Box Score

San Diego, CA – Playing well at the future site of this year's Pacific West Conference Championship Tournament, ART U Women's Basketball quickly got out to a lead and never looked back. The Urban Knights defeated Point Loma 81-70 inside Golden Gymnasium thanks to an 18-0 second half run and a 66-46 rebounding edge spearheaded by double-doubles from Krystal Forthan (17 points, 16 rebounds) and Jasmin Guinn (12 points, 15 rebounds).

"I thought we did a much better job of defending their shooters," head coach LaNay Larson said. "We were able to mix it up with man and zone and make the adjustments which is something we are going to have to do the rest of the season without D'Andree [Galipeau] because of different lineups and mismatches."

Scoring on their first two possessions of the game, ART U found its rhythm early and worked to maintain that margin as Forthan put in a jumper and Guinn dropped in a 3-pointer during an 8-2 push that followed to a 13-9 lead. The Knights steadily built a larger advantage with a 13-6 stretch over the next four minutes. Six Academy of Art players scored in that span including a triple from Zoie Sheng and soon the Knights led 35-22.

Closing the period, Point Loma responded with an 11-4 push finished by Abby Boorman's layup with 21 seconds left. Though they led by as many as 14 in the period, it was a 42-38 margin for ART U at halftime. With her sixth consecutive double-double, something no Urban Knight has ever done, by the break, Forthan continued to work in tandem with Guinn offensively and rebounding the basketball early in the second half.

A 10-5 run by Academy of Art included all six of Aleigh Krug's second half points and soon the Knights unleashed an 18-0 surge. Alisa Griggs, Regina Camera, Guinn, and Sheng all figured prominently in the string of unanswered points which sealed ART U's victory. When the run finally ended on Sheng's three-point play, the visitors held a 73-53 lead with six minutes to play.

Point Loma responded with a brief 6-0 rebuttal, but Molly O'Brien, Forthan and the other Knights squashed any chance of a comeback with consistent offense down the stretch. In the end, Academy of Art stayed atop the PacWest Conference standings having finished off the season sweep of PLNU with an 81-70 win.

"It wasn't an easy road trip so to bounce back with another win and to put the game away in the second half shows how resilient this team is," Coach Larson said. "I feel like we are maturing and making progress. We focused on rebounding second half and I feel like we did a much better job. Krystal and Jasmin have been consistently great on the boards and that is huge for us."

The victory puts the Urban Knights at 15-6 overall and 12-1 in PacWest play. Forthan turned in her seventh double-double of the year with 17 points and 16 rebounds along with three steals. Guinn added 12 points and 15 rebounds (eight offensive) for her seventh double-double while Camera added 14 points and five rebounds. Sheng contributed 10 points followed by O'Brien's nine points and eight from Krug.

Point Loma's record now stands at 9-9 overall with a 8-6 mark in conference. The Sea Lions had a balanced scoring attack of their own with a team-high 14 points from Savannah Erskine and 13 apiece for Boorman and Callie Rhoads.

Academy of Art returns to the Bay Area for its next two contests, playing host to Notre Dame de Namur (Feb. 8) and Holy Names (Feb. 13) at Kezar Pavilion.

"We now have to prepare for a Notre Dame team that is much better than last year," Coach Larson said. "Angie always has her teams ready to play. Every game is going to be a battle for us and we have to be focused in order to stay on top."