CHICO, Calif. – Dominican women's basketball rode its defense to pull away in the fourth quarter and claim a 72-55 victory Friday night over Sonoma State in its season opener at the CCAA/PacWest Challenge at Acker Gymnasium.

Senior forward Riley Friauf led the Penguins (1-0) with 22 points and seven rebounds, while junior guard Brittney Cedeno scored 14 points and dished out four assists. Junior guard Maiya Flores was instrumental in the final period scoring eight of her 11 points down the stretch and going 3-for-3 from behind the arc in her first game in a Dominican uniform. Zane Sheckherd led the Seawolves (0-1) with 12 points and four rebounds to lead an interior attack that saw them outrebound the Penguins 37-29 on the night. Dominican was too efficient though on the offensive end hitting 50.9% of its field goals and 50% of its 3-pointers in the win.    

Amanda Luckett scored the first points of the fourth quarter to give the Seawolves their first lead since the opening minutes of the game. Dominican scored the next four points with freshman point guard Alessandra Salise putting a defender on her hip with a beautiful spin move before finishing at the rim to take the 51-49 lead. The teams began to trade points for the next few minutes until Cedeno swiped an errant pass and then finished through contact to convert a 3-point play and push the lead to 58-53 with five minutes left in the game. Cedeno then drove the lane and kicked the ball out to Salise in the corner for three to extend the lead to eight. SSU continued to try push its size advantage in the paint but Friauf blocked Shekherd and then Cedeno found Flores in the corner for a 3-pointer. After another defensive stop, Flores cut down the lane and Friauf dished her the ball for two more to push the lead back to double digits with under three minutes remaining as the Penguins pulled away.

After trailing by three early, freshman point guard Alaiyah San Juan followed up a missed jumper to gather her own offensive board and quickly kicked it out to Cedeno at the top of the arc for a 3-pointer that tied the game. Riley Friauf then took charge beating Luckett on back-to-back plays in the paint for layups, finishing one through contact and converting the 3-point play to give Dominican a 12-9 lead with 4:38 left in the period. After trading points for most of the final minutes of the quarter, Salise drove the baseline and kicked a ball to Flores in the corner and she buried the 3-pointer as the horn sounded to send the Penguins into the second leading 23-17.

The scoring ground to a halt for the first five minutes of the second quarter with the teams combining for seven points when senior forward Errayanna Hatfield kicked a ball in the paint out to Cedeno at the elbow for a 3-pointer to make it 29-21 at the final media timeout of the half. Hatfield came out of the timeout and knocked down a 15-foot jumper from the right elbow to give Dominican its first double-digit lead of the game with 3:51 left in the half. The Seawolves found their response on the back of offensive rebounding as Alli McDonald and Luckett converted back-to-back second-chance points to spark an 11-2 run to end the half with the Penguins clinging to a 35-34 lead.

Friauf helped Dominican out to a quick start out of the break as she deflected a pass and then converted on a fast break layup. San Juan then found Cedeno for a pick and pop 3-pointer with Cedeno returning the favor moments later as she drove and kicked the ball to San Juan for a 3-pointer that made it 43-36 with eight minutes remaining in the period. The teams traded points for several minutes but once again SSU made its run to end the period as it pounded the paint with Sheckherd scoring the final six points of the period to tie the game 47-47 heading to the final period of play.

Dominican will return to the court Saturday to face host Chico State at 3 p.m. PST at Acker Gymnasium in the final game of the CCAA/PacWest Challenge.