Box Score

San Francisco, CA – The Urban Knights bounced back from a rough first half shooting the basketball to ultimately put away Dominican 59-43 in their final Pacific West Conference home game of the calendar year. Highlighting a 23-2 second half run, Academy of Art rattled off 14 unanswered points and spread around the offense yet again with four players scoring in double figures led by Alisa Griggs' 12 points which made her the program's new career scoring leader.

In the early going, Dominican showed they were not to be underestimated despite the Knights' 9-0 history against the Penguins coming in. The visitors established a 9-4 lead out of the gate and later increased the margin to eight (20-12) with just under three minutes to play. Six of the first eight points scored by Academy of Art came on fast breaks and all were in the painted area.

It was not until Sha'Nice Storey knocked down a 3-pointer off Griggs' feed with 5:55 to play that ART U reminded its opponent it was a threat from long range.  Nevertheless, the margin shrunk slightly by the half's end as Jasmin Guinn scored on a fast break jumper with two seconds left, something she has grown into the habit of doing in recent history.

Although Dominican led 22-18 at the half, Academy of Art still had 20 minutes to turn things around. It started with a triple from Zoie Sheng via Madeline Martin's steal four and a half minutes into the second period. As Griggs scored the basket that would tie her for the program career scoring record and Storey put in five straight points, the 'defense-into-offense' mentality returned in a big way to ART U.

Aleigh Krug had four consecutive points and pretty soon it was a 14-0 run that the Knights had used to push an eight-point lead, 33-23. Though the Penguins did get a hard-earned bucket at that point, the Knights continued to pour it on with Griggs making history on a layup with 11:07 left in the half. Sheng hit another triple on a fast break and Academy of Art delivered a steady diet of layups with Storey, O'Brien, and Guinn all getting into the mix.

When the dust had settled, ART U was up by 20, 49-29, with 6:48 remaining on the clock. O'Brien kept up her determined play and Krug again found herself with a high-percentage look as the lead swelled above 20. The Penguins finished with a brief 6-2 run, but it was much too late for the thought of a comeback as the Knights won 59-43 in the end.

Closing out the night, ART U stayed a perfect 3-0 in PacWest play while moving up to 5-4 overall this season. Griggs turned in 12 points and nine rebounds to give her 841 total points in her career and put her past Lorraine Etchell for first on the all-time list. She was complemented by 11 points apiece from Guinn and O'Brien.

Guinn had her third double-double of the year with 11 rebounds as well (six offensive) and four steals. O'Brien added six rebounds and two assists while Storey was the fourth ART U player to score in double figures (10 points). Sheng added eight points and five assists.

The Penguins, who move to 0-9 overall and 0-3 in PacWest play, had a big game from Salonika Quewon-Owens. Off the bench, she scored 14 points and grabbed 12 rebounds, both game-highs. Lauren Hyatt was one point shy of a double-double with 10 rebounds and nine points.

ART U shifts its focus to two non-conference opponents in the Las Vegas Challenge next week (Dec. 18-19). At the Orleans Arena, the Knights will first take on Western Oregon for the second time this year and finish with Cal State Dominguez Hills on the Thursday before diving back in to PacWest play with California Baptist on Dec. 21.