SAN RAFAEL, Calif. – Dominican women's basketball held on for an 82-79 victory in a seesaw battle Thursday night with Biola at the Conlan Recreation Center.

Kaylyn Buchanon had several clutch baskets for the Penguins (18-5, 12-5 PacWest) to lead the team to victory with a double-double of 16 points and 11 rebounds to go with two steals. Janiya Sawyer added 21 points and six assists with Keyonee Neal chipping in a game-high 22 points. Hanne Nybo finished with 20 points and nine rebounds for the Eagles (12-10, 9-8 PacWest) with Alyssa Kubo providing 13 points several in the final minutes of regulation and overtime. 

The game was a grueling back-and-forth match through regulation with each team making runs to build leads, but never into double digits. Neal extended the Penguins lead to a game-high of nine with an old-fashioned 3-point play with 7:26 left in regulation. Nybo scored on back-to-back trips down the floor to cut the Eagle deficit to 62-57 a minute later. Aliyah Bantolina scored the next five capping the 9-2 run to pull back within two with four minutes to play. Dominican clung to its slim margin until Laney Grider connected from behind the arc to tie the game and then laid it in to take the 69-67 lead with one minute remaining. 

Neal answered with a 3-point play to take back the lead, but Kubo answered with one of her own on the other end to swing the lead back to Biola. Buchanon took it to the hoop and laid it in through contact with 19 seconds left to tie the game, but the Eagles had the ball with a chance to win. Grider worked her way into the paint and split a double team with a golden chance for the layup to win, but the ball bounced three times on the iron and then fell out to send the game to overtime.

Overtime began in the same way with each team trading buckets and defensive stops until Jamia Sawyer and Buchanon each drove for layups to give Dominican a 76-74 lead with 2:34 left to play. Kubo answered with a layup, but Crosswhite hit a 3-pointer from the top of the key and Buchanon drove for another clutch layup to push the lead to 81-76 with 28 seconds remaining. Kubo hit another 3-pointer to trim the lead to two and Janiya Sawyer went 1-for-2 from the free-throw line to set up yet another chance for Biola to tie. The shot would never come as Dominican played lock down defense with Kubo having to heave a hook shot from beyond the arc towards the basket in desperation as the horn sounded.

The Penguins had a strong start as they attacked the paint early and often with Janiya Sawyer scoring four points in the first three minutes to take a 8-4 lead. Dominican continued to hold its lead with a layup by Neal making it 12-9 with 4:36 remaining in the quarter, but a seven-minute scoreless drought opened the door for the Eagles. After pulling ahead by two to end the first, Jaycee Goldsmith and Nybo knocked down back-to-back 3-pointers to open the second quarter for Biola and push the lead to 20-12. 

Mahliya Wilson ended Dominican's drought on offense with a short jumper and Alyssa Alvarado made a pair from the charity stripe to cut the deficit to four less than a minute later. Goldsmith connected on another 3-pointer to push the lead back to nine with 5:50 remaining in the half, but the Penguins reeled off a 6-0 run with Neal laying it in to pull the Penguins back within a single possession at 25-22 with 3:45 left in the quarter. Neal connected on a pair of shots behind the arc down the stretch with her second pulling Dominican back within one and Buchanon sank a jumper from the left-baseline at the buzzer to keep it that way with Dominican trailing 35-34 heading to the locker room. 

Isobel Crosswhite laid it in to start the scoring in the third quarter and give the Penguins their first lead since the first quarter and Janiya and Jamia Sawyer each hit a 3-pointer to extend the lead to 42-37 with 7:32 on the clock. The lead reached seven twice, but the Eagles clawed their way back into the game as Dana Dykstra hit back-to-back 3-pointers to make it 53-51 Dominican with 2:33 left in the period. Janiya Sawyer drove it to the hoop and laid it in with Neal adding another layup to finish out the quarter and send Dominican into the fourth leading by six.

The Penguins conclude their homestand Saturday as they face Westmont at 1 p.m. PST at the Conlan Recreation Center.