OAKLAND, Calif. – Dominican women's basketball fell 79-71 Thursday night to Academy of Art at Laney College Gymnasium.
 
Jenna Duley finished with 18 points on 50% shooting from behind the arc, while Keyonee Neal finished with 17 points and 10 rebounds for the Penguins (18-8, 11-7 PacWest). The Urban Knights (5-18, 4-13 PacWest) took advantage of a uncharacteristic 23 Dominican turnovers with Alba Rovira Ayuso leading all scorers with 19 points to go with six rebounds.
 
Dominican started strong hitting their first four 3-pointers of the game with Alex Salise and Duley knocking down deep attempts on back-to-back possessions to build a 15-8 lead with 6:27 remaining in the first quarter. Dominican continued to hold its advantage but ART U stuck around with Emilia Dougherty knocking down a corner 3-pointer to tie the game 19-19 with under two minutes left in the opening period. Andraya Perez answered with a 3-pointer on the other end to put the Penguins back in front and they took a 27-25 lead into the second quarter.
 
The Urban Knights opened the new period on an 8-2 run with Maddie Morrow and Rovira Ayuso knocking down a pair of threes to help take a 33-29 lead. Olga Faasolo came in for the Penguins and quickly made a difference working her way into the paint for a personal 6-0 run to put them back in front 35-33 with 4:31 remaining in the half.
 
Dominican entered the half clinging to a two point lead but nothing went their way in the third quarter as nine turnovers in the period allowed the ART U to take the 60-54 lead into the final period of play. The Urban Knight lead grew to as many as nine points but Duley knocked down back-to-back 3-pointers with a pull up in transition closing the gap to 64-67 with 6:07 remaining.
 
After Duley converted a pair of free throws to close back within one, the Urban Knights scored the next six points to push the lead to 73-66 heading to the final two minutes. The lead proved too much for the Penguins as they could not convert their offensive opportunities down the stretch.
 
Dominican will have a week to prepare to host Point Loma Nazarene University for an important Thursday matchup at 5:30 p.m. in the Conlan Center.