FRESNO, Calif. – Dominican women's basketball fell short in the final minutes falling 65-61 Thursday to Fresno Pacific at the Special Events Center.
 
Jenna Duley led the Penguins (17-7, 10-6 PacWest) with 18 points while Keyonee Neal added 10 points and six rebounds. Jayla Green led the Sunbirds (17-6, 11-4 PacWest) with 15 points and five rebounds.
 
The first quarter was a seesaw battle between the two teams as there were five ties and four lead changes. After Alaiyah San Juan knocked down a short jumper, Duley connected on her first 3-pointer of the game to give Dominican the 14-11 lead with three minutes remaining in the period.
 
The Penguins carried the small lead into the second quarter but Jasmin Heu knocked down a 3-pointer before finding Green for a layup to push the Sunbirds ahead 22-21 with 6:29 remaining. Alex Salise and Olga Faasolo each worked their way into the paint for a layup to give Dominican back the three point advantage at the halfway point as once again the lead began to seesaw. Faasolo delivered the final field goal of the game as Salise found her under the basket for a layup to take a 32-30 lead into the break.
 
FPU came out of the half blazing as a Julie Ramirez knocked down a shot behind the arc to highlight a 7-point run that gave them the 37-32 advantage in the first three minutes. Dominican fought to keep the game within two possessions with Andraya Perez and Duley both connecting from distance in the final minutes of the third before Duley beat her defender to the hoop in transition to cut the deficit to 46-45 heading into the fourth.
 
A pair of early turnovers in the fourth quarter allowed the Sunbirds to push the lead back to six but Dominican kept chipping away. Mikayla Amoroso then knocked home a shot from the right corner to close the gap to one and Perez drew a foul and converted a pair at the charity stripe to take a 55-54 lead. FPU then hit the offensive glass to quickly build a six-point advantage with under 30 seconds remaining but San Juan connected on a transition 3-pointer to cut the lead in half. After two missed free throws San Juan stepped back in an attempt to tie the game, but the shot fell short to secure the victory for the Sunbirds.
 
Dominican will return home to take on the University of Hawaii at Hilo on Monday at 5:30 p.m. at the Conlan Center.