Box Score

San Francisco, CA ---  The Urban Knight women's basketball team dropped a 65-50 decision to the visiting Holy Names University Hawks this afternoon at Kezar Pavilion. The Hawks were determined to live or die by three-pointers today, and that decision was a key part in their victory over the Urban Knights. The Hawks connected on six of their 25 three-point attempts while the Urban Knights were just two of 15 from downtown. Holy Names is now 4-7 on the season, while ART U drops to 1-5. ART U had another remarkable performance from Senior Jessica Nolan, who finished with a game high 18 points and 16 rebounds.

“They [Holy Names University] play an in your face type of game, which knocked us off guard immediately,” said Head Coach Lindsey Yamasaki. “It took us a while to recover but we eventually got the hang of it at the end of the half. We still don't have an identity as a group, which hurts us. They played their style and in their comfort zone and we didn't,” added Yamasaki.

Even with the “in your face” style from tip-off, the Urban Knights held the Hawks to 21% from the three-point territory during the first half. As a team, Holy Names attempted 19 three-pointers and connected on just four of them. Despite going down two points early in the first, ART U was able to regain control of the contest and put the Hawks on their heels early. The Urban Knights caused seven of the Hawk's 17 first half turnovers within the first five minutes of the contest.

Those costly turnovers allowed the Urban Knights to keep an unremitting lead over the Hawks. ART U extended their lead to the largest of the game [thus far], six points, on three separate occasions. With the 15-9 Urban Knight advantage, Holy Names went on a 10-3 run giving them their first lead of the game, 19-18, at the eight minute mark. After a timeout call by ART U, the Hawks hit another three and connected on 1-of-2 free throws, giving them their largest lead of the half 23-18.

Academy of Art remained calm through the Hawks' run, and brought the score to within one point on a free-throw by Nicole DeRosier. ART U followed the made shot with a quick steal by Ashley Lucien which sparked a fastbreak lay up by Alisa Griggs. The fastbreak basket put the Knights back up by one, 24-23. ART U had a last second chance to extend their lead over the Hawks going into the locker room, and made a free throw put ART U up 32-28 at the half.

Neither team could distance themselves from the other to open the second half. Holy Names started the second half with three quick buckets to tie things up, and then took a two point lead over the Urban Knights just two minutes into the half. The Urban Knights' Madeline Martin then hit a cutting Jessica Nolan for a lay-up to bring the score to 34-34. Jasmine English then knocked down a fade away jumper, which was followed by a three-pointer by DeRosier, which gave the Urban Knights a 39-36 advantage with 14 minutes on the clock. The Academy of Art maintained the lead until just under the 10 minute mark, when Holy Names took the fifth and final lead of the game, 47-45. From there the Hawks gradually extended their lead over the Knights, and eventually took the game 65-50.

The Holy Names bench contributed 26 points in the win. Lesley Vodicska led the Hawks with 12 points and nine rebounds. Jamie-Leigh Ronolo added 11 points and went 5-6 from the free throw line. Anitra McCain was 3-of-5 from three-point territory and finished with nine points.

ART U was led by Nolan who finished with 18 points, 16 rebounds, three assists and one steal. “Jess is coming into stride in taking more of an aggressive role on this team. Good things happen when she plays hard. She has the ability to score, and get her teammates involved,” said Yamasaki. DeRosier hit some big shots for the Urban Knights and finished with 11 points, three rebounds and two assists. And Griggs was a presence for the Knights under the basket, adding 10 points and five rebounds.

“I'm happy to see players step up when other players are having a rough a night,” said Yamasaki. “I know we are going to become the team I want us to be if we continue to take these losses and improve upon them and stay on the course of developing our style and our identity as a team."

The Urban Knights travel to Humboldt, CA next weekend to compete in the CCAA/PacWest Challenge hosted by Humboldt State University. ART U faces the Lumberjacks in their first game of the tournament on Dec 11, followed by a day two match-up against Cal State East Bay.