SAN FRANCISCO – After senior guard Josselyn Morris knocked down 3-pointers on three consecutive possessions at the end of the first quarter and to start the second, Academy of Art women's basketball relied on tough defense for a 66-42 Pacific West Conference victory over Notre Dame de Namur on Saturday afternoon inside Kezar Pavilion. On the offensive side, Morris finished with a season-high 20 points (including six triples) and freshman forward Aari'yanna Sanders collected the first double-double of her collegiate career (12 points, 11 rebounds) while the 42 points were the fewest allowed by an ART U opponent since 2017 and the fourth-fewest in program history.

"Today was about getting back to having fun," said head coach Krystle Evans. "I think we started taking ourselves to seriously. We needed to stay poised, come back to reality, and not panic. It was about being the best us."

Eight points from junior guard/forward Lily Perkins in the first seven minutes helped the Urban Knights establish an 11-5 lead initially, but the game's biggest turning point came at the tail end of the first quarter. Off a pass from junior forward Megan Jefferson, Morris nailed a 3-pointer to beat the buzzer then continued to feel it at the start of the second where she sank two more from long range.

Thereafter in the second, Academy of Art used separate runs of 5-0 and 7-0 to go up 17 all before Morris drained her fourth triple of the contest and Sanders added free throws for a 40-20 advantage at the half.

Though the Argonauts lived at the free throw line in the third quarter, a 6-0 push with Jefferson down low and graduate student guard Tayler Bennett from deep both put ART U further ahead 52-31 heading into the fourth. Two more timely 3-pointers from Morris in that final quarter kept the margin above 20 points as the Knights rolled to a 66-42 final.

Academy of Art, who rises to 3-4 overall and 1-2 in conference play, was led by a game-high 20 points from Morris (6-of-12 from long range to tie for the program's third-most 3-pointers made in a single game) who ended with one short of her career-high. Making up her double-double, both 12 points and 11 rebounds were season-highs for Sanders and both Perkins and Jefferson added 10 points apiece. Jefferson contributed eight rebounds as well and junior guard Pam Wilmore nearly had a double-double of her own with nine rebounds and seven assists.

Notre Dame de Namur falls to 3-8 on the season and 1-4 in PacWest action with no player scoring in double figures in the contest. Rachel Pau'u and Nikki Miller had eight points and a team-high six rebounds apiece. The 42 points scored by the Argos was the fourth-fewest from an ART U opponent behind NDNU's own 31 (Feb. 23, 2013), Chaminade's 35 (Feb. 17, 2011), and Holy Names' 39 (Dec. 10, 2017).

The Urban Knights will play one more game in the 2019 calendar year with Dominican coming to Kezar Pavilion next on Tuesday, Dec. 31 for a 1 p.m. tipoff.