ATHERTON, Calif. – Dominican women's basketball mounted another fourth quarter comeback as it closed out 2025 with a 74-70 victory Sunday afternoon over Menlo at Haynes-Prim Pavilion.
 
Keyonee Neal led the Penguins (8-2, 2-2 PacWest) with 19 points, 12 rebounds, five blocks and two steals while shooting 50% from the field. Janiya Sawyer added 17 points and three steals while Mahliya Wilson finished with 18 points and seven rebounds. Alberto Frisch led the Oaks (3-7, 1-4 PacWest) with 28 points, seven rebounds and five steals. Dominican made the most of their opportunities off of turnovers holding a 26-16 advantage in points off turnovers while forcing Menlo to commit 21 in the game.
 
After 27 minutes of a tight contest between the two teams, Frisch scored four points and had two steals to lead a 6-0 run that sent them into the fourth leading 54-48. Frisch pushed the lead to eight with a 3-pointer four minutes into the final period as Dominican searched for an answer. Wilson provided the spark getting into the paint multiple times to draw fouls, pull up for jumpers and finish layups leading an 8-1 run that closed the gap to 64-63 with 2:44 remaining on a made free throw.
 
Frisch scored four points over the next minute of the game to push the lead back to six, but  Sawyer hit a pair of free-throws before Wilson swiped the ball and laid it off the glass to get back within two in a span of 20 seconds. Neal then stole the ball and took it the other way for a fast break layup that tied the game 69-69 with 43 seconds remaining. Dominican kept the heavy pressure on defense as Sawyer stole the ball and was fouled heading the other way connecting on both free throws to take the 71-69 lead. The Oaks had one last chance to tie down three with four seconds remaining but Neal stole the ball one last time and calmly sank her shots from the charity stripe to seal the victory.
 
Neal came out hot out of the gates hitting two 3-pointers in the opening quarter as her second pushed the lead to 12-7 with 3:48 remaining in the period. The Penguins continually attacked the basket as a Julianne Cotterill connected on a put back with Wilson, Sawyer and Neal all taking turns at the free-throw line to extend the lead to 20-10 with 1:18 left in the quarter.
 
Aryn Bright knocked down a shot behind the arc to push the lead to double-digits less than a minute into the second quarter, and two minutes later Neal and Wilson connected on back-to-back layups as Dominican looked poised to run away with the game leading 29-16 with 6:43 remaining. It was not meant to be as Mehkia Applewhite hit a 3-pointer on the other end to blunt the momentum and the Oaks began chipping away. Frisch hit a 3-pointer with 2:44 remaining to cut back within single digits and Menlo scored the final eight points of the half with Laila Saenz providing the spark with a pair of midrange jumpers.
 
Dominican will be back in action as it rings in the New Year against Point Loma on Thursday, January 1 at 1 p.m. PST at the Conlan Center.