BELMONT, Calif. – Freshman Alaiyah San Juan came through down the stretch as Dominican women's basketball erased a 13-point deficit to take a 70-66 victory over rival Academy of Art at Walter Gleason Gymnasium.

San Juan finished a perfect 3-for-3 from behind the arc to finish with 13 points to go with six rebounds, three assists and two steals. Senior Brittney Cedeno led all players with 17 points while dishing out eight assists with four steals and two blocks. Senior Riley Friauf started slow but finished with 15 points and eight rebounds for the Penguins (4-4, 1-0 PacWest). Joy Krupa led the Urban Knights (3-4, 0-1 PacWest) with a double-double of 11 points and 14 rebounds as six players scored in double figures for ART U.

The Urban Knights looked to have the momentum to start the second half using a couple of small runs to push their lead to double digits. When Alisha Wilson hit a pull-up jumper to make it 49-36 with 4:38 remaining in the third quarter. Things looked bleak for Dominican, but San Juan had other ideas. San Juan faked a shot to send a defender flying by and stepped into a long two before knocking down a 3-pointer moments later to make it an eight-point game. Senior guard Errayanna Hatfield hit a pair of free throws before keeping the midrange game going as she knocked down a pull-up jumper from the free-throw line to cut the deficit to four. San Juan then laced a skip pass to Friauf leading her right to the glass for a layup and Cedeno found Friauf at the top of the key for a long jumper at the buzzer to tie the game at 51.

Hatfield knocked down another midrange shot in transition to open the fourth quarter to cap off the 17-2 run and give Dominican its first lead of the game at 53-51. After Alyssa Munn briefly gave ART U the lead back on a 3-pointer, Friauf once again shook loose for a layup off a feed from Cedeno and Cedeno followed with a pair of free throws as the Penguins continued to hold a three-point advantage at the final media timeout. 

The Urban Knights forced three consecutive turnovers and converted for a pair of layups to retake a 58-57 lead, but San Juan answered with a 3-pointer to make it 60-58 Dominican with three minutes remaining. Freshman guard Alex Salise knocked down a corner 3-pointer to keep the run going and San Juan stole the ball on the other end and found Cedeno ahead of the pack for a layup to push the lead to 67-60 with two minutes remaining. San Juan knocked down a pair of free throws in the final second and Maiya Flores added one of her own to seal the game.

The Urban Knights pulled ahead early in the game as they were able to break the Dominican press and make their way to the hoop for layups to build a 16-8 lead. The Penguins countered quickly as freshman guard Jazmine Barnes knocked down a 3-pointer from the right elbow before graduate guard Abreanna Lake stole the ensuing inbounds and laid it in for two to cut the gap to three with four minutes remaining. Once again ART U attacked the paint to rebuild its lead pulling ahead by nine on an 8-2 run, but Friauf found Lake on the left elbow for a 3-pointer at the buzzer to make it 24-18 heading to the second.

The teams traded 5-0 runs to start the second half as Jordan Charlton knocked down an elbow three and Cedeno cut down the baseline for a layup to keep it a six-point game. The seesaw battle continued the rest of the half as each team traded buckets until Cedeno knocked down a pull-up 3-pointer as the buzzer sounded to cut the ART U lead to 38-31 at the half.

Dominican will have a week to prepare for its home conference opener Saturday against Fresno Pacific at 2 p.m. PST at the Conlan Center.