PacWest Release #6
Phoenix, AZ -- With at least one representative on each Pacific West Conference Weekly Fantastic 15 thus far, Academy of Art University women's basketball continued its run as senior
Ariel Dale and freshman
Sha'Nice Storey were selected most recently. The Urban Knights pulled off a dominant 81-53 victory over Western Oregon this past
Dec. 13 with both Dale and Storey providing tough defense and often consequent offense. The honors were announced by the PacWest Media Office in Phoenix, AZ on Monday, Dec. 17 for games played Dec. 10-16.
In her first start of the season, Dale delivered arguably her best performance yet. The senior was scorching from the field and seemed to do a little bit of everything throughout the afternoon. She came out of the gate strong, helping ART U build a 40-19 halftime advantage with 12 points on 6-of-7 shooting from the floor. At one point, Dale enabled a fastbreak layup for Storey then quickly stole another before hitting a jumper to give the Knights a double digit lead. It was more of the same in the second half as Dale worked hard rebounding the ball, grabbing four offensive rebounds while adding six points.
Dale finished the contest with a game-high 18 points, grabbed nine rebounds, handed out three assists, and recorded four steals in the win. This marked the fourth time in 10 games that Dale has registered four or more steals. Her 64.3 percent (9-for-14) shooting from the field ranked sixth in the PacWest for the week. The Los Angeles, CA native now averages 14.4 points (eighth in PWC), 6.2 rebounds (17th in PWC) and 3.3 assists (sixth in PWC) per game. Dale's 2.9 steals per game are a mere 0.1 behind the PacWest leader.
Keyed in defensively throughout the matchup with Western Oregon, Storey repeatedly found herself in the Wolves' passing lanes en route to a historic afternoon. The Portland, OR native registered four steals in each half with six of the eight directly leading to Academy of Art offense in a game in which the Urban Knights scored 39 points off turnovers. After entering the game with 16:51 remaining in the opening half, Storey immediately knocked down a 3-pointer and made her defensive presence known. She remained hot from long range with two more triples coming in the second half which turned into a rout of the opposition.
By the end of a fast-paced ballgame, Storey had scored 13 points to go with eight steals which not only led the conference for the week, but also matched ART U's single-game program record
originally set by Devin London last season. She also drained 3-of-6 shots from long range (50.0%), tying her for sixth in three-point shooting for the week. Now averaging 10.3 points per game, Storey has cracked the Top 25 scorers in the PacWest and ranks seventh in steals (2.3 spg).
This is Dale's fifth PacWest weekly honor of the season and the sixth in her career while Storey receives her second award in her ART U career.
