FRESNO, Calif. – Dominican women's basketball fell 68-52 in a physical contest with Sonoma State on Friday afternoon to open the FPU Crossover at the Special Events Center.
Alex Salise led the Penguins (1-3) with 13 points and four rebounds, while Abigail Cooper added 10 points and five rebounds off the bench. Jayme Blackard led the Seawolves (1-0) with 14 points and seven rebounds. Dominican was held to 25.4% shooting for the game while Sonoma State hit 37.9% of its shots.
The opening period began as a defensive slugfest as both teams struggled to get their offense rolling. Salise found Cooper for a layup and then Salise added a pair of free throws to put the Penguins up 6-4 with 6:08 remaining in the period. It was all Seawolves from there as they closed on a 15-2 run capped by Blackard beating the buzzer with a layup to go up 19-8 heading to the second quarter.
Cooper sparked the Penguins with a pair of layups in the second quarter to close back within nine and some great defense and offensive rebounding gave Dominican ample opportunities to close the gap further but the shots would not fall for the Penguins. The teams traded points over the final five minutes and
Alaiyah San Juan was able to find
Julianne Cotterill under the hoop for two to bring Dominican back within single digits at the break trailing 32-24.
The seesaw battle continued into the third until layups by San Juan and Cooper on back-to-back possessions made it a six point game with 6:31 remaining in the period. After a Balckard layup, Salise knocked down a shot behind the arc to close within five near the midway point of the quarter. Scoring became hard to come by and the Seawolves were able to push their lead back to double digits with a Meredith Gilbertson free throw with three minutes left on the third-quarter clock.
Dominican continued to battle with
Adia Walker attacking the hoop for an acrobatic layup before Cotterill crashed the offensive glass for two more to bring the Penguins deficit back to three possessions at 47-40. That was the closest they would get the rest of the way as Sonoma State expanded their lead to 20 pulling away after winning the fourth quarter 19-12 to seal the game.
Dominican will return to action Saturday against Chico State as it closes out the tournament at the Special Events Center.
