Box Score
Photo Gallery (images by Hailey Archambault & Sabrina Alger)

San Francisco, CA – Academy of Art University Women's Basketball set a new program wins record Tuesday evening with its 72-61 victory over Dominican inside Kezar Pavilion. Following an 8-0 run late in the first half, the Urban Knights snatched away the lead from the Penguins and never relinquished it as 24 points off 22 Dominican turnovers spelled the difference particularly as ART U pushed across a double-digit advantage in the second period. Senior Jordan Rogers led all scorers with 20 points and six rebounds while freshman Regina Camera added 17 points.

“We've talked about our defense really fueling our transition game and easy baskets are what we really needed tonight,” head coach LaNay Larson said. “I thought we made a good adjustment at halftime and came out with more intensity, made them shoot a lot tougher shots, and ended up getting a lot of easy baskets ourselves.”

Dominican began the game by picking up an early 16-4 advantage, however, it was very short-lived as the Knights fought back with a 12-0 run. Rogers knocked down two 3-pointers and scored eight points in the comeback which culminated with a layup by senior Ariel Dale. The teams jostled for position for the next four minutes as the Penguins briefly got ahead by four on multiple occasions.

From 21-21 the score would return to a deadlock at 27-27 thanks to a series of four free throws by junior Alisa Griggs to put ART U on its key 8-0 run to go from down three to up five. Freshman Sha'Nice Storey added a layup and, after more free throws from Rogers, the halftime score was 32-29 in favor of Academy of Art.

That margin was steadily built upon in the second half thanks to a strong defensive effort by the Knights. Camera came out of the locker room hot, scoring five quick points on a layup and 3-pointer, then freshman Jasmin Guinn got two fastbreak layups to put her team up 41-34.

Eventually, a 9-3 run by ART U with more one-two punch action from Rogers and Camera enabled Academy of Art to capture a 14-point advantage with just under 12 minutes to play. Briefly up to 16 points (56-40), the lead did not last because Dominican repeatedly got to the foul line and cut the margin in half by the 6:55 mark.

From there, it was all about maintaining the point difference for the remained of regulation. Camera had back-to-back layups shortly thereafter and soon time had run out on any possibility of a Penguin comeback. The end result was a milestone victory for Academy of Art with the 72-61 final score.

This win puts ART U at 17-8 overall and 10-5 in PacWest play, surpassing the 16 the Urban Knights posted in Coach Larson's first season last year.

“[The 17 wins] is another good step for our program,” Coach Larson said. “17 wins is great and obviously we're shooting for a little bit higher than that with three games left. And we know that every game is going to be tough for us. We've got a huge target on our back right now so we've got to come out ready and prepared to focus every single night.”

Rogers was 4-for-7 from beyond the three-point arc and finished with 20 points while Camera shot 50 percent from the field (8-for-16) to post 17 points. Each had three assists.

“I felt good tonight and for once I was finally hitting a shot,” Rogers laughed. “That's what I'm supposed to be doing. It's important to get these wins because it gets us closer to the NCAA Tournament and we need to go into the tournament on a win streak because I think it will help our confidence a lot.”

Solid bench production came in the form of Griggs' eight points and team-high 10 rebounds as well as Dale's eight rebounds, six points, four assists, and four steals.

Dominican was led by Stephanie Carnes' 12 points and 11 points from Lauren Hyatt despite her first half foul trouble. Sonarika Quewon-Owens pulled in a game-high 15 rebounds. On the season, the Penguins drop to 5-19 overall, 4-12 in PacWest play.

ART U Women's Basketball will play its final home game of the 2012-13 season this Saturday in a special event that will feature a pre-game Senior Day ceremony honoring Nicol Biesek, Jordan Rogers, Ariel Dale, Katy Wade, and Juliua Fraser. Don't forget it's also Battle of the Halls so SIGN UP for the FAN BUS NOW!

“Saturday should be a great day for us as we'll celebrate our five seniors,” Coach Larson said. “They've done amazing things to help turn this program around. I'm super proud of them and I really want to go out at home on a winning note for them. I'm excited for Saturday and I know we'll come out ready. We've had a couple of wake-up calls after the Grand Canyon win, but I think we're refocused and have our ultimate goal in mind.”