BELMONT, Calif. – The first Pacific West Conference matchup for Academy of Art women's basketball in 2021-22 proved to be a tale of two halves as ART U led Dominican 38-31 at halftime, but could not overcome the Penguins' second-half comeback for a 70-66 final. Six Urban Knights scored in double figures for the first time since breaking the program scoring record on
Dec. 31, 2019 and the team had a chance to tie with 11 seconds but the shot did not fall inside Walter Gleason Gym on Saturday.
Making four of its first five shots from the field including a pair from freshman forward/center
Alisha Wilson, Academy of Art opened the contest up 10-4. Soon ART U had doubled up Dominican 16-8 following jumpers by freshman guards
Brooke Rodgers and
Alyssa Munn and had increased the margin to nine with under a minute left. The Penguins, however, countered with a triple at the buzzer, making the first quarter score 24-18.
Baskets by graduate student
Joy Krupa and Munn quickly had the Knights ahead by double digits early in the second quarter, but Dominican would stay close until a furious back-and-forth final two minutes. Five points from junior guard
Lauryn Manns then another bucket from Munn returned the difference to 10 points yet another buzzer-beating 3-pointer shortened the gap to 38-31 heading into halftime.
Responsible for the first four points out of the intermission, Academy of Art went back up by double figures and even gained its largest lead with five unanswered points midway through. Things dramatically shifted the other way in the final four minutes with the Penguins roaring back to the tune of a 17-2 run to move in front 53-51 early in the fourth quarter.
The lead was exchanged briefly before a 60-60 tie was broken by seven straight from the visitors, but junior guard
Chanel Stuart responded by knocking down a 3-pointer at the two-minute mark. Despite second chance opportunities and defensive stops, ART U was unable to capitalize until Stuart connected from long range with 20 seconds left, making it a 67-66 ballgame. Following Dominican free throws, Stuart had one last change at the tie with a triple, but could not get it to drop and one last foul shot sealed the 70-66 victory for the Penguins.
Academy of Art starts the month of December with a 3-4 overall record and 0-1 in PacWest play. Leading the six Knights to score in double figures was 11 points apiece from Krupa and Manns. Krupa had her fourth double-double of the year with a season-best 14 rebounds in addition to four assists and three blocks. Along with six steals (two off the program record), Wilson's 14 rebounds also came with 10 points for her fourth double-double while Rodgers finished with 10 points and five steals of her own. Each with two 3-pointers made, Munn and Stuart posted 10 points apiece.
Dominican moves to 4-4 on the season and 1-0 in conference action. The Penguins were led by Brittney Cedeno's 17 points, eight assists, five rebounds, and four steals. Riley Friauf was held to seven points below her top-two NCAA Division II scoring average with 15 points plus eight rebounds.
The Urban Knights will next play their first PacWest road games of the season when they travel to Southern California for a Dec. 9 matchup with Concordia followed by a Dec. 11 pairing with Point Loma.
