SAN FRANCISCO – Following a pre-ceremony to honor guards Taloni Reese and Inga Kot, the Academy of Art women's basketball team faced off against Notre Dame de Namur in a Senior Night rematch on Thursday inside Kezar Pavilion. The hard-fought battle saw career-high performances from multiple Urban Knights, but ultimately resulted in a 54-45 Pacific West Conference win for the Argonauts.

Off the opening tip, NDNU progressively built a 15-7 advantage before Kot knocked down her first triple with 34 seconds left in the opening quarter. Sophomore forward Lily Perkins and freshman guard Chanel Stuart began to work in tandem offensively and, similarly to the first, a 3-pointer ended the second quarter as Stuart cut the deficit to single digits at 26-19.

The Knights came into the third with a high-energy offense that started with another 3-pointer from Kot. The 3-pointer was followed by back-to-back Perkins layups, and soon a trio of free throws put ART U up 29-28. The lead was short lived, however, as the Argonauts rallied back with a 9-0 run. Kot's third long range conversion plus a Perkins layup closed the quarter with the Argos only ahead 37-34.

A 7-2 momentum shift had NDNU up by eight midway through the fourth, but one final Academy of Art push highlighted by another Kot triple and a Perkins layup cut the deficit to three points still with a minute and a half left. Five unanswered points were enough to get the Argos back up eight before the visitors finished off the 54-45 win.
 
Now 4-19 overall and 3-17 in conference play, ART U's various career performances included six steals from Perkins in addition to her 21 points, 14 points to tie Kot's career-high, and junior forward Ines Medina's 16 rebounds to also duplicate her career-best. Stuart and sophomore forward Megan Jefferson combined for six steals.
 
Notre Dame de Namur rises to 7-16 on the season and 6-13 in PacWest play. A team-high 15 points and seven rebounds came from Jordan Rodriguez.

The Knights will now head to Southern California for their final games of the season. The road trip starts at Azusa Pacific on Thursday, Feb. 28 at 5:30 p.m.