Box Score

San Francisco, CA – Champions once again.

Academy of Art University Women's Basketball never trailed for even a second on Saturday, rolling to its program record 10th straight victory and, with the help of an Azusa Pacific loss, ultimately claiming the Urban Knights' first Pacific West Conference regular season championship. ART U quickly got out in front of Dixie State with a 12-0 run, was up by 18 at the half, and finished off a 97-81 win which featured a program record 32 assists. Krystal Forthan led the way with a monster game of 22 points, 17 rebounds, seven blocks, and six assists inside SF State's Main Gym.

Starting with a Regina Camera layup in the first four seconds, ART U initiated a 12-0 run to open the contest. Sha'Nice Storey had three fastbreak baskets during the run and ultimately Camera found Forthan for the capper. Though the Red Storm broke their four minutes of scoreless basketball, the Knights' advantage grew to 15 shortly thereafter on a triple by Storey.

Academy of Art frustrated Haley Holmstead, the country's fourth-highest scorer, forcing her into a 0-for-8 stretch from the field to begin the game. She even found herself on the bench as her team traded baskets with ART U as the lead hovered just above double digits. Coming off a game at Fresno Pacific in which they scored 27 layups, the Knights got the rim repeatedly as Jasmin Guinn and Molly O'Brien picked apart the defense.

Midway through the half, Academy of Art was on top 30-13 following Storey's second triple of the period. Though Holmstead put her first points on the board via free throws at 7:48, ART U continued to apply pressure and soon rose to own a 20-point margin with four minutes left. Forthan passed out her third assist of the half to a cutting O'Brien in the final minute and Amanda Encelan's free throws helped the Knights to their 49-31 halftime advantage.

In the second period, ART U's lead fluctuated between 19 points on a fastbreak layup from Forthan to 12 points on a triple from Kaylah Miller four minutes in. Dixie State's 7-0 run was quickly erased by back-to-back layups from Camera and then a triple by Zoie Sheng. The Knights' surge continued with an Alisa Griggs layup, but the Red Storm made another push, this one 6-0, around the midpoint.

As the potential for a DSU comeback hung in the balance, Academy of Art promptly denied the visitors that chance with a 10-2 burst keyed by layups from Griggs and Camera then a pull-up jumper by O'Brien in transition. ART U forced a 20-point margin on several occasions thereafter and did so by sharing the basketball with nine assists on the game's final 11 made shots. In the end, this one belonged to the Urban Knights through and through as they won 97-81 for the fifth-highest point total in program history.

Coming into Saturday with its magic number at two, Academy of Art University's victory coupled with an 82-61 loss for Azusa Pacific at the hands of Point Loma (a game that was happening simultaneously in San Diego) assured the Urban Knights their first PacWest Conference regular season championship with still two games left to play.

The victory made ART U 20-6 overall on the year and 17-1 in PacWest play for the program's most conference victories ever. The win was also Academy of Art's 10th consecutive which surpasses the nine straight women's basketball won last year for the longest win streak by any Urban Knights athletic program to date. And ART U did all of this in truly unselfish fashion with the most assists in a single game (32 on 41 made baskets) to top the previous record of 28 at BYU-Hawaii on Jan. 7, 2013.

Forthan recorded her 11th consecutive double-double in stunning fashion, scoring 22 points with 17 rebounds, seven blocks (a new single-game record for an individual), six assists, and two steals. She was 10-of-18 from the field in 26 minutes of action. Camera had 15 of her 20 points in the second half, going 7-of-11 from the field in that period. She added a career-high seven assists along with five rebounds. Storey further added to the program's career 3-pointers record with three more as part of her 17 points along with three steals. O'Brien contributed 12 points off the bench while Sheng offered seven assists with no turnovers and five points. Griggs had eight points and seven rebounds in 15 minutes as well.

Dixie State, who falls to 13-12 overall and 11-8 in conference but will still make the PacWest tournament, had 23 points by Brianna White off the bench and Holmstead finished with 16 points despite going 4-for-17 from the field. Haileigh Emerine had a 14-point, 14-rebound double-double.

Academy of Art has its final road contest of the regular season at Dominican this Monday, Feb. 24 followed by 'Senior Knight' against Azusa Pacific on Thursday, Feb. 27 back inside Kezar Pavilion. FAN BUS details here!