CHICO, Calif. – Dominican women's basketball mounted a furious comeback in the final minutes of the game but Halsey Ison beat the buzzer to give Chico State the 79-77 victory in the final game of the CCAA/PacWest Challenge at Acker Gymnasium.

Graduate forward Riley Friauf was dominant throughout finishing with 32 points on 60% shooting to go with seven rebounds and two steals for the Penguins (1-1). Graduate guard Jordan Charlton added 12 points and five rebounds, while freshman guard Alessandra Salise also finished with 12 points. Charity Gallegos led the Wildcats (2-0) with 15 points and eight assists, while Ison finished with four rebounds and 13 points, none bigger than the final two of the game.

Trailing by seven with three minutes left in the game, Dominican got to work. After two free-throws from Friauf and a defensive stop, Salise took the ball and drove past her defender and put in a floater to cut the lead to three. Charlton then stole the ball on the other end and threw it ahead to Friauf who got into the paint and laid the ball in off the glass to cut the Chico State lead to 71-70 with two minutes left on the clock. With the Penguins in control of the momentum, head coach Tim LaKose picked up a technical foul arguing a call and Gallegos converted both free throws. Another foul on an offensive rebound sent Gallegos back to the line for two more to give Chico State the two possession lead at 75-70 with just over a minute left. 

Salise remained aggressive on the offensive end drawing fouls and knocking down four consecutive free throws to once again close the gap to one with 27 seconds left on the clock. After Bailey Jones knocked down a pair from the charity stripe to increase the lead to three, freshman point guard Alaiyah San Juan took the inbound and banked in a 3-pointer over a defender with 2.4 seconds remaining. Chico State called a timeout to advance the ball and set up the final play and Ison received the inbound and hit a contested turnaround jumper as the horn sounded to secure the victory.

Dominican pounded the paint early as four points from Friauf capped an 8-3 run to open the game. After Charlton buried a three from the right corner, senior forward Errayana Hatfield grabbed an offensive board and hit a cutting Friauf for a layup to extend the lead to eight with six minutes left in the quarter. Mikaela Bismillah powered the Wildcats down the stretch with four points during a 6-0 run that tied the game at 17. Salise halted the CSU momentum with a 3-pointer from the left-elbow to take a 20-19 lead into the second.

Neither team could gain much separation over the next two periods as they traded leads and ties for the majority of both quarters to set up the dramatic finish in the fourth.

Dominican will return to the court Wednesday as it hosts Humboldt State in its home opener at 5:30 p.m. PST at the Conlan Center.