Box Score

Turlock, CA (11/28/08) --  On Friday afternoon, the Academy of Art University women's basketball team,  led by senior forward Levalasi Key's 23-point performance, fell to Cal State Stanislaus in a overtime thriller, 76-80. AAU took a 59-38 lead with 8:47 left in the second half when junior guard Jacqui Heck nailed a 3-pointer. That 21 point advantage was not enough to ensure the Urban Knights' first victory of the season, as the Warriors chipped away and eventually tied the game on a three-point basket by Katie Busi with 11 seconds left on the clock. The Knights had one final opportunity to slay the Warriors, but a missed 3-pointer by Key as time expired sent the game to overtime.

The Warriors took an early 4-2 lead, but the Knights, who came out of the gate focused and intense, controlled the tempo from the opening tip-off.  Key and sophomore forward KaUwila Lavea scored the first eight Urban Knight points and put them up 8-4 with 15:52 left on the clock. The Warriors would eventually tie the game at 19 apiece at the 5:59 mark and push their lead to five, but the aggressive play of this young Urban Knight team hungry for a win would rally back to regain the lead and go up by seven to finish the half. Defensively, the Urban Knights caused 15 turnovers in the first half and junior point guard Sondra Stilwell finished the half with four of the team's six steals.

The tenacious Urban Knights team came out of the locker room fired up. They started the second half  with a 25-10 run capped on a 3-pointer by Heck to put them up 21 points with 8:47 left on the clock. Their first victory was in sight until the scrappy Warriors started to chip away at their 21 point lead. Cal State Stanislaus cut into the advantage with offensive rebounds, free throws and a key 3-pointer by Samantha Bertomen. The Warriors used a 12-2 run to cut AAU's lead to 61-50 at 4:39.

Stanislaus would eventually cut the lead to single digits inside the three-minute mark until Busi's 3-pointer with 13 seconds to go to tie the game for the first time in the second half to send it into overtime.

During overtime, AAU would go up by as much as one, but lack of rebounding on the defensive boards and key turnovers with time running off the clock allowed the Cal State Stanislaus Warriors to take the lead and the game. CSU Stanislaus improves to 3-0 while Academy of Art University falls to 0-5 on the season.

The Urban Knights take the floor for the second game of the Cal State Stanislaus Thanksgiving Tournament tomorrow at 12:30 PM against Cal State Monterey Bay.