Game #29
#3 ART U Urban Knights (20-8, 13-5 PWC) vs.
#6 BYU-Hawaii Seasiders (6-18, 5-13 PWC)
Thursday, March 7, 2013 at 12:30 PM
Azusa, CA – Felix Event Center
Live Stats | Live Video (PPV)
ACADEMY OF ART ENTERS PACWEST TOURNEY AS #3 SEED
Among the upper echelon in the Pacific West Conference standings all season long, ART U is now rewarded with a chance to compete for an automatic bid to the NCAA Division II Tournament in the inaugural PacWest Conference Championship Tournament spanning Mar. 7-9. The Urban Knights were one of three programs to win 20 games this regular season and come into the tournament as the #3 seed set to face #6 BYU-Hawaii this Thursday.
OPENING TIP (Tournament Program)
Breaking down the tournament schedule, ART U begins with BYU-Hawaii on Thursday, Mar. 7 in the quarterfinal meeting of the #3 and #6 seeds. That game is scheduled to tip off at 12:30 PM. The winner advances to the semi-finals and will face #2 Grand Canyon on Friday, Mar. 8 at 12:30 PM. The PacWest Championship game will be determined on Saturday, Mar. 9 at 4:30 PM. All contests in the tournament will take place inside Azusa Pacific's Felix Event Center. Live coverage will be available in the form of
Live Stats and
Live Video (PPV). Remember to follow
@ARTU_Knights on Twitter and "Like" the
Urban Knights on Facebook for score updates, videos, and recaps.
ART U AWAITS FINAL REGIONAL RANKINGS
Ranked 10th in the NCAA Division II West Region as of
last Wednesday's announcement, Academy of Art was two spots behind Hawaii Pacific (8th) and five behind Grand Canyon (5th). Having won two games since that time while seeing GCU go 2-1 and HPU win a pair, the Knights will see one more ranking come out this Wednesday prior to competing in the PacWest Championship Tournament.
2012-13 REGULAR SEASON HISTORIC FOR ART U
Signing off on a 2012-13 regular season for the ages this past Saturday, Academy of Art University Women's Basketball showed it could hang with the country's elite in just its first year as full-fledged members of NCAA Division II. For head coach
LaNay Larson's encore to a tremendously successful debut last year, ART U not only won 20 games for the first time in program history, but also knocked off two ranked teams in
#17 Pitt State and
#13 Grand Canyon. Read more about what the Urban Knights accomplished
here.
KNIGHT WATCH
The highest scoring team in the PacWest in addition to being ranked #1 in the country in steals and turnover margin, Academy of Art is extremely balanced. As a testament to this fact, senior
Jordan Rogers leads the team offensively (13.4 ppg), but she is not among the Top 10 scorers in the conference. Rogers has gotten over a third of her points at the foul line where she is shooting 76.4 % (5th in PWC). Senior
Ariel Dale adds 12.4 points per game though she is an extremely versatile talent. Dale leads the PacWest in steals (3.1 spg) while averaging 6.9 rebounds (15th in PWC) and 3.4 assists per game (8th in PWC). Also powering a strong senior class for ART U,
Katy Wade serves as one of the nation's top shot blockers (9th in NCAA DII) at 2.5 blocks per contest. She has blocked at least one shot in all 28 games played thus far. Wade also leads the squad in rebounding (9.6 rpg) and long ago set the program's new single-season records in both categories (69 blocks, 269 rebounds). Freshmen
Regina Camera and
Sha'Nice Storey come into the tournament each averaging 9.8 points per game and have combined to make 84 of the Knights' 150 3-pointers thus far. Freshman
Zoie Sheng currently leads the team in assists (83) and has committed just 46 turnovers as the team's starting point guard. She is one of seven Urban Knights to have more than 40 steals this season.
SECOND SEASIDER SIGHTING
Though the #6 seed in the tournament, BYU-Hawaii (6-18, 5-13 PWC) is actually 10th overall in the PacWest standings. Conference regular season champion California Baptist, Azusa Pacific, Point Loma, and Holy Names all posted better records than the Seasiders, but those four are still in the transition to full-fledged NCAA DII membership and were thus exempt from qualifying for the PacWest Tournament. BYU-Hawaii went just 1-7 to start the year and, though they racked up four conference victories in a month-span after falling to Academy of Art
85-80 in Hawaii, they have lost six in a row heading into the tournament including four losses by 30 points or more. Shayla Washington is the conference's leading scorer at 19.0 ppg and complements with nearly double-digit rebounding (9.6 rpg). In the loss to the Knights, however, it was Danna Lynn Hooper who scored a game-high 23 points to lead the Seasiders.
ANTELOPES AGAIN?
Following their 63-55 overtime loss to Academy of Art three weeks ago, Grand Canyon (22-7, 14-4 PWC), nationally ranked among the Top 25 until today and the #2 seed in this tournament, has surprisingly gone 3-3 in its last six games. For a team that enjoyed a nine-game win streak early on this year and was 12-1 in PacWest play coming into its contest versus ART U, the Antelopes have sustained recent losses to Hawaii Pacific (64-63) and Azusa Pacific (63-57). The team is still led by one of the conference's most athletic talents in Judy Jones. She averages 16.0 points (5th in PWC), 10.1 rebounds (2nd in PWC), 2.9 steals (3rd in PWC), and 2.2 assists per game. Academy of Art limited Jones in their previous meeting, but the tandem of Maylinn Smith (16.6 ppg) and Chigozie Ekweozor (8.3 ppg) combined for 32 points (16 apiece) in the low-scoring overtime affair (
63-55).
THE FATE OF DIXIE STATE
Coming into the PacWest Tournament as the #4 seed behind Academy of Art, Dixie State (14-12, 12-6 PWC) has enjoyed two particularly successful stretches sandwiching a more difficult midpoint this season. The Red Storm started PacWest play 5-0, were 7-4 by the time they faced Academy of Art, and with their
53-52 win over the Knights, finished strong by taking six of their last eight games. Though HPU defeated Dixie on their Senior Night, the Red Storm finished off the regular season with a 67-65 win over Point Loma thanks to a 17-point, 15-rebound double-double for Johnna Brown. Brown leads the conference in rebounding (12.2 rpg) and averages 16.4 points (4th in PWC), however, it was Mandy Munns' 15 points and eight rebounds off the bench that led Dixie versus ART U.
HIGHLIGHTING HILO
UH Hilo (13-10, 10-7 PWC) comes into this week as the #5 seed, but the Vulcans have struggled against the top teams in the PacWest this year. Besides a
60-57 victory over Academy of Art which came on a buzzer-beating 3-pointer by Shannon Rousseau, Hilo has gone a combined 0-6 against the six teams ahead of the Vulcans in the conference standings. After falling to California Baptist, Point Loma, and Hawaii Pacific in mid-February, UHH finished off its regular season with a 72-61 victory over Chaminade on the Vulcans' Senior Night then a 70-65 win at BYU-Hawaii. The sister tandem of Kamie and Kirsty Imai combine to average 21.1 points per game and it is Kamie who leads the team with a 7.4 rebounds per game average. Hilo faces Dixie in the quarterfinals on Thursday.
SEA WARRIORS SURGING
Rivaling ART U as one of the hottest teams coming into the tournament, #2 seed Hawaii Pacific (18-6, 14-4 PWC) has won five in a row beginning with its 74-64 overtime victory over Azusa Pacific on their Senior Night (Feb. 16). Two days later, the Sea Warriors defeated UH Hilo 62-61 on the first part of a four-game roadtrip to end the regular season. They knocked off Grand Canyon 64-63 then rode the momentum of 21 points from Susannah Walmsley to a 79-72 victory over Dixie State. Most recently, HPU dominated Chaminade 83-56 to make it five in a row. Walmsley (13.9 ppg) is the team's second-leading scorer behind Melody Ladrido (16.4 ppg) who comes in primarily as a reserve off the bench. Academy of Art and Hawaii Pacific split their meetings earlier this season with the Knights winning
85-68 in Hawaii and HPU edging
ART U 72-71 in San Francisco on a last-second, cross-court pass by Skye Savini to Ladrido for a layup. The Sea Warriors will await the winner of #4 Dixie State and #5 UH Hilo.
ART U SECURES 20TH WIN WITH 78-66 FINAL
The Urban Knights brought home their 20th victory of the year by way of Saturday's 78-66 result in Academy of Art University's regular season finale against Dominican. After weathering an early burst by the Penguins, ART U used a 9-1 run to get ahead in the first half and essentially stay there for the remainder of the contest despite Dominican's best efforts to fight back. In the end, another double-double from Dale (20 points, 14 rebounds) led the way for the Knights.
