BELMONT, Calif. -- Battling back from a hot start by Notre Dame de Namur, Academy of Art University women's basketball was right with their Bay Area Pacific West Conference opponent early in the second quarter, but ended up falling 66-46 inside Walter Gleason Gym on Saturday afternoon.
 
Mirroring one another to begin the game, NDNU opened on an 8-0 run, but ART U was able to match with an 8-0 run of its own. The response was topped off by back-to-back 3-pointers from senior guard Inga Kot as the contest began anew with 7:13 left in the first quarter.
 
The two teams traded shots for the remainder of the frame before the Argonauts got a layup to go into the second quarter leading 19-16. Junior guard Josselyn Morris would start things off in the second quarter with a layup and another easy two by sophomore guard Lily Perkins would make it a one-point game.
 
Sophomore guard Ashley Pawlak, one of five players from the Academy of Art volleyball and soccer teams to fill out the basketball roster on Saturday, then enjoyed a special moment as she tied up the game 23-23 with a 3-pointer from the right arc.

"We are very grateful to our soccer and volleyball programs for allowing their student-athletes to give us some backup considering our amount of players who are injured," said head coach Camille Williams. "I'm in awe of the type of people we have in our athletics department that they would be willing to help us like that. Those players brought a good energy to our program and our players were really into supporting them and vice versa. There was a very positive response from our team and the bench just erupted when Ashley hit that 3-pointer."

Despite the boost, the Urban Knights were then hit by a 15-point run from the Argos to end the first half. From up 38-23 at the break, Notre Dame de Namur was met with a pair of layups from sophomore forward Megan Jefferson, but ultimately extended the advantage beyond 20 points, holding a 56-31 lead at the conclusion of the third quarter.
 
Perkins and junior forward Ines Medina worked in tandem in the fourth quarter as ART U wound up outscoring NDNU 15-10 down the stretch, but time ran out on a comeback and the Argos secured a 66-46 victory.
 
ART U's overall record now stands at 1-5 while their conference record stand 0-3. Both Medina and Perkins ended the game with 10 points apiece to lead the team. Medina also contributed seven rebounds and three assists. Morris added nine points, eight rebounds, four assists, and four steals while Jefferson collected a career-high 13 rebounds.

NDNU moves to 2-5 on the year with a 1-3 PacWest record. Four Argonauts scored in double figures paced by Abigail Walsh's 18 points plus 10 rebounds.

With the cancellation of their two non-conference games in Washington next week, the Urban Knights will return to Kezar Pavilion to open a six-part homestand that begins with Azusa Pacific on Wednesday, Dec. 19 at 5 p.m.

"Now we're going to regroup, talk to each other, and prepare going into our finals," said Williams. "It's great to have some time to get everybody back to full health and we are thankful to the athletics directors from Central Washington and Seattle Pacific for understanding about our situation. We play a very strong PacWest team in Azusa Pacific before the holiday break so we want to come out with a competitive performance and just have to pull together."