SAN FRANCISCO – Academy of Art women's basketball rang in the New Year by playing some of its best defense of the season in a second half that allowed the Urban Knights to pull away from Hawaii Pacific for the 55-44 Pacific West Conference victory inside Kezar Pavilion on Tuesday afternoon. Allowing the Sharks just seven points in each of the game's final two quarters (each the 11th fewest in program history), ART U connected those frames with a decisive 9-0 run toward the win.

Though the score remained 0-0 through the first three minutes of action, things began to pick up late in the first quarter as sophomore guard Alba Rovira Ayuso countered a HPU 3-pointer with one of her own and junior forward Yasmine Sifaoui added a transition bucket to make it 11-11.

Hawaii Pacific led by three heading to the second frame and was soon up nine, but freshman guard Lucia Revenga's triple sparked a 7-0 response that also featured junior forward/center Christy Ojide's layup. Academy of Art kept fighting back against the Sharks' brief leads as four ties were held before a 30-28 advantage for the visitors came in the final 30 seconds before halftime.

HPU was up 33-30 early in the third before a 6-2 run led by scores from Sifaoui, freshman guard Anna Fornells, and Ojide put ART U back in front. With just over two minutes until the fourth, the Knights turned four turnovers into a 5-0 run then extended that to 9-0 with another two turnovers forced to start the final quarter. Academy of Art's margin stayed between six and eight points until a 6-0 burst made it double digits at 53-41 with three and a half minutes left. In the end, the Sharks were limited to just one made field goal in the fourth quarter while shooting nine percent (third lowest in program history) and the victory was awarded to ART U 55-44. 

"I think we were getting more comfortable with our defense," Revenga said. "Our communication helped to move better on defense and we trusted that our teammates were going to have our backs. I think that that's why by the second half the defense was progressively getting better."

The win moves Academy of Art to 3-8 overall and 2-3 in conference play. Revenga finished with a game-high 13 points (including an 8-for-9 effort from the foul line) plus seven rebounds and seven steals (tied with Rovira Ayuso for the second-highest total by a PacWest competitor this season). Sifaoui provided her first double-double of the year with 12 points and 14 rebounds while Rovira Ayuso added 11 points, five rebounds, and two steals. Ojide nearly had a double-double of her own with 10 points and eight rebounds in 18 minutes off the bench and season-high seven assists came from Fornells.

"Really proud of our focus and attention to our details this afternoon," said Head Coach Jesse Clark. "The confidence and execution of our defensive principles was excellent. Credit to Hawaii Pacific as they really challenged our rotations and communication. Looking forward to continuing our growth the rest of this week."

Hawaii Pacific drops to 3-6 on the season and 1-2 versus PacWest opponents. Megan Jones nearly had a triple-double with eight points, nine rebounds, and eight blocks though no Shark scored in double figures in the contest.

Set to head out on the road for its next five games (which includes a rematch with HPU on Jan. 11), ART U will face Westmont for the first time in program history this Friday, Jan. 5 at noon in Montecito.