SEASIDE, Calif. – Dominican women's basketball built a big lead before coasting to a 77-64 victory over Cal State Monterey Bay to finish its competition in the CSUMB PacWest/CCAA Challenge at the Kelp Bed.
Jenna Duley caught fire in the second half and finished with 18 points to go with two assists for the Penguins (3-1).
Keyonee Neal flirted with a triple-double finishing with 14 points, seven rebounds and six assists, while
Muirae Gomez finished with 12 points off the bench for Dominican. The Otters (0-3) tried to press their height advantage in the paint as Samiya Terry led the way with 12 points and five rebounds while Sarah Shaw added nine points and 13 boards.
Domincian shot 50% from the field and 33.3% from behind the arc while holding CSUMB to 36% from the field and 20% on 3-point attempts. The Penguins were unselfish throughout the game dishing out 19 assists as a team on 29 made field goals.
It was CSUMB that took the early lead as three offensive rebounds allowed them to score the first four points of the game, but Neal quickly answered with four points on short jumpers in the paint to tie the game. The Penguins began to find their offensive flow from there making the extra pass to go on a 7-point run to take a 12-6 lead on a layup from
Adia Walker off an offensive board with three minutes left in the opening period. The teams traded points over the final minutes of the first with Dominian taking an 18-12 lead into the second.
The unselfish play continued for the Penguins as
Andraya Perez found
Mikayla Amoroso cutting to the bucket for an easy layup before Duley kicked a ball out to
Hailey Hoff in the right corner for a 3-pointer to take their first double digit lead at 25-14 with 7:14 left until the break. Ciarah Michalik scored five quick points to lead the Otters on a 7-point swing that closed the gap to 27-24 with 2:49 left until the break. Duley helped blunt the momentum as she knocked down a midrange jumper before finding Neal in transition for an easy layup to push the lead back to seven in 30 seconds and they kept that lead heading into the locker room.
Dominican started the second half on a tear as Neal found Amoroso for a layup through contact and Amoroso converted the 3-point play before
Alaiyah San Juan knocked down a 3-pointer to retake a double-digit advantage at 44-34 with 5:46 on the third-quarter clock. Gomez made a pair of short jumpers to end the period and send the Penguins into the final quarter with the 54-41 lead.
Duley took control from there scoring six points in the opening three minutes to push the lead to 19. She then added two more 3-pointers to lift the Penguins to their largest lead of the game at 73-50 with 5:18 left on the clock. It was all the room they needed to close out the victory.
Dominican will return to the court Tuesday to take on Cal State East Bay at 5:30 p.m. PST in its home opener at the Conlan Center.
