ARCATA, Calif. – Dominican women's basketball played well defensively forcing 21 turnovers but cold 3-point shooting allowed Humboldt State to pull away for the 66-49 victory Saturday afternoon at Lumberjack Arena.
Brittney Cedeno filled up the stat sheet with 12 rebounds, eight points and four steals for the Penguins (3-4), while
Riley Friauf added 18 points and eight boards. Madison Parry led finished with game-highs of 22 points and 13 rebounds and the Jacks knocked down 11 3-pointers while Dominican finished with one make behind the arc.
After HSU got off to a quick 5-0 start,
Jordan Charlton gathered an offensive rebound and converted the putback layup before Friauf powered her way for a layup seconds later to close the gap to one with 7:35 left in the quarter. Madison Parks then powered the Jacks on a 7-1 run with four points to take the 12-5 lead at the midway point of the quarter. The Penguins began to pound the paint over the final five minutes as Friauf,
Camryn Figueroa and Cedeno all found their way to the paint for two. Cedeno capped the 10-0 run as she read the passing lane for a steal and took it to the other side for a layup and the 15-14 lead with 1:29 left in the period. The teams traded buckets in the final minute with a Figueroa layup giving Dominican the one-point edge heading to the second.
The teams struggled to score in for much of the second period with Julia Iman sparking a quick 5-0 run for the Jacks as she buried a corner 3-pointer and Parry added an elbow jumper to take the 27-22 lead with 3:30 remaining on the clock. The Penguins continued their smothering defense not allowing another point to the Jacks to end the half as Friauf boxed out a defender for an easy layup on the other end before Cedeno found Friauf in transition for a fast-break layup to cut the lead to one at the half.
The defense continued to lead the way for Dominican in the second half as Cedeno stole a ball on the first possession and took it the other way for a layup through contact for the old-fashioned three-point play. The run started in the first half went o 9-0 as the Penguins took a 31-27 lead in the opening minute of the third quarter. Humboldt State was able to stop the run there and eventually its 3-point shooting helped lift them to a 40-34 lead and forced a Dominican timeout.
Friauf ended the run briefly with a pair of free throws, but Parks and Parry continued to hit their 3-pointers as a make from Parry to start the fourth quarter extended the lead to 15 at 51-36. The Jacks 2-3 zone continued to give Dominican trouble but
Alaiyah San Juan knocked down the lone 3-pointer of the night for the Penguins in response to Parry. Two more makes from distance by HSU pushed its lead to 18 and Dominican was unable to find the offense it needed to come back down the stretch.
Dominican will have a week to rest up and reset as they begin conference play Saturday against Academy of Art at 1 p.m. PST at Walter Gleason Gymnasium in Belmont.
