SAN RAFAEL, Calif. – Dominican women's basketball pulled away for a dominating 81-58 victory over UC Merced on Saturday at the Conlan Center.
 
Adia Walker provided a huge spark off the bench for the Penguins (5-5) with 21 points and nine rebounds. Abigail Cooper added 17 points while Isobel Crosswhite finished with 10 points and seven rebounds. Sarina Nagra led the Bobcats (4-4) with 13 points and five rebounds while Leilani Blecha added 13 points and two rebounds.
 
Blecha led UC Merced to a hot start as she knocked down a 3-pointer to open eh scoring and then ended the 7-2 run with a short jumper in the paint with 6:35 remaining in the half. Nagra laid it off the glass to extend the lead to 11-4 at the midway point of the opening quarter as Dominican struggled to find their rhythm. Cooper shook off her slow start after securing position in the paint and a pass from Kaylyn Buchanon-Lamb led to an easy layup. Alex Salise tied the game 11-11 with a 3-pointer seconds after entering the game and Alaiyah San Juan connected seconds later as the Penguins took their first lead. Cooper added a pair of layups down the stretch as Dominican finished the period with a 19-1 run.
 
The run continued into the second as Walker laid it in through contact and completed the 3-point play to push the lead to 23-12 to open the second quarter. After Paloma Ramirez broke up the run with a layup, Walker scored six unanswered to push the Penguin lead to 29-14 with eighth minutes left in the half. Blecha cut the Bobcats' deficit to seven with a 3-pointer but San Juan found Cooper under the hoop for a layup and Salise hit her second 3-pointer to extend the lead to 38-26 with 2:53 left in the half. The teams traded buckets down the stretch and the Penguins led 43-30 at the break.
 
Nagra laid it off the glass with 7:52 left in the third quarter to finish off a 6-0 run that bridged the halftime and brought UC Merced back within single digits at 43-34. Cooper swung the momentum back to Dominican as she finished through contact for an old-fashioned 3-point play and San Juan stole the ball and took it the other way for a fast break layup to make it 48-34 with seven minutes left in the third. The Penguins ran away with it as Walker laid it off the glass for two to end a 20-2 run and extend the lead to 27 with two minutes left in the third.
 
Dominican played multiple players off its bench in the fourth quarter as it held its lead throughout despite a small Bobcat run in the middle of the quarter.
 
The Penguins will head to Cal Maritime on Monday at 7 p.m. PST at the Cal Maritime Physical Education Center in Vallejo, California.