Game #13
ART U Urban Knights (3-9, 2-4 PacWest) vs. Hawaii Pacific Sharks (3-7, 1-3 PacWest)
Thursday, January 11, 2024 at 4:30 p.m. HT (6:30 p.m. PT)
Honolulu – The Shark Tank
Live Stats | Live Video

Game #14
ART U Urban Knights (3-9, 2-4 PacWest) vs. Chaminade Silverswords (2-11, 0-8 PacWest)
Saturday, January 13, 2024 at 1 p.m. HT (3 p.m. PT)
Honolulu – McCabe Gymnasium
Live Stats | Live Video

Game #15
ART U Urban Knights (3-9, 2-4 PacWest) vs. UH Hilo Vulcans (5-7, 2-4 PacWest)
Monday, January 15, 2024 at 5 p.m. HT (7 p.m. PT)
Hilo, Hawaii – Vulcan Gymnasium
Live Stats | Live Video

ART U TAKES PACWEST PLAY TO THE ISLANDS
Academy of Art women's basketball comes off a split in its first two Pacific West Conference games of the New Year and now journeys to Hawaii for rematches with Hawaii Pacific and Chaminade as well as the season's first meeting with UH Hilo over five days of action.

TIP-OFF
Up against HPU first inside The Shark Tank on Jan. 11 at 4:30 p.m. HT (6:30 p.m. PT), ART U will remain in Honolulu for its Jan. 13 matchup with Chaminade at 1 p.m. HT (3 p.m. PT) inside McCabe Gymnasium. The Urban Knights head slightly south to The Big Island to wrap up their trip inside UH Hilo's Vulcan Gymnasium at 5 p.m. HT (7 p.m. PT) on Jan. 15. 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
Academy of Art emerges from the first week of 2024 ranked third in the PacWest in steals per game (8.8) and fourth in blocks per game (2.9). Scoring has come from a variety of hands as six Urban Knights currently average over 7.0 points per game led by sophomore guard Alba Rovira Ayuso's 13.2 points per game (fourth in PacWest) and freshman guard Lucia Revenga's 9.8 points per game. Rovira Ayuso has scored in double figures in each of the past four contests while Revenga joins freshman guard Anna Fornells among the conference's top seven in steals per contest, ranking third (2.3) and seventh (1.9) respectively. Fornells adds the squad's fourth-highest scoring average at 7.5 points per game.

Junior forward Yasmine Sifaoui has moved into the ART U lead in rebounds per game as her season-high 14 boards versus Hawaii Pacific helped increase her average to 6.5 (ninth in PacWest) while junior forward/center Christy Ojide checks in at 12th in the conference, grabbing 6.1 per game. The tandem is fifth and sixth on the team in scoring (Ojide 7.4 and Sifaoui 7.3 points per contest) while Ojide's 1.1 blocks per game (fourth in PacWest) have brought her to 70 rejections in her career, putting her just six from the program record.

Now third on the team in scoring at 7.8 points per game, freshman guard Maddie Morrow bounced back from her first game of the season without a 3-pointer made by delivering a season-high 21 points (including four triples) versus Westmont. She holds the second position in the PacWest in both three-pointers made per game (2.0) and three-point field goal percentage (.324).

INTO THE SHARK TANK
Just one game has been played by either team since Academy of Art used unrelenting defense in the second half of a 55-44 victory over Hawaii Pacific on Jan. 2. In that time, the Sharks dropped a 65-60 road game to Dominican and now rematch ART U this week. Leading a defense that allows just 62.2 points per game from its opponents (fourth in PacWest), HPU is second in NCAA Division II in blocks per game (6.4) as Megan Jones' 4.2 rejections per contest check in at second in the country as well. Just one Shark, Erika Glenn (10.4 points per game) can be found among the conference's top 20 in scoring, but three are inside the top six in free throw percentage for a Hawaii Pacific squad that leads the PacWest (.714). Last week's win for ART U was their ninth to date in 26 previous meetings with HPU.

ISLE OF THE SILVERSWORDS
The Dec. 10 triumph for the Knights over Chaminade (70-51) came during the Silverswords' current 11-game losing streak which has seen double-digit victories for Dominican, Point Loma, Biola, Concordia, and Azusa Pacific. CUH ranks second in the conference in free throw percentage (.690) and fifth in steals per game (8.5) with Sameera Elmasri's 12.4 points per game (sixth in PacWest) leading the way. Meanwhile, Morgan Escobedo is second in the conference at 2.4 steals per contest and ninth in rebounding (6.5 per game). Five consecutive victories has pushed Academy of Art to a 22-3 historical advantage against Chaminade.

HELLO HILO
Currently tied with ART U at 2-4 in PacWest play, UH Hilo has had an up-and-down season thus far with three wins in its last five games supporting a 5-7 overall record. The Vulcans, who face Dominican on Jan. 11, most recently defeated Biola and Point Loma on either side of losses to Concordia and Azusa Pacific. UH Hilo can be found second in the PacWest with a .435 field goal percentage, doing most of its damage from long range where the Vulcans also rank second at a .330 clip. Three members of the squad are among the conference's top 12 in terms of scoring including Keirstyn Agonias (12.2), Kaile Cruz (11.5), and Jeniece Harmon (11.5) with Agonias' .580 field goal percentage currently runner-up to the PacWest leader. ART U has had the upper hand in three of its last four pairings with UH Hilo, making a closely-contested historical matchup 12-10 in favor of the Knights.

LONG RANGE SUCCESS PUSHES WESTMONT PAST ACADEMY OF ART
In Southern California on Jan. 5 to start a stretch of five consecutive road games, Academy of Art women's basketball met Westmont for the first time to date and it was the Warriors' hot shooting from distance that helped earn them a 101-61 Pacific West Conference win inside Murchison Gymnasium.

LOOKING AHEAD
Following the trip to Hawaii will be one game over a nine-day span as ART U heads to San Rafael for a Jan. 20 matchup with Dominican.