SAN FRANCISCO – With family and friends from across the country gathering together to celebrate seven ART U women's basketball seniors on Saturday, the end result was a convincing 83-50 win over Notre Dame de Namur to close out the 2015-16 regular season.
Vianai Austin,
Regina Camera,
Sha'Nice Storey,
Caron Brown,
Alex Washington,
Zoie Sheng, and
Jasmin Guinn were honored with a special pre-game ceremony before the Urban Knights gained a 22-point lead in the first quarter and never looked back en route to an 83-50 victory to tie the program's single-season wins record.
After hitting a 3-pointer six seconds in, Guinn proceeded to score four more points and notch a pair of steals in ART U's 9-2 start to the game. Academy of Art continued to thrive in its transition game and soon Austin knocked down a triple to put the Knights ahead by double digits, 17-6. Sophomore guard
Desiree Harris continued the hot long range shooting and Austin would connect twice more from distance before the 32-10 opening quarter was finished.
A scoring drought for both sides carried through the first two minutes of the second after which the Knights maintained their sizeable advantage with a nice connection between Camera and junior forward
D'Andree Galipeau under the basket, a three-point play by Guinn, and later a transition layup for Sheng off Camera's steal. Halftime brought a 43-16 difference favoring Academy of Art.
The Knights' lead never dipped below 25 points in the second half and began to climb beyond 30 points with Austin continuing to drain 3-pointers, fastbreak layups from Sheng and Guinn in the fourth, and a 40+ margin briefly before the 83-50 final.
Academy of Art matches its all-time wins record at 23-7 overall and 18-2 in PacWest play. Guinn produced her 13th double-double of the season with a game-high 22 points and 12 rebounds. She matched the program's single-game record with eight steals and added four assists as well all in 27 minutes. Austin scored a season-high 15 points with a career-high five 3-pointers made while Storey added 10 points and four steals. Sheng stuffed the stat sheet once again with eight rebounds, seven points, and five assists.
NDNU finishes its 2015-16 campaign 3-25 overall and 2-18 in conference play. Aaliyah Monroe was extremely productive in 29 points with 17 points and 17 rebounds, but served as the only Argo to score in double figures.
Having secured the third seed in the PacWest Conference Tournament behind co-champions No. 4 California Baptist and No. 17 Azusa Pacific, ART U is set to face Point Loma in the opening round of the postseason playoff on Thursday, Mar. 3 at 2:45 p.m. in Irvine.
