Box Score

Stockton, CA – In an exhibition game against Division I University of the Pacific Friday night, ART U women's basketball started its 2011 absolutely on fire. The Urban Knights made 10 of their first 13 shots inside the Alex G. Spanos Center and drained three 3-pointers in that span to establish an 11-point lead at one time. However, the Tigers responded with a run of their own and would eventually win the game 92-62.

“I was really proud of the way we started especially for our first real game type of atmosphere,” head coach LaNay Larson said. “We were aggressive and pretty composed in the early going, but then we started getting into foul trouble. Pacific was shooting free throws and we were forced to go to our bench early which is tough because we only have 10 players suited right now. It was kind of throwing the young kids into the fire, but there were definitely positives to take away especially from that first 12 minutes. Knowing we can compete against a Division I opponent like that is great, we just need to be more consistent and keep having the mentality of always playing hard and giving effort.”

Led by 16 points apiece from senior guard Lorraine Etchell and sophomore forward Alisa Griggs, Academy of Art had a solid team outing in the exhibition contest and outscored Pacific in bench points 62-35. After shooting a shade under 45 percent from long range in the first half to build their advantage, the Knights were unable to maintain it due to 30 points off turnovers by the Tigers.

“Alisa had a great game with eight boards and Lorraine had some big shots as well, we just struggled with turnovers,” Coach Larson said. “I thought we played a little too much one-on-one and that we needed to move the ball more in our motion offense. We played against a high-caliber team tonight, but we have to step it up. We played well, just not for a full 40 minutes so it was definitely a learning experience for us.”

In a curious way to begin a basketball game, ART U was awarded two free throws for an administrative technical foul on Pacific due to an absence of LED lights on the backboard. Junior forward Jordan Rogers, who ironically left UOP for Academy of Art after last season, took the shots, but they did not fall and the contest began with a 0-0 score after all. Those attempts were among the few that did not go down in the early going though.

Following a Griggs jumper to start it off, the Knights added a triple from senior guard Devin London and Griggs scored again to make it a 7-0 beginning for a perfect ART U. Etchell had provided assists on the first two field goals made and though a missed shot did eventually come, she quickly doubled the Academy of Art lead with a 3-pointer of her own. London then stole the ball a minute later and earned a fast-break bucket, forcing UOP to call timeout as the Knights had amassed a 14-5 advantage.

Etchell would score the next five ART U points, including another long ball, and finally it was junior forward Ariel Dale, a transfer from Fordham University, whose jumper put Academy of Art up by its largest margin, 21-10, at 13:55 on the clock. Though junior guard Nicol Biesek held the lead at double digits for a moment and later a 3-pointer by freshman guard Vianai Austin made it 26-17 Knights. Pacific, however, began to cut into the lead from that point with a 31-9 run to end up with a halftime advantage of 48-35.

It was all UOP in the second half despite several ART U free throws made early in the period. Academy of Art came to within 11 points on multiple occasions, but Pacific would not relinquish its double digit advantage and instead pushed the margin up to 30 when the final buzzer sounded. The Knights had experienced a rollercoaster of emotion in 40 minutes of action Friday, however, the DI Tigers wound up with a 92-62 victory.

Looking beyond Etchell and Griggs' contributions, the Urban Knights had nine points and three rebounds from London as well as seven points for sophomore guard Ashley Lucian. In her ART U debut, Dale added four points and five rebounds.

Five Tigers scored in double figures Friday evening including two, Erica McKenzie and Ashley Smith, with a team-high 14 points. Smith and Gena Johnson (13 points) lived at the free throw line, combining to go 15-of-20 there while a balanced rebounding effort had Smith and Kendall Rodriguez (11 points) each grab five apiece. As a team, Pacific also had 18 steals in the contest.

“We won't play a team that big and athletic at guard spot for the rest of the year,” Coach Larson said. “We'll get better and we have to remember that the team is still getting used to each other. They'll develop more continuity just by playing together. We have a good team with what we have, we just more consistent. For playing against a Division I team, I thought we did a great job of rebounding, we just need to work on our transition defense.”

Academy of Art women's basketball officially tips off its 2011-12 season on Nov. 11 when they partake in the CCAA/PacWest Challenge. The Knights will play Cal State East Bay first and then Humboldt State the following day in San Rafael, CA.