Box Score
IRVINE, Calif. – Making their third Pacific West Conference Championship Tournament appearance in the past three years, Academy of Art University Women's Basketball battled through a slow start, took the lead with six minutes and 40 seconds left, but wound up falling to fourth-seeded Azusa Pacific 69-59 on Thursday inside Concordia University Arena. Resilient defense brought the Urban Knights back and many of the Cougars' 20 points off turnovers made up junior guard Jasmin Guinn's game-high 31 points which tied the ART U program single-game scoring record.
"I was disappointed for my kids," said head coach LaNay Larson. "I thought they played really hard and we kept ourselves in the game with defense, something we've focused on all year. We've won a lot of games based on effort and I thought we gave ourselves a chance today. We just didn't get some shots to fall."
Opening the game shooting 2-for-18 from the field, Academy of Art faced a 14-4 deficit at 12:43 and knew it would need to get back in with defense. Two jumpers by senior guard
Molly O'Brien started a 6-0 response and the game was clearly becoming a dogfight with players wrestling for the ball on virtually every possession.
The Cougars' advantage oscillated between five and nine points until another 6-0 push capped by layups from sophomore forward
D'Andree Galipeau brought the Knights to within three, 23-20, with 3:34 before halftime. Down the stretch, Guinn scored an offensive put-back then knocked down a 3-pointer with 12 seconds left to tie things up 27-27. However, an APU layup in the final two seconds gave them a slight 29-27 lead at the break.
A 6-0 Azusa Pacific run started the second half and it was not until Guinn's jumper at 15:30 that ART U got back on the scoreboard. Junior guard
Sha'Nice Storey then found junior guard
Zoie Sheng for a triple minutes later and the Knights soon began to see defense turn into offense. Over the course of a two and a half minute span, Academy of Art had four steals (three by Guinn) into fastbreak points and ART U's first lead of the game.
The advantage was threatened by five straight points from the Cougars including an offensive tip-in by Kelly Hardeman, but coming out of a media timeout, Sheng and junior guard
Regina Camera both scored inside the paint to put the Knights ahead 51-49 with 6:40 left. Azusa Pacific would soon go up 54-51 on a triple by Katie Powell though Guinn answered with a 3-pointer of her own and the teams were tied once again, 54-54.
After Hardeman worked her way to the rim, Powell drained another triple, and a quick seven-point APU advantage was the result. O'Brien cut the difference to five, 61-56, on a layup with just over three minutes to play, but that was as close as Academy of Art would come after the Cougars went 8-for-12 from the foul line in the final stretch. One final 3-pointer helped Guinn tie the scoring record set by Storey at Chaminade in
January 2013, however, the final score favored Azusa Pacific 69-59.
"I was basically just feeding off of my team," said Guinn. "Our defense was solid so for me to get open shots on the offensive end, it took their defense to help out. We'll be back next year with a senior class that's ready and hungry to play."
Making up Guinn's career-high 31 points were 12 made field goals on 26 attempts, including 3-for-7 from distance and four free throws in eight trips to the foul line. She added 10 rebounds (six on the offensive glass) and five steals. Sheng was the other Urban Knight to score in double figures, contributing 10 points and three assists.
"This has been a rough season for all of us, but we really came together and stuck through it," said Sheng. "Tough times only make you stronger and this team is proof of that."
The win improves Azusa Pacific to 19-9 on the year and came in large part to double-doubles by Hardeman (19 points, 17 rebounds) and Jones (15 points, 11 rebounds). APU will now play top-seeded Hawaii Pacific on Thursday, Mar. 6 in the PacWest Tournament semifinals.
Academy of Art completes its 2014-15 season with an 18-11 overall record and is slated to return nine members of its current roster next year.
