Sondra Stilwell enters her fifth season as assistant coach for Academy of Art University women's basketball after serving as a graduate assistant for one season and playing for ART U for two years. She also completed her second year as compliance assistant in 2013.
The 2014-15 season saw ART U go 18-11 overall and 13-7 in PacWest Conference play, marking the fourth consecutive season in which the program has won 16+ games (all under Larson and her staff). Academy of Art was strong at home (8-4) and went on to earn a conference tournament berth with wins in six of its final seven regular season games. The Urban Knights fell to Azusa Pacific in the opening round of the PacWest Conference Championship Tournament, but still had two
All-PacWest Team honorees with Jasmin Guinn (First Team) and Zoie Sheng (Third Team) who both achieved multiple record-setting milestones as juniors.
With Coach Stilwell on staff, the Urban Knights repeated as PacWest Conference Tournament Champions in 2013-14 and added the program's first conference regular season title as well, going 23-8 overall and 18-2 in PacWest play. Academy of Art saw highlights such as breaking the 100-point barrier for the first time in a 101-47 win over BYU-Hawaii before two record 60-point halves combined to set ART U's new scoring record in a 120-69 domination of Chaminade. En route to the PacWest regular season championship, Academy of Art had a program record 11-game win streak spanning more than a month from Jan. 20 - Feb. 24.ART U went on to defeat Dixie State and California Baptist in the PacWest Championship Tournament and made its second NCAA Tournament appearance where the Knights fell in a heartbreaker to Montana State Billings despite having two chances to win in the final seconds. The program celebrated its first NCAA All-American in Krystal Forthan who was also named PacWest Player and Newcomer of the Year as well as MVP of the PacWest Tournament. Along with Forthan, the rest of ART U's stellar sophomore starting lineup, Zoie Sheng, Sha'Nice Storey, Regina Camera, and Jasmin Guinn, were all recognized on the All-PacWest Team. Guinn additionally earned the title of PacWest Defensive Player of the Year and head coach LaNay Larson was selected as PacWest Coach of the Year for the first time in her career.ART U's 2012-13 season saw tremendous success with Coach Stilwell on its staff as the program went 23-9 overall and 16-5 in Pacific West Conference play for its winningest year to date. The season began with the Urban Knights never trailing for their first 170 minutes played as they won four in a row to start. Academy of Art would later
knock off #17 Pittsburg State,
sweep its three-game Hawaii roadtrip for the second consecutive year, and initiate a program-record nine-game win streak (tied most by any team in ART U athletics history to date) with an
overtime win hosting #13 Grand Canyon.
The team's final three victories of the year (one of which was
another overtime victory versus Grand Canyon) led them to a
PacWest Conference Tournament Championship (the first in conference history) and thus a
NCAA Tournament appearance in the program's first year of eligibility. Three Urban Knights received
All-PacWest honors in addition to Jordan Rogers being named MVP of the PacWest Conference Championship Tournament.
In 2011-12, Coach Stilwell helped the Urban Knights women's basketball to new heights with a season highlighted by a nine-game win streak (including a 4-0 stretch in Hawaii), a chance to contend for the PacWest Conference title, and a
huge upset victory over PacWest's only ranked team, Grand Canyon (#16 at the time), late in the year. Following the winningest year in program history (16-10 overall, 12-6 PacWest),
four ART U athletes were also named to the All-PacWest Second Team.
As a Graduate Assistant for 2010-11, Stilwell guided from the sidelines and saw ART U achieve its first winning season in PacWest play as the Knights went 9-7 against conference opponents. Academy of Art was 11-14 overall and finished off that year on a four-game win streak.
Stilwell was the starting point guard for the Urban Knights (2008-2010), where she led the team in scoring, assists, steals and was one of two players to compete in and start all 53 games. Stilwell also scored a record 686 points and 150 steals in just two years of play.
A native of Redding, CA, Stilwell transferred from Shasta Community College where she was team captain and an All-Conference selection she led her team to a 24-8 record and No. 8 seed in the NorCal playoffs.
Stilwell received her Bachelor's Degree in Multimedia Communications from Academy of Art University in 2011 and was the
first student-athlete in program history to do so.
