Box Score
San Francisco, CA --- The last time these two teams met was back on February 6th and it was the Urban Knights (9-17, 5-10) who emerged victorious. Then, it was senior Sondra Stilwell who led the way for the Knights by putting in a 21-point performance on 5 of 9 shooting and being a perfect 7 of 7 from the line. Tonight was no different, as AAU cruised past the visiting Silverswords (0-13, 1-20), 71-49. This time around, sophomore Lorraine Etchell had a breakout game to lead the Knights to victory. The guard put in a season high 23 points on 8 of 13 shooting and was a perfect 7 of 7 from the line for the Knights.
Etchell paced the Knights in the first half, scoring 10 of her 23 total points on 3 of 6 shooting. Despite the surge from Etchell it was the Swords who would start the game on fire scoring the first five points of the contest. However, AAU would regain the lead and keep it for the majority of the half. Academy of Art took their largest lead of the half on a Caprice Hall three pointer with less than two minutes to go. The Swords lack of height forced them to shoot the ball from outside and it was the three ball that kept them in the game, as they shot 40% from beyond the arc in the first half (4 of 10). But, even with the Swords shooting 40% it was AAU who went into the locker room up 28-23. The Urban Knights, who are averaging 9.5 steals per game didn't disappoint tonight, racking up 16 steals and causing 29 turnovers, 15 of which came in the first half alone.
The second half proved to be all Urban Knights as they gradually expanded their lead over the last 20 minutes from seven points to as many as 22 points. The Urban Knights also out rebounded the Swords 42 - 28, and leading rebounder Jessica Nolan grabbed a team high 12 rebounds to go with her 16 points, for her fourth straight double-double.
Samantha Saito, CHU's leading scorer had a team high 15 points and dished out four assits. Brittany Copp was perfect from the field, she knocked down four of four field goals and one free-throw to add nine points. As a team the Swords were 36.8% from beyond the arc (7 of 19).
Three players for AAU registered double figures in scoring with Etchell's 23 leading the pack. Nolan chipped in 16 points and 12 rebounds, while Stilwell added 10 points, seven assists and three steals in the victory.
The Urban Knights take on BYU-Hawaii Thursday March 6 for their final game of the 2009-2010 season. Tip-off is set for 5:30 PM at Kezar Pavilion with the men's game set to commence immediately following
