Box Score BELMONT, Calif. – On Saturday at Notre Dame de Namur, Academy of Art University played the style of basketball that earned the Urban Knights two Pacific West Conference championships.
En route to the 89-77 victory, ART U scored 39 points off a season-high 31 turnovers and junior guard
Zoie Sheng poured in a career-high 30 points including four 3-pointers. The Knights were up by 12 at the half and matched the Argonauts in the second half to earn the win in the start of PacWest play.
"As a team we came out determined to be the harder working team," said Sheng. "We thrived off of our press and the intensity was there today. We took advantage of the steals we got and that's why we were able to keep pressing and generate more turnovers."
The contest began with a three-point play by junior guard
Sha'Nice Storey, but despite that early offense, it was not until 12 minutes and 52 seconds showed on the clock that either side reached double digits. Junior forward
Krystal Forthan found junior guard
Regina Camera for a layup to break ART U from its 21-21 deadlock with the Argos and commence a 10-0 run.
During that span, senior guard
Molly O'Brien, Sheng, and junior guard
Jasmin Guinn all tossed in free throws and junior center
Caron Brown added a layup. Following a brief dip into single digits thanks to a 6-2 NDNU run, the Knights' lead was back into double digits for the rest of the half as sophomore forward
D'Andree Galipeau scored her first point of the season from the foul line while Guinn and Sheng each continued slashing to the rim.
"I wouldn't have been able to score as much as I did without my teammates setting screens and having confidence in me," said Sheng. "[Jasmin] really helped out bringing the ball up the floor too. I was able to run the two and focus more on scoring."
Academy of Art came out of halftime up 44-32 and used a triple from Storey to spark a 9-0 run that featured layups from Camera and Forthan as well a basket by Sheng to give her 19 points. Midway through the half, the ART U lead surpassed 20 points as Guinn hit a jumper then found Sheng for the long ball.
"We talked all week about putting more pressure on the defensive end," said head coach
LaNay Larson. "I thought our effort was much better, but now we need to play that hard and much smarter consistently from start to finish."
A 7-2 run by Notre Dame de Namur cut the advantage down to 12 points (72-60) with 7:10 to play and a secondary 6-0 burst thereafter dropped the margin to eight with 4:44 left. That prompted an 8-0 response by the Knights with five straight by Forthan. The final two minutes were a battle of free throws and saw Sheng reach her 30-point milestone. In the end, ART U prevailed 89-77 to pick up their first PacWest victory (1-0) and improve to 5-3 overall this season.
Sheng's 30 points came on a 9-for-14 effort from the field that saw her go 4-for-6 from beyond the 3-point arc. She was 8-for-9 from the foul line and added four rebounds, four steals, and three assists. She is just the second ART U player ever to score 30 points or more with her teammate Storey (31) the other. Sheng's previous career-high was 22 points which came
against Humboldt State on Nov. 16, 2013.
"Zoie is playing the best basketball of her career and she is great at stepping up and scoring when the opportunity arises while running the team at the same time," said Larson. "I thought she played really hard on both ends of the court and she is exhibiting the consistency we want from top to bottom."
Academy of Art returns to Kezar Pavilion for its non-conference play conclusion this Friday, Dec. 12 against Northwest Nazarene.
"We have so big games coming up and we know we need to step up and play better on both ends to get wins," said Larson.
