San Francisco, CA -- With new expectations set in its first year as full-fledged NCAA members, Academy of Art University women's basketball has cemented itself among the leaders not just in the Pacific West Conference, but nationally as well. The Urban Knights are owners of the highest turnover margin in the country, the 11th most steals, and a scoring offense that sits at 21st overall. ART U currently sports an 8-2 record that includes a perfect 4-0 mark at home.

"It's a great honor to be recognized in a variety of national categories," head coach LaNay Larson said. "With that being said, we are constantly working on our defense and becoming more well-rounded. The focus has been on our half-court defense this week and I thought we took big strides in that area against Western Oregon. With such a new rotation, the girls will just continue to get better as they learn how hard they have to play for 40 minutes to compete at the highest level."

With a defense focused on full-court pressure and deep enough to constantly provide fresh legs, Academy of Art has forced 258 opponent turnovers while the Knights themselves have just 152 turnovers as of Dec. 10. The 11.78 margin is a full turnover beyond the next closest team, Elizabeth City State. In addition, ART U's 14.8 steals per game were dramatically increased after the squad set a new steals record with 27 against Holy Names on Dec. 8. That stellar defense has most often led to offense as ART U's 77.2 points per game average ranks 21st in the country and leads the Pacific West Conference. 

Most recently, and not yet included in the national rankings, the Urban Knights forced 31 turnovers against Western Oregon on Dec. 13 and scored nearly half of their 81 points off those miscues. Freshman Sha'Nice Storey notched eight steals to tie the program record.

ART U has also appeared in each of the first four weekly releases of the USA TODAY Sports Division II Top 25 women's basketball poll as determined by the USA Sports board of coaches, 33 members of the Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA).

Updated rankings and statistics are available on a weekly basis each Monday at the following link:

http://www.ncaa.com/stats/basketball-women/d2