San Rafael, CALIF. – Dominican University of California (0-2) dropped its final contest of the CCAA/PacWest Challenge to Chico State (2-0) by a score of 68-22 on Saturday as graduate student Brittney Cedeno recorded a single-game school record of nine steals.

Cedeno scored what may be the fastest basket one can score as she intercepted the tip-off before sprinting down the court and converting on a layup just three seconds into the contest. She added two more points after a Chico State basket drew the game even, this time juking her defender and scoring an easy bucket with the open lane she had just created. Junior Jenna Duley and freshman Keyonee Neal got in on the action as the two teams played the roles of trade partners with multiple buckets exchanged over the ensuing minutes with Chico State eventually hitting a 3-pointer to jump ahead by a trio of points.

Graduate student Jordan Charlton made an immediate impact after being subbed into the game, converting on a layup to set the score at 13-10 Wildcats with 4:05 remaining. Neal tied the game moments later with her first 3-pointer of the young season as the teams again started to exchange buckets. Sophomore Alex Salise gave Dominican a late lead with a long ball from the top of the arc as Dominican already showed steady improvement on its shooting percentage from the night earlier, converting on 47.1% of its shots from the field to take a 19-15 lead into the second frame.

The Ceden-show kept rolling with the first bucket of the second half, a contested lay-in from the left side of the hoop. A Wildcats corner three brought them back within four, but another Cedeno bucket from in-close kept the visitors momentarily at length. Chico State earned a 2-point lead over the ensuing minutes, hitting a pair of free throws before back-to-back long balls gave them a 26-24 advantage at the media timeout.

Back-to-back Chico State buckets gave the visitors a six-point advantage before a mid-range Salise basket cut the lead to four. The Wildcats netted five more points before the end of the half while Dominican was only able to tally one free throw as Chico State left the court with a 35-27 lead.

A 3-pointer just 19 seconds into the third quarter put the Wildcats up 11 before freshman Amelia Brady converted on her first collegiate bucket to bring the deficit back to single digits. Another Chico State bucket set the lead back to 11 which seemed to spark the Penguins as sophomore Jazmine Barnes and Salise traded 3-pointers before a Cedeno layup brought the game to 41-37 at the media timeout.

A diving Cedeno lay-in kept Dominican close after four straight points by the visitors, but a fluke 3-pointer that found its way home off the backboard put Chico State back up nine. Salise earned a contest lay-in to the right of the hoop as she spun off a defender before draining a bucket to set the score to 50-43 preceding a Cedeno steal at half court that forced a Chico State foul before a Wildcats timeout.

Five straight Wildcat points put them up 55-43 as Dominican tried to find the shooting it secured early in the first half. Cedeno forced a travel with 86 seconds remaining in the third quarter to give Dominican possession, but Dominican was unable to capitalize at it gave the ball back to the visiting team on the ensuing trip down the floor. Salise hit a late layup to bring Dominican within 10 directly before the end of the third frame with the Penguins trailing 55-45.

Salise snagged the momentum with a corner-3 after a no look pass from Cedeno found the hands of graduate student Abreanna Lake who immediately sent the ball to the sophomore. The squads exchanged free throws with the difference being that Dominican made both of its shots. Perhaps speaking too soon, Chico State saw a pair of successful charity shots a pair of possession later as Dominican again found itself reeling as it searched for answers on the offense. Chico State eventually went up 11 before Cedeno was able to give Dominican life with a pair of moves inside the paint before sinking a floater. More foul shots put the visitors back up double digits when another Cedeno bucket, this time a long-range jumper brought the score to 62-53 with just shy of five minutes remaining.

Barnes drained a three directly in front of her bench coming out of the media break, but Chico State answered back in the form of a left-handed layup. Cedeno earned a scoop and score as she stole the ball before laying it in then coming up huge with a block on Chico State's next trip down the floor. Remarkably, Cedeno stole the ball again as she completely took over the Dominican defense with less than three minutes to go.

Salise and Duley forced an out of bounds with 127 second remaining, setting up an Alaiyah San Juan contested bucket on the other end of the floor to set the score to 64-60. An open layup put the Wildcats back up six on the next possession, preceding another Cedeno steal before Salise hit a left-handed layup to cut the deficit to four points with 24 seconds remaining. Dominican found itself in fouling territory as the game wound down with Chico State eventually leaving the court with a 68-62 victory.

Cedeno led the way with a near triple double in the one of the rarest of ways, tallying 19 points, 10 rebounds and an incomprehensible nine steals, breaking a school record that she set last season when she tallied eight against Holy Names on Jan. 30. Salise followed with 19 points, four rebounds and three assists.