SAN RAFAEL, Calif. – A close game at halftime, Saturday's Pacific West Conference rematch between Academy of Art and Dominican quickly turned into a rout after the Urban Knights executed a 21-2 run including a stretch of 16 unanswered points. ART U scored a season-high in the 96-73 final, dealing the Penguins their first loss of the year inside the Conlan Center. Each Academy of Art starter scored 15+ points and three came away with double-doubles led by redshirt senior forward Pre'Franz Dominick's 26 points and 12 rebounds.

"Our biggest keys were defense and rebounding," said assistant coach Breanna Workman. "The first half we were stuck trading baskets so we had to pick it up on the defensive end going into the second half. Everyone seemed to step up, especially Hayley Pryor. When Dominican attempted to pressure in the half court, she knocked down shots."

Converting their first three shots of the game, Academy of Art got out of the gate quickly, establishing a 6-2 lead, but Dominican battled back, tying things up three times before a 7-0 run gave ART U an 18-11 advantage. That seven-point margin would by the Urban Knights' largest of the game, however, as the Penguins closed the gap to a 25-23 by the end of the first quarter.

A 3-pointer by Julia Razo put Dominican in front to start the second and the teams would fight for small leads for the remainder of the half. A 7-0 surge of their own gave the Penguins a 36-31 advantage midway through the quarter, but Academy of Art would keep itself within striking distance until halftime with five points from sophomore forward Ines Medina in the final five minutes.

Dominican led 50-47 two minutes into the third quarter, but the tough ART U defense then served the visitors well. The Penguins proceeded to miss their next 10 field goal attempts, rushing several, while the Knights unleashed 16 unanswered points as part of a 21-2 momentum-changing run. Dominick started the surge with a layup then senior guard Hayley Pryor and Medina connected on back-to-back 3-pointers and four straight layups (two by senior forward Helena Orts) eventually contributed to a 68-52 Academy of Art lead.

That margin grew beyond 20 points less than four minutes later as ART U knocked down its first five shots of the fourth quarter. The Knights remained productive offensively, besting their previous scoring season-high by 11 points and earning the 96-73 victory in the end.

"During the 21-2 run, we stressed pushing the ball in transition to get easy layups," said Workman. "Overall, I thought we stayed pretty composed when their pressure came and passed the ball well."

Now winners of four of five games in 2018, ART U improves to 6-15 overall this season and 5-8 in conference play. Dominick's sixth straight double-double and 12th of the season came in the form of 26 points and 12 rebounds. Redshirt senior guard Jazzlynn Brewster added her third double-double in her past four outings, totaling 21 points and 11 assists with three steals while Orts had her fifth consecutive double-digit rebounding effort with 17 points and 12 rebounds (her sixth double-double). Medina and Pryor combined for 24 points in the second half, each had six or more rebounds plus four assists apiece, and they finished with 16 points and 15 points respectively.

Dominican, who had won four straight coming in and was 7-0 at home prior to Saturday, drops to 14-6 on the year and 8-4 in PacWest play. The Penguins were led by 26 points from Natalie Diaz and 19 points from Julia Razo.

Academy of Art returns home for a 5:30 p.m. tip-off against Biola on Monday, Jan. 29 inside Kezar Pavilion.

"Going into Biola, they are up-tempo and athletic," said Workman. "Our keys are the same in defense and rebounding as well as asserting our inside presence."