Box Score
Photo Gallery (images by Hailey Archambault & Rob Garcia)

San Francisco, CA -- On the second consecutive occasion for ART U Women's Basketball, a shot attempt in the final moments proved to be the difference as Hawaii Pacific eked out a 72-71 victory Monday night inside Kezar Pavilion. The Urban Knights came out strong, built a 10-point halftime advantage, and led 71-70 with three seconds left, but a resilient Sea Warriors team managed to execute a cross-court layup for the win. Senior Jordan Rogers paced her squad with 20 points while junior Alisa Griggs added a 14-point, 12-rebound double-double off the bench.

Bouncing back from the heart-breaker against UH Hilo two days prior, the Knights quickly got ahead of their opponents by way of a 7-0 run capped by a 3-pointer from Rogers. Although HPU responded by tying the score 11-11, ART U proceeded to rattle off nine unanswered points in a sequence that featured two more long range makes by Rogers.

The Sea Warriors used a pair of layups to keep themselves in it, but soon a triple in transition from freshman Sha'Nice Storey made it a double digit advantage for the Knights. Junior Alisa Griggs helped expand the lead with free throws before another 3-pointer by Storey gave Academy of Art its biggest margin at 34-19.

After going into the halftime locker room up 38-28, ART U started the second half by going up 12 on a Rogers fast break triple off the feed from freshman Zoie Sheng. After a brief dip into single digits, senior Ariel Dale pushed the lead back to 11 with an offensive rebound and put-back then senior Nicol Biesek added to the scoring with a jumper of her own.

Midway through the second period, however, Hawaii Pacific went on an 8-0 run capped by a Melody Ladrido three-ball to make it only a 52-49 advantage for Academy of Art. The Sea Warriors soon took their first lead of the night with 5:58 left and from there it was anyone's game. Griggs worked hard down the stretch to give her squad brief margins, but HPU held their own.

“HPU is a really good team and they've just been playing better and better,” head coach LaNay Larson said. “They got a couple players back who they didn't have first semester so we knew they were going to be a really tough test coming in. They're a great shooting team so we really focused on contesting shots and getting a hand up. For the most part, I thought we did a good job of that, but we had some defensive lapses and that showed.”

With 1:36 to go, Storey knocked down two free throws to put ART U up 67-66 and when freshman Regina Camera found Griggs under the basket for a layup, a three-point lead with a minute to go certainly seemed the place to be. However, free throws by Heidi Anton and a critical steal by Susannah Walmsley quickly put the visitors on top 70-69.

Academy of Art held the ball for one final shot and as Sheng drove to the basket with mere seconds remaining, she was hit in the act of shooting and headed to the foul line. HPU's attempt to ice the freshman was unsuccessful and she tossed in both to see-saw the lead back to ART U. That set up a shocking site as Skye Savini launched a pass the full length of the court to Ladrido who laid the ball in with 1.2 seconds left. From there, a final attempt by Sheng did not fall and HPU stood victorious 72-71.

“We're still growing up as a team and we've got a lot of youth and inconsistencies so that's something where we've got to mature and be more disciplined,” Coach Larson said.

A particularly strong first half from both Rogers and Storey led them to 20 points and 17 points respectively by the game's end. Rogers added six rebounds and four steals while draining four 3-pointers. Storey contributed four rebounds and two assists with a pair made from beyond the arc. Griggs offered her second double-double of the season off the bench with 14 points and 12 rebounds while Wade finished with a game-high 14 rebounds. ART U moves to 12-5 overall and 5-2 in PacWest action this year.

Hawaii Pacific rises to 10-3 overall, 6-1 in PacWest play with the victory which came in large part thanks to Ladrido's 21 points. Anton added 15 points off the bench while Ieva Nagy finished with 11 points and eight rebounds. Savini offered 10 points, five rebounds, and four assists.

Academy of Art University completes its January homestand this Saturday with Chaminade in town. The Urban Knights return to Kezar Pavilion for the 1:00 PM tipoff. Sign up for the 2:30 PM Fan Bus to see women's and men's games on Monday HERE!

“We'll continue to focus on defense [this week], but we need to get as many shots up as we can in practice right now,” Coach Larson said. “If you look statistically in every game, everything is great except our shooting percentage right now and there's not going to be a lot of teams you will beat [shooting that way]. We've just really struggled shooting and we're getting the shots that we want, we've just got to start finishing. And I think for the confidence of this team, if we start shooting the ball better, we're going to be a scary team to play.”