OAKLAND, Calif. – Jumping out to a 14-point lead after one quarter, Academy of Art women's basketball had no problem outplaying Holy Names in Thursday's Pacific West Conference rematch. The Urban Knights, who hosted the Hawks inside Merritt College's home gym, collectively grabbed a season-high 60 rebounds led by sophomore guard Chanel Stuart's second consecutive double-double on their way to a 69-44 victory.

"Going into this game we focused on not getting outworked," said head coach Krystle Evans. "We know we are a talented team, however, the last time we played HNU they beat us to every loose ball so our number one goal was limiting them to one contested shot."

Shooting over 53 percent from the field in the opening quarter, ART U started extremely hot. Graduate student guard Tayler Bennett, senior forward Ines Medina, and freshman forward Aari'yanna Sanders all knocked down 3-pointers in the first six minutes of play with the latter two coming during a 12-0 surge that helped Academy of Art lead 27-13 by the end of the frame.

Eight straight ART U points were unanswered the early portion of the second quarter with Bennett and Sanders sharing the offensive load, but Holy Names responded with a 7-0 run that ended on a basket by Medina to make the score 37-21 Knights heading into halftime.

Starting the second half, junior forward Sankia Braxton helped Academy of Art trade buckets early before six points by the Hawks were did one better by an explosive 11-0 ART U push contained within the quarter's final minute and a half. Stuart caught fire with three scores in that span, junior forward Megan Jefferson added another, and Medina finished it off with a triple at the five-second mark.

Ahead 54-33 moving into the fourth, the Knights kept the margin over 20 points the rest of the way, ending 69-44 winners over the visitors.

In what was the team's third win in its last four games, ART U used the ninth-most rebounds in program history (60) to improve to 9-12 overall and 7-10 in conference play. One point shy of tying her career-high, Medina posted a season-best 19 points on 7-of-14 shooting from the field while Bennett stuffed the stat sheet with 13 points, seven rebounds, and six assists. Stuart's second straight double-double saw her go for 12 points and 15 rebounds (tying her career-high) in addition to four assists and three steals. Sanders' 11 rebounds matched her career-high and Braxton's 12 rebounds were a season-best as well.

"I thought the team responded well to the challenge of winning their battle when it came to containing, contesting, and finishing the play with a rebound," said Evans.

Holy Names drops to 1-21 on the season and 1-17 in PacWest matchups. Gernijah Martin, the Hawks' leading scorer coming in, finished with a team-high 12 points and seven rebounds.

ART U next faces UH Hilo in a PacWest rematch this Saturday, Feb. 15 inside Dominican's Conlan Recreation Center in San Rafael at 1 p.m.

"Hilo is a well-balanced team," said Evans. "We are content with winning three of our last four games, but we are far from satisfied. We want to continue to be disciplined on defense, rebound, and convert on the offensive end."