Box Score

Monmouth, OR – Relying on a balanced scoring attack that featured Oregon natives playing well in their home state, Academy of Art University Women's Basketball used a late run en route to a 69-55 victory over Saint Martin's in the WOU/Double Tree by Hilton D2 Shootout. A 13-4 ART U burst became a 25-12 difference to end the game and ultimately gave the Urban Knights their first win of the year. Alisa Griggs and Sha'Nice Storey each had 14 points apiece to lead Academy of Art.

"It's always good to get that first game under your belt, especially not having any exhibition games this year," head coach LaNay Larson said. "I thought we had came out a little tentative and really struggled with foul trouble throughout the game. We have to do a better job of adjusting but we had some people step up and give us some really good minutes."

In the early going, both teams struggled shooting from the floor as they sat knotted 4-4 nearly six minutes in. Griggs got the her side going with their first two points of the season on free throws before Storey, a fellow Oregonian, knocked down a 3-pointer at 14:03 to put ART U up 7-6. Griggs continued her perfect start with a pair of buckets in the paint then, from tied 11-11, Regina Camera buried a triple and Storey scored in transition to make it 16-11 Knights.

Academy of Art pushed its largest lead of the half, seven points, soon after with a trey by Storey. Down the stretch in the half, Jasmin Guinn and Molly O'Brien contributed free throws to help maintain the advantage, but a late 10-3 burst from the Saints (initiated by Chelsea Haskey who would end up the game's leading scorer) brought the game back to a tie score, 28-28, with a minute to play. Camera added free throws to send ART U into the halftime locker room up 30-28.

The second half began with Academy of Art catching fire from long range. After Guinn opened with a jumper, Camera knocked down her second 3-pointer and soon Storey connected from downtown to make it 40-32 in favor of the Knights. Saint Martin's would not go away and quickly brought the margin back to one point with a 7-0 run that saw Haskey score five straight points.

Zoie Sheng entered the game midway through the second half and showed her defensive aggressiveness with three steals in a one-minute span with one of those leading the sophomore to an easy transition basket. The Saints continued to hang around until they experienced a drought offensively with five consecutive missed shots that ended with ART U up 57-48 following Camera free throws with six minutes left.

"Our defense got us through a rough shooting night and that's a positive so we can rely on that," Coach Larson said. "We are still a very young team and that shows at times. I look for us to grow and get better every game. The talent is there, we just need to be more consistent in certain areas."

The Academy of Art lead never dropped below seven points from that moment onward and a brief 7-2 run closed out the final 1:44 as O'Brien converted a three-point play on a breakaway and later added more free throws for the final cushion. The end result was the Urban Knights taking a 69-55 win in their first game of 2013-14.

In addition to Griggs' team-high 14 points, she added nine rebounds while Storey's 14 points were powered by a 3-of-9 shooting night from long range. Camera finished with 13 points and seven rebounds while Guinn contributed 11 points along with seven steals (one shy of the single-game record Storey set last year). O'Brien offered nine points in her ART U debut, draining all seven shots from the foul line and Sheng did a little bit of everything (five steals, four points, four rebounds, three assists). The Urban Knights start their 2013-14 journey 1-0 overall.

Saint Martin's was led by a game-high 25 points to go with 10 rebounds from Haskey. No other Saint scored in double figures, but Liz Mills did have a game-high 13 rebounds off the bench. SMU drops to 0-1 after being limited to just 26.2 percent shooting from the field on a 0-for-17 night from beyond the three-point arc.

Academy of Art takes the court once more tomorrow, Nov. 9, in a matchup against tournament host Western Oregon at 2:00 PM.