Box Score
Photo Gallery (images by Hailey Archambault)

San Mateo, CA -- Just like that, they're back.

Academy of Art University Women's Basketball turned in a stellar defensive effort to upset #13 Grand Canyon 63-55 Thursday night at College of San Mateo. With solid production up and down the roster, the Urban Knights dominated its first overtime period of the season, outscoring the highest ranked team they've ever faced 14-6 beyond regulation. Senior forward Ariel Dale led a balanced ART U attack with 13 points, seven rebounds, seven assists, four blocks, and two steals as the Knights held GCU to its lowest team field goal percentage of the year (29.7%).

“We came into this game really needing a win and with #13 Grand Canyon being the highest ranked team we've ever beaten in our program's history, it was a huge win for us,” head coach LaNay Larson said. “I think it gives us a lot of confidence and, after so many close losses, it feels really good to pull out a win.”

The Antelopes heated up to an 8-3 lead in the early going, but a five-point swing via Dale's free throws and a 3-pointer by freshman Sha'Nice Storey made it 8-8. GCU repeatedly attempted to gain space and yet each time the Knights fought back, never allowing their opponent to get more than a five-point advantage. Timely baskets by junior Alisa Griggs and senior Nicol Biesek held the 'Lopes in check and a basket by senior Katy Wade made it a three-point game, 17-14, midway through.

Both sides then demonstrated an impressive stretch of defense that saw no points scored for over three minutes. Finally freshman Jasmin Guinn found Dale for a jumper to break the drought and soon after Academy of Art took its first lead of the game, 22-21, on a fast-break bucket by freshman Zoie Sheng via the outlet from freshman Regina Camera.

Grand Canyon, however, snatched back the lead with a steady diet of high-percentage looks from Chigozie Ekweozor. The Antelopes' main offensive weapon, Judy Jones, had been forced to the bench thanks to picking up her second foul with still 9:44 remaining in that first half. At the break, GCU clutched a slim 27-22 lead.

“We really focused on [Jones],” Coach Larson said. “She's an athletic player and a really tough matchup. She got a couple of jumpers early, but I thought we did a really good job of defending her. For the most part, I thought we made the game really hard for her. We took a couple of charges on her, got her in foul trouble, and that really changes the way they play.”

Though the visitors got there on two occasions, Grand Canyon was never allowed beyond a five-point lead in the second half as Dale began to exercise her will on the game. She blatantly ripped the ball away from Maylinn Smith and fed Guinn for a transition jumper before coming downcourt and nailing a jumper of her own to make it only 31-28 GCU.

That play sparked what would become a 13-2 run by ART U which featured two more layups by Guinn and one by Wade as well. Gaining a 37-31 advantage due to their transition baskets, the Urban Knights held that lead for about three minutes as Sheng found freshman Sha'Nice Storey for a nice fastbreak layup to stay ahead.

Ekweozor was determined to return the lead to Grand Canyon and used a pair of layups to do so with 6:18 to go. Though Jones found Smith for a triple, Academy of Art countered with a Griggs layup and late a jumper for Dale on a fastbreak. As regulation wound down to its conclusion, the teams found themselves knotted up at 47-47 with under a minute left.

Jones' fourth foul came with 38 seconds on the clock and Sheng headed to the foul line, a place she seems to be often in close games of late. Calmly and with confidence, the freshman put in both to put her team up 49-47, but a foul on the other end allowed GCU to tie it up 49-49. Though ART U gained the final possession, it could not get a shot off and overtime followed.

The extra period simply belonged to the Knights. Sheng found Wade for a jumper to start and Academy of Art would never trail, particularly because they did not allow Grand Canyon to make a field goal in six tries. Dale grabbed an offensive rebound and hit senior Jordan Rogers for the jumper in rhythm then Guinn stole the ball seconds later and assisted a layup by Sheng.

The 'Lopes were forced to call a timeout and, though they began to get some points from the foul line, it did not slow the Knights one bit. Rogers again scored in transition and Dale had two clutch blocks in the final 23 seconds to make the end result a 63-55 victory for ART U, coincidentally its largest margin of the entire game.

“I'm really proud of the girls,” Coach Larson said. “They played so hard and executed down the stretch. The effort has always been there, it was just a matter of us finishing games and we finally had the ability to do that. I think that will give us a lot of confidence to finish out the rest of conference season and going into the conference tournament. We put ourselves right back in the mix as far as post-season goes.”

The Urban Knights would tie the program-record for blocked shots in a single game with 11 total rejections. Dale and Wade were each major contributors to that statistic as Wade had five blocks and Dale sent away four shots to complement her aforementioned stat sheet-stuffing performance.

Wade also posted a game-high 16 rebounds for her third time in the program's single-game Top 5 in that category. She added nine points and three steals as well. Guinn was her usual dynamic self off the bench, finishing with 10 points, three rebounds, and three assists. Sheng delivered seven points and six assists (her fourth 5+ assist performance since the start of PacWest play) and Rogers put in eight points with four rebounds.

For the 'Lopes, who suffered their fifth loss of the season and just their second in PacWest play, Smith and Ekweozor each had 16 points apiece while Jones had 13 rebounds, but was limited to just 11 points.

Academy of Art continues its five-game homestand with a matchup against Fresno Pacific this Saturday, Feb. 16 at Cal State East Bay's Pioneer Gym. Find directions and more information at the following link to the game preview.

“At this point in the year, after a big win like this, it's easy to have a letdown game so it's important for us to come back [Saturday] with the same intensity especially on the defensive end,” Coach Larson said. “That's really where we've kept ourselves in games and we didn't shoot the ball particularly well tonight, but our defense is what won us that game. If we come out and play hard defensively, we can beat anybody.”