State in the PacWest/CCAA Challenge, hosted by Notre Dame de Namur.

Dominican (1-0), coming off an 18-11 season, is picked to finish sixth in the 14-team PacWest. The Wildcats (0-1), coming off a 10-16 campaign, are picked to finish fourth in the 13-team CCAA.

With the graduation of top scorer and D2CCAA All-West Region selection Allyssa Weatherd, who recently signed a contract to play overseas with Gymnasticos Syllogos Heracles in Greece, there were questions of where Dominican would find its offense. Those questions proved unsubstantiated after the Penguins matched last season's scoring average with an 80-point performance. Four Penguins reached double digits and every Dominican player who entered the game scored at least two points.

Both teams got off to a slow start and combined for just five points through the first four minutes of play but the Penguins led 19-10 at the end of the first quarter but foul trouble to begin the second quarter saw that lead evaporate. A Wildcats layup with 4:42 gave them their first lead since the opening minutes but an Alanna Scott bucket stopped the bleeding. The Penguins rebuilt the lead thanks to four free throws from Alexis Price and led 39-33 at intermission.

Senior Taylor Donnot made her first appearance of the season towards the start of the third quarter and sparked the Penguins with a layup and a steal that led to a Jade Castro fast break that gave Dominican a 48-38 lead. Donnot underhanded a pass to Carly Holboke, who buried the corner three to make it 51-38 and forced a Chico State timeout. A Natalie Diaz three-pointer gave the Penguins an 18-point lead to end the third quarter. The lead grew to 25 with 5:25 to go but Dominican only scored two more points after that. Still, the lead never looked in doubt.

Sandra Ikeora had a game-high 14 points and a team-high eight rebounds. Diaz added 13 points, Holboke had 12 points with three three-pointers, and Alyssa Lorenzo added 11 points. Donnot dished out five assists. Scott had four steals.

Four Wildcats starters reached double digits, led by Natalie Valenzuela's game-high 14 points. Mckena Barker led all players with a dozen rebounds.

Dominican faces Sonoma State on Saturday, Nov. 12 at 1 p.m. The Seawolves are picked to finish tied for 12th in the CCAA. Live stats will be provided by NDNU and will be available at dominicanathletics.com/live. Live updates will also be available on Twitter via the @dominican_wbb account.