Box Score

San Francisco, CA – The ART U women's basketball team played a strong second half Tuesday night in their return to Kezar Pavilion, but Hawaii Pacific managed to hold on for an 88-74 victory. The Sea Warriors built an early lead and despite a 12-3 second half run by Academy of Art University which cut the margin to seven, HPU made plays late in the game to stay in front. Both senior guard Devin London and Ariel Dale each finished with 20 points apiece while Dale added a game-high 14 rebounds as well.

HPU began the contest on an 8-0 and simply could not miss for the first two minutes. After the Sea Warriors grew their lead to 13 on a Paris Gravely 3-pointer, Academy of Art answered back with a 7-2 burst sparked by a triple from London to close the gap. The Knights came within eight points and then shortly thereafter rattled off 10 unanswered with numerous baskets from sophomore forward Alisa Griggs who scored eight in the first half.

Though the Knights had been within striking distance there, Hawaii Pacific quickly heated up from distance and took back a 17-point advantage by way of a 17-4 surge. That margin would hold until the halftime break where HPU led 50-33.

ART U opened the second half on fire and quickly halved their deficit with a 10-0 run in which junior guard Nicol Biesek nailed a triple and London then stole the ball to enable a three-point play opportunity. The game continued to see-saw, however, as the Sea Warriors responded with an 11-2 push to reassume their 16-point lead on yet another 3-pointer by Gravely.

Academy of Art refused to throw in the towel and steadily worked its way back after trailing by 16 with 11 minutes left. Dale got the Knights started with a fast-break layup off a London steal and then London took a Griggs theft to the rim for another three-point play. As Dale and London worked in tandem offensively, ART U dropped the HPU advantage all the way down to just seven points following the 12-3 run.

Just over three minutes then remained as the Sea Warriors clung to only a single-digit lead. Although the Urban Knights had opportunities to make that last push, they just could not break through and HPU scored six points in the final minute to settle the game in their favor, 88-74.

The Knights, who sustained just their fourth conference loss of the year, had 20-point games from both London and Dale (Dale's season-high). London was 8-of-10 from the field including a perfect 2-of-2 from the three-point line. She added six rebounds and three steals. Dale had her fourth double-digit rebounding performance of the season and grabbed 14 rebounds with a career-high nine on the offensive glass. Griggs finished with 12 points and six rebounds while Biesek contributed across the board with nine rebounds, seven assists, five points, three blocks, and two steals. ART U drops to 15-8 overall and 11-4 in PacWest play.

Hawaii Pacific was led by a game-high 22 points from Gravely who was 5-of-8 from beyond the arc. She was supported by Susannah Walmsley's 20 points and double-digit scoring from three other Sea Warriors. HPU improves to 14-10 overall and 8-6 in the PacWest.

Up next for the Urban Knights in this final four-game homestand is a pairing with Hawaii-Hilo this Thursday, Feb. 23. Tipoff is scheduled for 5:00 PM inside Kezar Pavilion.