Box Score

San Francisco, CA -- ART U Women's Basketball put on a defensive exhibition Thursday evening in its second consecutive Pacific West Conference victory, a 74-66 win over California Baptist that was their first against the Lancers in four historical meetings. Inside Kezar Pavilion, Academy of Art scored 19 points off a season-best 24 turnovers forced while offensively it was another balanced scoring effort with Molly O'Brien's 18 points leading a pack of four Urban Knights scoring in double figures.

A new-look Lancer squad got ahead 5-2 early, but Academy of Art would use an early 9-2 push to swiftly take back the lead. Three consecutive baskets by Zoie Sheng, Regina Camera, and Alisa Griggs initiated the run and Camera nailed a triple to make it 11-7 ART U. Trading buckets from there, the Knights eventually scored seven unanswered finished off by O'Brien's breakaway layup.

California Baptist made repeated attempts to cut down the seven-point margin, but it was not until their third try that they were successful. Late in the first period, sparked by a 3-pointer from Cassidy Mihalko, CBU rattled off seven straight to tie the game 31-31, however, Academy of Art grabbed the upper hand heading into halftime after D'Andree Galipeau tossed in free throws and Jasmin Guinn cut right to the hoop with four seconds left.

In the second half, the Lancers shortened what had been a 35-31 ARTU lead at the break down to one point on Megan Brown's three-point play. But the Urban Knights did not give up their advantage as O'Brien responded with a layup and soon a 6-1 burst that featured a 3-pointer by Sha'Nice Storey recreated an eight-point cushion.

CBU hung around by creating easy baskets, but even though the visitors cut the margin to one again, 57-56, with five minutes left, Academy of Art was off to the races again. Getting back-to-back baskets by Galipeau and O'Brien along with the Oregon connection of Sheng to Storey on the breakaway, the margin was quickly up to seven once again.

O'Brien was relentless in her drives to the basket and continued to pour in points until it was a 10-point lead for ART U with a minute left. Kamille Diaz hit a triple to make it six points with 13 seconds left, but the Knights held on for their 74-66 victory, winning twice in the past three days.

The Urban Knights move to 2-0 in PacWest play and 4-4 overall after another balanced scoring night with O'Brien leading the way. The Spokane, MO native put in 18 points along with eight rebounds and four steals while Storey added 15 points and four assists off the bench. Griggs turned in her first double-double of the year with 14 points and 11 rebounds this time. Sheng finished with 11 points to complete the foursome of double-digit scorers.

California Baptist, who takes its fifth consecutive loss and falls to 0-1 in PacWest play (2-5 overall), was led by solid bench production from Mihalko (18 points, seven rebounds) and Elise Shelton (10 points, nine rebounds) along with Diaz's 10 points.

ART U next hosts Dominican at Kezar Pavilion on Saturday, Dec. 14 with tipoff set for 6:00 PM in that PacWest Conference contest.