HILO, Hawaii – The first stop in this year's Academy of Art women's basketball Hawaii road trip saw UH Hilo jump out to an early advantage and fend off an Urban Knights comeback for the 57-39 Pacific West Conference win on Thursday night in Vulcan Gymnasium.

Following UH Hilo's 12-0 start to the game and their subsequent 19-4 advantage at the end of the first quarter, junior guard Alba Rovira Ayuso and senior forward Yasmine Sifaoui converted four points apiece in what became a 35-15 margin for the home team at halftime.

A Rovira Ayuso three-point play and 3-pointer by sophomore guard Anna Fornells breathed life into Academy of Art as sophomore guard Lucia Revenga provided multiple scores from the paint to contribute to an 8-2 end to the third quarter with the difference down to 14 points. Briefly 12 points less than a minute into the fourth, the Vulcan lead hung around that number until their 6-0 run midway through the quarter spelled the end of what would be a 57-39 victory.

Academy of Art closes out the month of January at 9-10 on the season with a 2-9 conference record. Revenga's 5-for-10 shooting performance from the field earned her 12 points while Rovira Ayuso finished with 10 points to go with a career-high 12 rebounds for the second double-double of her ART U career in addition to three steals and two blocks. As a team, the Knights grabbed 25 offensive rebounds, their second-highest total this season.

"We showed a strong collective character coming out of halftime," said Head Coach Jesse Clark. "The effort on the boards was indicative of our size advantage, however, we needed to take advantage of this by finishing our extra opportunities. This is what we will need to work on for our next outing."

The Vulcans move to 4-13 overall and 2-9 in PacWest play. KeanuMarie Huihui led UH Hilo with 18 points.

This weekend features the second and final game in Hawaii for ART U with the Knights traveling to Honolulu for a 2 p.m. HT (4 p.m. PT) rematch with Chaminade inside McCabe Gymnasium.