BELMONT, Calif. - Brittney Cedeno helped Dominican women's basketball overcome a slow start as it never trailed in the second half of a 68-59 victory Saturday afternoon over Academy of Art at Walter Gleason Gymnasium.

Cedeno was phenomenal in all facets of the game as she scored 19 points to go with 20 rebounds, five assists and two steals for the Penguins. Cedeno outrebounded the conference's leading rebounder Alisha Wilson who led the Urban Knights with a double-double of 10 points and 17 rebounds. 

ART U benefitted from some early makes behind the arc to take the lead in the first quarter as Madison Johnson opened the game with a make from distance and Jadence Clifton adding one of her own to take an 8-2 lead in the first three minutes. Keyonee Neal scored the first five of her 19 points over the next two minutes to close the gap back to one, but Ashana Hinds hit a 3-pointer to keep the Urban Knights in the lead. Hinds knocked down a second 3-pointer with 1:56 remaining in the quarter to push the ART U lead to six points and they held that margin going into the second. 

After the Urban Knights extended their lead to eight, Cedeno began to terrorize them on both ends of the court as she first knocked down a short jumper before stealing the ball on the next possession and finding Alaiyah San Juan ahead of the play for an easy layup. Another Penguin steal, this time from Abreanna Lake, set Cedeno up for another midrange jumper to close the gap to two before she tied the game 27-27 with six minutes left in the half off an assist from San Juan. Olga Faasolo laid it off the glass for Dominican's first lead as the clock ticked under five minutes, but Madison Johnson knocked down a 3-pointer for ART U to retake the lead one last time. Mikayla Amoroso hit a jumper inside the paint to hand the lead back to Dominican for good and San Juan knocked down a 3-pointer to spark an 8-0 run to end the half that sent the Penguins into the locker room leading 37-30. 

The Urban Knights battled back slowly and eventually tied the game at 42 when Lauryn Manns hit a 3-pointer, but Cedeno drew a foul on the other end and hit both shots from the charity stripe to give the lead right back to Dominican. The game remained close but the third period ended in the Penguins favor as Cedeno grabbed a rebound off a missed free throw and raced up the court before finding San Juan for a 3-pointer at the buzzer to make it 51-46 Dominican heading into the final period of play.

Once again ART U battled back to close within one, but San Juan answered with a short jumper before slashing into the lane and kicking the ball back out to Alex Salise on the right wing for a 3-pointer to push the lead to 60-54 with 3:41 remaining. Cedeno then capped the 10-2 run as she fought through contact for an old-fashioned 3-point play to extend the lead to nine with 1:25 remaining and Dominican sealed the game from the free-throw line.

Dominican will return to action Friday as it takes on Holy Names at 5:30 p.m. PST in the last game of the two team's historic rivalry at Tobin Gymnasium.