Box Score Belmont, CA – Despite an evenly played second half, it was a 24-8 Simon Fraser run to end the first period that eventually gave The Clan its winning margin in a 78-61 victory over Academy of Art. Foul trouble limited the ART U bigs early on, leading to a significant SFU advantage in second chance points.
Although junior
Krystal Forthan knocked down her first jumper in the opening seconds, two quick fouls forced her to the bench after only two minutes of action. Neither side scored for the three minutes that ensued before consecutive Simon Fraser buckets got things rolling. A 3-pointer and three from the foul line by Erin Chambers helped SFU turn it into an 11-4 run.
"We had some key players get in foul trouble but regardless we need to be able to fight through that and get contributions from other places," head coach
LaNay Larson said.
Eventually The Clan built a double-digit lead on another Chambers triple, but layups by senior
Molly O'Brien, junior
Jasmin Guinn, and junior
Aleigh Krug whittled down the margin for a long ball from junior
Regina Camera to cut it to two, 24-22. Chambers and Meg Wilson worked together to grow the advantage back to 10 prior to a 16-6 SFU push to close the half. Wilson tossed in a triple in the final seconds for the 48-30 halftime lead.
Consistency by The Clan upped their margin to 20+ points midway through the second half, but an 8-0 run by the Knights brought them back into contention. Fastbreak layups by junior
Zoie Sheng and Guinn began to up the tempo as Forthan and junior
Caron Brown also regained their rhythm. Forthan put in an easy two point to cut the lead down to 62-50 with 6:50 left, but Chambers and Katie Lowen maintained the SFU cushion to the end and a 78-61 final.
"Simon Fraser is a great team and plays so composed. They are disciplined and have great fundamentals and I look for them to have a really good year," Coach Larson said. "We have a lot of talent and potential but we need to fine tune some things on both ends of the floor and be more disciplined. It is a constant work in progress with us and this will be a good learning opportunity to improve on areas of weakness."
Camera finished with a team-high 14 points and five rebounds while Guinn had her first double-double of the year with 12 points and 10 rebounds. Forthan was limited to 10 points in 13 minutes, picking up the four fouls and unfortunately seeing the end come to her 17-game double-double streak.
Simon Fraser exits Belmont 2-0 after Chambers put up 33 points (11-of-24 FG) and eight rebounds. Wilson added 19 points and 15 rebounds in an active 38 minutes.
Academy of Art looks ahead to one of its biggest non-conference matchups this coming Wednesday, Nov. 19 with a trip to #2 Cal Poly Pomona on tap. Tipoff is set for 6:00 PM inside the Broncos' Kellogg Gym.
"We have a really tough stretch coming up this next week so we need to learn from the loss and get ready for a very tough and experienced Pomona team," Coach Larson said. "One game at a time!"
