2011-12 All-PacWest Women's Basketball Team
Phoenix, AZ -- The best season in Academy of Art University women's basketball history was capped off by four Urban Knights dominating the All-Pacific West Conference Second Team. In Thursday's announcement of the All-PacWest Teams, the quartet of sophomore forward
Alisa Griggs, junior forward
Ariel Dale, senior guard
Devin London, and junior guard
Jordan Rogers captured Second Team honors for their contributions to ART U's success. All four Knights finished the season among the conference's Top 25 scorers in addition to showing a bevy of other talents in 2011-12.
“I think it's a huge compliment to our program to land four players on the All-PacWest Second Team," head coach LaNay Larson said. "We were the only team to have four players honored, and it shows what great balance we had.”
This year, the PacWest coaches or designated representatives from each school selected 23 student-athletes for All-Conference accolades. The squad consisted of a First Team (eight selections), Second Team (seven selections) and honorable mention (five selections) as well as Player of the Year, Newcomer of the Year, and Freshman of the Year.
In 2011-12, Griggs proved that she was one of the top post presences in the PacWest. Ranked eighth in scoring (13.8 ppg) and seventh in rebounding (7.7 rpg), the Milwaukie, OR native led the way for Academy of Art all season long and also finished in the conference's Top 10 in field goal percentage (.476). She was the team's leading scorer in exactly half of its 26 games, recorded a total of six double-doubles, and absolutely led by example as one of three captains.
“Alisa had a fabulous year and the fact she has two more years here makes me so excited," Coach Larson said. "She has improved so much, but there is potential for her to be a Player of the Year candidate in the future. I felt like she was very consistent and ranked in the top of so many categories. I look forward to her building on this honor and leading this team in the years to come.”
Few could forget the historic moment Griggs had when she grabbed a new program record 23 rebounds and scored 21 points in the same game against Dominican on Jan. 30. The forward would later drop a career-high 26 points (including 10 free throws made) at Dixie State on Feb. 11 before playing a vital post role in the Knights' upset of Grand Canyon two days later. A nine-time PacWest Weekly Honor Roll recipient and once the PacWest Player of the Week, Griggs wrapped up a special season in which she became the first Urban Knight ever to score more than 350 points
and grab over 200 rebounds in a single campaign.
Dale made quite a splash in her first year with ART U after transferring from Division I Fordham University with a passion for Multimedia Communications. The junior forward exhibited tremendous versatility and it showed at the end of the season when she was averaging 8.7 points per game (25th in PacWest), 5.8 rebounds per game (11th in PacWest), 2.5 steals per game (3rd in PacWest), and 2.5 assists per game (12th in PacWest).
“Ariel had a great conference season that just got better and better as she got healthy," Coach Larson said. "We spent all non-conference getting her back from a knee injury and she really came into her own come January. I think this is just the tip of the iceberg for her as she gets more comfortable in our system and is back to full strength. I look for her to be a dominating force in the PacWest next year.”
Dale, a native of Los Angeles Hills, CA, seemed to get better and better as she recovered from her injury, having a breakout 15-point, 15-rebound night at Hawaii Pacific (Jan. 16) to cap off the Knights' road sweep of the Hawaii schools. In her return to San Francisco, Dale flirted with a triple-double against BYU-Hawaii by posting 19 points, seven rebounds, and eight steals to tie the program's single-game steals record. Capable of contributing in so many ways, Dale truly crashed the offensive boards with nine offensive rebounds as part of a 20-point, 14-rebound night versus HPU at Kezar Pavilion (Feb. 21).
London closed out an extremely memorable senior season this past Saturday. She posted an incredible line of 10 points, nine assists, eight rebounds, and seven steals as a true testament to her progression as one of the team's leaders this year. Compared across the PacWest, London ranked second in steals per game (2.7), second in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.3), sixth in assists per game (3.0), and 15th in scoring (10.6 ppg). The Oak Park, IL native also played the fifth-most minutes of anyone in the conference this season and, as a team captain, she continued to do whatever she could to benefit her squad in that time.
“I'm so happy that Devin was recognized for what I consider a stellar senior year," Coach Larson said. "She had great stats across the board and really ran our team. I appreciate her leadership and wish I had her for another year! Devin definitely deserved her postseason honor.”
This year, London started things off in historic fashion by setting a new single-game program record with eight steals against Cal State East Bay on Nov. 11. It was not long before she would then erupt for a career-high 29 points to tie the ART U record set by
Nicole DeRosier a season ago. London remained consistent all year and always seemed to find a way to make her mark whether it was defensively, as a distributor of the basketball, or a scorer when necessary. She closes out her career with the second-most steals all-time (117) and the fourth-most assists (145).
Though she persevered through a knee injury for the entire season, Rogers was still a major addition to the Urban Knights this year. Her leadership and high basketball IQ made the junior transfer from Division I University of the Pacific a tremendous asset for Coach Larson's team. Rogers would complete the year as one of the PacWest's Top 20 scorers (10.2 ppg - 19th) and ranked 15th in rebounding as a guard (5.7 rpg). She did this in addition to averaging 1.9 steals per game (10th in PacWest) and serving as one of the conference's most dangerous shooters (her 1.6 3-pointers made per game was 5th overall).
“Jordan played through an injury all year long that kept her from practicing so she could compete for us in games," Coach Larson said. "I think the fact she was able to be an all-conference player at much less than a hundred percent speaks volumes for what potential damage she could do next season. We will look to get her healthy and I look forward to what I think will be a very enjoyable senior year for her.”
Rogers would have her first double-digit scoring performance come at Alaska Fairbanks on Dec. 9 when she dropped 16 points off the bench. The Sparks, NV native then went for 21 points and 13 rebounds in Academy of Art University's start to PacWest play at Cal Baptist on Dec. 17. She made a season-high four 3-pointers that night and had begun cementing herself as an Urban Knights starter. Rogers also demonstrated her ability to contribute without the basketball, blocking two shots or more on four occasions including three in the win against No. 16 GCU on Feb. 13.
This is the first All-PacWest Second Team honor for Griggs, Dale, London, and Rogers in each of their respective careers and the most Academy of Art University women's basketball has received in program history.
See full release on the PacWest website
here!
