Game #14
ART U Urban Knights (5-8, 3-6 PWC) vs. Dominican Penguins (6-9, 3-6 PWC)
Friday, January 17, 2020 at 5:30 p.m.
San Rafael, Calif. – Conlan Recreation Center
Live Stats & Live Video

Game #15
ART U Urban Knights (5-8, 3-6 PWC) vs. No. 11 Hawaii Pacific Sharks (14-1, 9-0 PWC)
Sunday, January 19, 2020 at 1 p.m.
San Francisco – Kezar Pavilion
Live Stats & Live Video

ART U TO REMATCH DOMINICAN, MEET HPU FOR FIRST TIME
With their first Southern California trip in their rear view, Academy of Art women's basketball looks ahead to a pair of Pacific West Conference contests this weekend. On Friday, the Urban Knights will meet a Dominican team against whom they scored a program-record 123 points back on Dec. 31 then host the only nationally ranked team in the PacWest, No. 11 Hawaii Pacific, this Sunday.

KNIGHT WATCH
Currently leading the conference in offensive rebounds per game (14.8) and steals per game (11.5, 25th in NCAA DII), ART U also still sits third in three-point field goals made per game (7.9) and is tied for fifth in points per game (71.9). The team carries four players averaging double figures in points per game led by graduate student guard Tayler Bennett (15.2) who ranks 10th in the PacWest. She and senior guard Josselyn Morris (11.2 points per game) remain the PacWest's top two in both three-point field goal percentage (Bennett - .364, Morris - .345) and three-point field goals made per game (both 3.0). The Urban Knights' second leading scorer is junior guard Pam Wilmore at 11.9 points per game (18th in PacWest), but her biggest threat has been ball distribution and defense as she offers 6.0 assists (ninth in NCAA DII, second in PacWest) and 2.5 steals (third in PacWest) per contest. Coming off three games scoring in double figures (including a season-high 25 points versus Point Loma), junior guard/forward Lily Perkins is Academy of Art's fourth-highest scorer at 10.0 points per game, but she joins nearly the entire starting lineup among the PacWest's top eight in steals per game. Behind Wilmore (2.5) are Perkins, Bennett, and freshman forward Aari'yanna Sanders all tied at 2.1 thefts per contest.

DOMINICAN PART DEUX
Since falling to Academy of Art by 34 points to end 2019, Dominican has gone 2-2 to settle at the same conference record as the Knights at 3-6. The Penguins soundly defeated Holy Names then dropped convincing scores to UH Hilo and HPU before ending their Hawaii roadtrip with an 18-point victory over Chaminade. After scoring 33 against ART U in their previous meeting, Jerusha Paine has scored 44 points then 29, 29, and 36 in the contests that followed to settle in as not just the PacWest leader, but NCAA Division II's leading scorer (26.2 points per game). She is also the conference rebound leader (9.9 per game) and ranks second in field goal percentage (.543). Including their most recent win, Academy of Art is 17-5 all-time versus Dominican.

SHARKS ATTACKING
Undefeated in nine conference games thus far, defending PacWest Tournament champion Hawaii Pacific has garnered a No. 11 national ranking in the most recent WBCA Top 25 Coaches Poll and has just one blemish on its overall record – a two-point loss to Sioux Falls (ranked No. 19 at the time). HPU is slated to face Chaminade on Jan. 16 before coming to the Bay Area for the second time this season following a six-game homestand. Leading the PacWest in points per game (80.5, 16th in NCAA DII) the Sharks have outscored their opponents by an average of 14.6 points per contest and top the conference in both assists per game (19.4) and turnover margin (+5.0) as well. Starr Rivera's 16.2 points per game rank fifth in the PacWest while Amy Baum has been a superb distributer at 6.2 assists per game (first in PacWest, seventh in NCAA DII). The pair make up the top two in the conference in assist-to-turnover ratio at a +2.6 (Baum) and +2.2 (Rivera). Hawaii Pacific holds a 13-6 edge historically against ART U.

ART U DELIVERS THIRD QUARTER COMEBACK, BUT PLNU PREVAILS
Matching up with a tough Pacific West Conference opponent in Point Loma on Jan. 13 inside Golden Gymnasium, Academy of Art women's basketball struck back against a halftime deficit with a 31-point third quarter and found themselves only down by four with under five minutes left in regulation. In the end, despite three double-digit scoring efforts by the Urban Knights, one final push by the Sea Lions allowed the home team to win 92-79.

LOOKING AHEAD
The month of January concludes with ART U's three-part Hawaii roadtrip. Beginning in Honolulu, the Knights rematch Chaminade (Jan. 27) and Hawaii Pacific (Jan. 29) then meet UH Hilo (Jan. 31) for the first time on The Big Island.