Game #7
ART U Urban Knights (3-3, 0-0 PacWest) vs. Dominican Penguins (3-4, 0-0 PacWest)
Saturday, December 4, 2021 at 1 p.m.
Belmont, Calif. – Walter Gleason Gym
Live Stats & Live Video

ART U'S FIRST CONFERENCE MATCHUP SET FOR THIS SATURDAY
Even through its first six games of the 2021-22 season, Academy of Art women's basketball begins Pacific West Conference play this Saturday when the Urban Knights host Dominican.

TIP-OFF
The start of PacWest play brings Dominican to Walter Gleason Gym in Belmont for a 1 p.m. matchup against Academy of Art this Saturday, Dec. 4. Remember to follow @ARTU_Knights via the athletics app (Apple App Store, Google Play Store) and on Twitter & Instagram, as well as "Like" the Urban Knights on Facebook for score updates, videos, and recaps.

KNIGHT WATCH
Remaining atop multiple PacWest stat categories, Academy of Art is first in rebounds (44.5), offensive rebounds (18.5), blocks (7.0), and steals per game (11.7) while adding the lowest opponent points per game (58.3) as well. Among NCAA Division II programs, ART U is tied for first in blocks, sixth in offensive rebounds, and 23rd in rebounds per game.

Freshman forward/center Alisha Wilson secured her first PacWest Defender of the Week honor after averaging 5.0 blocks and 6.0 defensive rebounds per game in her first two collegiate starts, the first of which nearly saw her post the program's first triple-double with 16 points, 10 rebounds, and seven blocks. Wilson enters her conference debut ranking second in the PacWest in both rebounds (10.7) and blocks (2.2) per game including the nation's ninth-highest offensive rebounds per contest average (5.2).

The ART U leader on both ends of the court, graduate student guard Joy Krupa also paces the PacWest with her 2.3 blocks per game (18th in NCAA DII), is third in the conference in steals per game (2.2), fifth in rebounds per contest (9.2), sixth in field goal percentage (.494), and tied for 16th in points per game (13.2).

Each averaging 8.0 points per contest or slightly more are the trio of freshman guard Brooke Rodgers (8.2) plus junior guards Lauryn Manns (8.0) and Chanel Stuart (8.0). Manns adds 1.8 steals per game (tied for eighth in PacWest) and, with an average of 0.7, Stuart also cracks the conference's top 10 in blocks per game along with freshman forward/center Christy Ojide (1.0, seventh).

PENGUIN PARTICULARS
Just behind Academy of Art in the PacWest's overall standings at 3-4, Dominican started the year by defeating Sonoma State, Humboldt State, and Cal State Monterey Bay while also narrowly losing to Chico State, but has since fallen to SF State, Cal State East Bay, and HSU most recently. The Penguins are shooting the third-highest field goal percentage in the conference (.425) and are second only to ART U in steals per game (11.14) to help their top turnover margin (4.86). Coming in as the PacWest leader in points per game, Riley Friauf's 23.0 points per contest is second in NCAA DII by just 0.1. Friauf is shooting 55.8 percent from the field (third in PacWest) and adds 9.9 rebounds per game (third in PacWest). After defeating Dominican in the teams' two most recent meetings (which came in this year's spring season), the Knights lead the Penguins 19-7 in the historical matchup.

LONG RANGE ATTACK, TRANSITION GAME SPELL SUCCESS FOR ART U
In a multi-faceted performance, Academy of Art women's basketball knocked down seven 3-pointers in the first half (four from junior guard Chanel Stuart alone) then thrived scoring both off turnovers and on the offensive glass in a 68-53 win over Sonoma State inside The Wolves' Den on Nov. 27. Stuart's season-high 16 points off the bench came along with 15 points from freshman guard Brooke Rodgers and graduate student guard Joy Krupa's third double-double of the year.

LOOKING AHEAD
The Urban Knights set out on their first two conference road games next week with stops at Concordia (Dec. 9) in Irvine and Point Loma (Dec. 11) in San Diego.