San Rafael, CALIF. – Dominican University of California (0-1) fell to Sonoma State (1-0) by a score of 65-53 in its home opener.
Cold first quarter shooting put Dominican down 9-0 in the early stages, a streak that was broken by an Olga Faasolo layup to tally the Penguins first points of the fresh season. Junior Jenna Duley followed up with a pair of points of her own with senior Brittany Cedeno burying a midrange jumper for her first score of the season moments later. The teams traded points for the remainder of the opening frame, but it was Sonoma State that found itself ahead with a 15-9 advantage.
The Seawolves put their foot on the gas in the second quarter, putting up a 9-1 streak to start the frame. Cedeno earned the first field goal of the quarter nearly five minutes in with a driving layup before the trading of baskets continued during the following two minutes. A pair of late long balls put the visitors up 38-17 with under a minute left, but a 5-0 streak courtesy of sophomores Jasmine Barnes and Alaiyah San Juan with graduate student Abreanna Lake putting her finishing touches on the streak as Dominican trailed 38-22 at half.
Faasolo traded an early bucket with the Seawolves to start the second half, with Cedeno adding her first bucket of the half after an opposing 3-pointer. Dominican struggled to find the twine from here on out, matching groups of Sonoma mini streaks with single buckets. The Penguins largest deficit came with 46 seconds left in the quarter when a pair of opposing free throws put Sonoma State up 25 with the score reading 56-31, a lead that only slightly diminished before the end of the frame as Dominican trailed 58-34.
Flashes of last season were seen on the Dominican offensive side of the floor as the Penguins vaunted ball movement was on full display starting with back-to-back layups from Cedeno and Duley. Freshman Keyonee Neal hit the first 3-pointer of her career with 5:53 remaining, a shot that came from way beyond the arc to set the score to 60-43. Cedeno stole the ball at the logo before driving the lane for her 17
th point of the night to bring Dominican within 13 with four minutes to go, leading to an immediate Sonoma State timeout. The Seawolves answered with a bucket out of the break, but Dominican kept storming back with five consecutive points topped off with an Alex Salise 3-pointer that brought Dominican within 10.
Neal tallied a block on the defensive end with just under two minutes remaining, but Dominican was unable to capitalize as the visitors put up their first impressive defensive stop of the frame largely due to the Penguin offense taking flight. Sonoma State earned just its second bucket of the final frame to put it back up by 12 before Salise cut the lead to 11 from the foul stripe. Lake earned a steal with 40 seconds remaining to put her team back on the attack, but ultimately Dominican would fall by a final score of 65-53 despite an incredible third quarter that saw it outscore its opponent 19-7.
Cedeno started her crowning season with 19 points and seven rebounds while Duley saw nine points in her inaugural game.
