2013-14 Women's Basketball Schedule

San Francisco, CA – Defending Pacific West Conference Tournament Champion Academy of Art University Women's Basketball will look to make its run at another title and more with the official release of its 2013-14 schedule.

"We feel like we took a big step as far as proving ourselves in the conference and West Region last year with our accomplishments," head coach LaNay Larson said. "Now we are looking to follow it up with a solid non-conference schedule consisting solely of NCAA Division II teams from the GNAC and CCAA conferences."

The Urban Knights' campaign opens on Nov. 8 in Oregon with a match up against Saint Martin's as part of the Western Oregon Tournament. One day later, Academy of Art meets tournament host WOU in the first of two games against the Wolves this season. Last year, ART U dominated Western Oregon to the tune of an 81-53 victory in San Francisco.

This season, the Knights will serve as hosts of the CCAA/PacWest Challenge which takes place Nov. 16-17 at Kezar Pavilion. In its home opener, Academy of Art will challenge Humboldt State on the Saturday and finishes the weekend with a matchup against Cal State East Bay on Sunday. CSUEB was 16-11 overall last year and reached the CCAA Tournament, but fell to Cal State Los Angeles in the first round. Dominican will play each of the CCAA opponents during the CCAA/PacWest Challenge as well.

"The West Region is considered one of the toughest in the country for NCAA DII women's basketball," Coach Larson said. "We will be competing against some quality teams that finished in the top of their conference and look to be much better this coming season. We are excited to be able to host the PacWest/CCAA challenge this year and know those will be two important games against the CCAA early."

In late November, ART U will have the rare opportunity to travel north of the border and play Simon Fraser twice in Canada. Two evening games will take place Nov. 26-27 as the Knights battle a team that joined them in Washington for the NCAA West Regionals in March of this year. The Clan, who came into Regionals as the #2 seed, ended up falling to #1 Western Washington 75-58 in the final round despite victories over Northwest Nazarene and Grand Canyon.

PacWest Conference play begins for Academy of Art on Dec. 3 when Point Loma comes to town, followed shortly by California Baptist on Dec. 5. Lighting up the Sea Lions from distance and adding a strong rebounding game, ART U defeated PLNU 74-71 last year. The Lancers finished 2012-13 as the PacWest Regular Season Champion, sporting a 25-6 overall record (15-3 in conference). On Dec. 14, the Knights' homestand finishes with Dominican, a team Academy of Art dominated twice during its nine-game win streak to finish the 2012-13 regular season.

For the second consecutive year, ART U travels to the impressive venue that is Orleans Arena for the Las Vegas Challenge. This season, Academy of Art's opponents will be Western Oregon (Dec. 18) and Cal State Dominguez Hills (Dec. 19). The Urban Knights made a major statement at the tournament in 2012 when they knocked off #17 Pittsburg State 82-73.

"I'm looking forward to returning to the Las Vegas Challenge again," Coach Larson said. "Last season, it was a great venue and atmosphere for us to experience against some quality opponents. We added the two Simon Fraser games up in Canada to give our strength of schedule a big boost. Playing a team that was ranked in the top 10 nationally and advanced to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament last season is a great challenge for our team and I am excited to see how they respond."

The Knights make one more stop two days after the Las Vegas Challenge to rematch with California Baptist on Dec. 21. That will lead them into a 13-day break from competition before a trip to Hawaii, where Coach Larson is a perfect 7-0 with Academy of Art, kicks off the 2014 calendar year. They will be paired against Hawaii Pacific (Jan. 4), whom ART U defeated for the PacWest Conference Tournament Championship, BYU-Hawaii (Jan. 6), Academy of Art's opening round opponent in the conference tournament, and Chaminade (Jan. 8). Finally, a contest across the San Francisco Bay at Holy Names on Jan. 14 finishes what will be seven games on the road.

Back home inside Kezar Pavilion on Jan. 20, the Urban Knights play host to UH Hilo then rematches come against Chaminade (Jan. 23) and BYU-Hawaii (Jan. 25). One more out-of-state roadtrip ensues as ART U travels to St. George, UT for its Jan. 30 matchup with Dixie State, Coach Larson's former team. Academy of Art then sees Point Loma for a second time on Feb. 1, this time at PLNU's Golden Gymnasium in San Diego.

From there, ART U stays relatively local with Notre Dame de Namur and Holy Names coming to San Francisco on Feb. 8 and Feb. 13 respectively. Last season, the Knights averaged 92.25 points per game in four games combined versus these two teams.

On Feb. 15, Academy of Art takes on NDNU once again in Belmont this time and, shortly thereafter, heads to Fresno Pacific's Special Events Center for a game against the Sunbirds on Feb. 17. ART U will host Dixie State the afternoon of Feb. 22 at SF State's Main Gymnasium, play at Dominican on Feb. 24, then close out the regular season with Azusa Pacific at Kezar Pavilion on Feb. 27.

"This is a huge year for us in establishing where we stand in not only the conference, but also regionally and nationally," Coach Larson said. "I feel like the PacWest from top to bottom gets better each year and look for it to be a very challenging conference season. There will be no easy games and we know that no one will be overlooking Academy of Art."

ART U defends its PacWest Conference Tournament Championship with the year-end tournament beginning on Mar. 6 and going through Mar. 8. Should the Knights secure a NCAA Regional bid after the tournament, those sites and opponents will be announced, but this year's NCAA Tournament semifinals and championship will be decided at the Erie Insurance Arena in Erie, PA on Mar. 25-28.

"We accomplished a lot last year with receiving votes in the national poll, winning the PacWest tournament, and advancing to the NCAA tournament, but looking to do that and possibly more with increased expectations is the hard part," Coach Larson said. "I feel with the experience we have returning and the players we have added we have the ability to do some really great things and continue to build the legacy we have started here."