SAN RAFAEL, Calif. – Dominican women's basketball defeated Academy of Art 71-56 for its second straight win behind some strong defense Friday night at the Conlan Center. 

Senior forward Jerusha Paine led the Penguins (7-9, 4-6 PacWest) with a double-double of 23 points and 12 rebounds. Freshman guard Brittney Cedeno ended just short of a double-double with 11 points and nine rebounds and freshman guard Nicole Gleeson finished with seven points and a game-high 17 rebounds.

Pam Wilmore led the Urban Knights (5-9, 3-7 PacWest) with 16 points, six rebounds and four assists. Dominican's defense avenged its earlier loss to ART U as it held the Urban Knights to 26.3% from the field and 14.8% from behind the arc. 

The Penguins got off to a strong start as junior Jordan Charlton stole the ball and junior guard Sydney Larocca drove the paint for a layup to spark them in the early minutes. Junior guard Jessica Armstrong and Paine each chipped in four points during the run and Dominican took a 10-2 lead with 4:25 left in the opening quarter. ART U slowly chipped away at the deficit and Chanel Stuart finished quarter with a 3-pointer to close the gap to 14-10. 

Paine started the second quarter with a 3-point play and Cedeno blocked Ines Medina on the other end leading to a fastbreak layup for sophomore guard Camryn Figueroa to push the lead to nine. The Urban Knights continued to show resilience battling back over the next five minutes to cut the lead to three after a short jumper by Josselyn Morris. Paine took over scoring the next six points for Dominican before Cedeno found Charlton behind the defense in transition to make it 29-21 with two minutes left in the half. The teams traded buckets over the final minutes and the Penguins headed into the break with a 33-26 lead.

After the teams traded points to begin the second half, Dominican was able to extend its lead to 13 after an 8-0 run highlighted by a corner 3-pointer from Cedeno. Gleeson also made her presence felt with four points and a steal to push the lead to 14 with two minutes remaining in the quarter. 

ART U closed the gap to nine to start the fourth quarter, but Gleeson grabbed an offensive rebound off a free-throw miss and Figueroa laid it in to push the lead back to 12 in the first minute. The teams continued to trade baskets and Megan Jefferson cut the Urban Knights deficit to 63-54 with four minutes remaining as they looked for the late comeback. The Penguins defense responded when they needed it most, holding ART U scoreless for the next three minutes and Dominican extended its lead to 15 from the free-throw line going into the final minute of play. 

Dominican will hit the road once again beginning with a cross-bay rival Notre Dame de Namur at 5:30 p.m. PST Monday at Walter Gleason Gymnasium. Live video and stats will be available online.