Game #10
ART U Urban Knights (5-4) vs. Western Oregon Wolves (3-4)
Wednesday, December 18, 2013 at 12:00 PM PT
Las Vegas, NV – Orleans Arena
Live Stats | Live Video

Game #11
ART U Urban Knights (5-4) vs. Cal State Dominguez Hills Toros (4-2)
Thursday, December 19, 2013 at 11:00 AM PT
Las Vegas, NV – Orleans Arena
Live Stats | Live Video

Game #12
ART U Urban Knights (5-4, 3-0 PWC) vs. California Baptist Lancers (2-7, 0-3 PWC)
Saturday, December 21, 2013 at 1:00 PM
Riverside, CA – Van Dyne Gym
Live Stats | Live Video

SEVEN-GAME ROAD SWING STARTS WITH THREE IN FOUR DAYS
Currently riding a three-game win streak since the start of Pacific West Conference play, Academy of Art University Women's Basketball will return to Las Vegas and Orleans Arena for the second consecutive year to participate in the Las Vegas Challenge hosted by Dixie State. Following those two games in two days, ART U resumes PacWest play with a rematch at California Baptist on Saturday. Check out the Las Vegas Challenge homepage.

OPENING TIP
ART U's first matchup in the Las Vegas Challenge will be a rematch against Western Oregon set for Wednesday, Dec. 18 at 12:00 PM. The following day, Thursday, Dec. 19, Academy of Art faces Cal State Dominguez Hills at 11:00 AM. Both games start a quadruple-header with the ART U men's games following all inside Orleans Arena in Las Vegas, NV. On Saturday, Dec. 21, the Urban Knights will be down in Riverside, CA (Van Dyne Gym) for a 1:00 PM tipoff against California Baptist in PacWest action. Live Stats and Live Video will be available for all games (links above). Remember to follow @ARTU_Knights on Twitter and "Like" the Urban Knights on Facebook for score updates, videos, and recaps.

KNIGHT WATCH
Nine games into the year, ART U remains balanced on both ends of the court with four players scoring in double figures and five players averaging more than a steal per game. Molly O'Brien is atop the scorers at 11.7 points per game, a .462 field goal percentage, and 5.2 rebounds per game. Zoie Sheng, who offers 11.2 points per game and team-highs in both assists (3.6 apg) and steals (2.2 spg), is currently ranked 23rd in NCAA Division II in assist-to-turnover ratio (2.67). Sheng's fellow St. Mary's Academy product Sha'Nice Storey comes in averaging 11.0 points and 1.6 3-pointers made per game while a significant milestone recently came for the Knights' lone senior Alisa Griggs. Griggs, who averages 10.6 points and 8.3 rebounds per game, scored 12 points most recently against Dominican and became the program's all-time leading scorer with 841 points in her career. Nearly mirroring the rebounding numbers of Griggs, a forward, highly versatile guard Jasmin Guinn leads the team in offensive rebounding (3.7) with 9.9 points, 8.0 rebounds, 2.6 assists, and 2.1 steals per game.

WOLVES ONCE AGAIN
Since taking a 64-50 loss to Academy of Art during Western Oregon's own Doubletree by Hilton D2 Shootout on Nov. 9, the Wolves have gone 3-2 with three wins coming in their last four games. WOU fell 66-56 to Pacific Lutheran (WA) then rattled off two victories in the Capital City Classic, defeating Willamette 71-46 and Cal Maritime 64-46. In the start of GNAC play, Western Oregon was overcome by #18 Northwest Nazarene 86-69 on Dec. 5 then bounced back to top Central Washington 71-63 in overtime on Dec. 7. In that contest, WOU's leading scorer Dana Goularte (17.4 ppg) went for a team-high 19 points (and six blocks) with eight of WOU's 15 points overtime. Chantel Divilbiss serves as a nice complement to Goularte with a 13.4 points per game average that has come primarily from beyond the arc where she is 15-of-45 thus far. Those two were the focal points in the Knights and Wolves first meeting as Divilbiss scored a team-high 17 points and Goularte grabbed nine rebounds despite being held to 1-of-6 shooting from the field. Academy of Art holds a 2-0 all-time lead against Western Oregon since the teams' initial pairing last year.

THE HILLS HAVE GAME
A double overtime thriller against Cal State Los Angeles started the year for Cal State Dominguez Hills and though they lost that one 70-67, the Toros soon bounced back with back-to-back victories over Point Loma (58-52) and Cal State San Marcos (77-47) in the CSULA Thanksgiving Classic. In three CCAA contests since that time, CSUDH fell 68-55 to Cal State East Bay then topped Cal State Monterey Bay 65-53 before exacting revenge on CSULA with a 77-53 win most recently on Dec. 15. Steadily building a 20-point lead in that game, the Toros were in control most of the way as four players scored in double figures led by Tayler Champion's 16 points and 10 rebounds. It is Talia Rayford who leads the team with a 21.0 points per game average though she has only played in two contests. Among regular starters, Monay Lee paces the team (15.3 ppg) and Champion is currently the CCAA's rebounding leader at 9.8 rebounds per game to date. This will be the first ever meeting of ART U and CSUDH.

LANCERS IN LINE FOR REMATCH
It was just earlier this month that Academy of Art and California Baptist squared off in the Bay Area with the Knights defeating CBU 74-66 for the first time in program history on Dec. 5. From there, the Lancers traveled to Oakland for a narrow 72-69 loss at Holy Names and returned to Riverside on Dec. 14 where Fresno Pacific edged CBU 56-54. Late runs did California Baptist in on both occasions as the Hawks outscored the Lancers 10-6 in the final four minutes and an 8-1 run by the Sunbirds put them in front heading into the final minute. CBU is led offensively by Ashley Jones' 15.0 points per game after she returned for just her second game of the year after an injury. Kamille Diaz, who had 10 points and five turnovers against ART U previously, averages 11.1 points and 3.7 assists per game while also leading the team with 2.6 3-pointers made per game. After picking up their first win versus the Lancers earlier this season in a game that saw O'Brien score 18 points and Griggs get her first double-double (14 points and 11 rebounds), the Knights are 1-3 in the historical matchup.

KNIGHTS RETURN TO FORM WITH STRONG SECOND HALF
On Dec. 14, the Urban Knights bounced back from a rough first half shooting the basketball to ultimately put away Dominican 59-43 in their final Pacific West Conference home game of the calendar year. Highlighting a 23-2 second half run, Academy of Art rattled off 14 unanswered points and spread around the offense yet again with four players scoring in double figures led by Alisa Griggs' 12 points which made her the program's new career scoring leader.

LOOKING AHEAD
The Urban Knights will be off from competition for a total of 13 days over the holiday break before heading to Hawaii at the start of January. On the island of Oahu, ART U will challenge Hawaii Pacific (Jan. 4), BYU-Hawaii (Jan. 6), and Chaminade (Jan. 8).