Box Score

St. George, UT -- It was a taste of revenge for the Academy of Art University women's basketball team as they triumphed against Cal State Los Angeles 81-73 in overtime Friday night. More importantly, however, it was more than 40 strong minutes from ART U with the Knights leading at halftime and then unleashing a 21-4 run to come from behind and defeat the Golden Eagles as part of the Dixie State Thanksgiving Classic inside Burns Arena. Senior guard Devin London had her best game as an Urban Knight, tying the program scoring record with 29 points and grabbing nine rebounds to achieve career-highs in both categories.

“I think it was a huge win for this program,” head coach LaNay Larson said. “Last year, this team had some overtime games, but didn't win those so it was a boost of confidence to pull out this win. The team looked really focused especially in the overtime. They played tough defense and finally got defensive boards. That's something we focused on in last five minutes and in overtime.”

The ART U offense came early and often from London in this one with the senior scoring the first six points for the Knights. A 12-7 Academy of Art lead was soon established following free throws by sophomore forward Alisa Griggs and then a jumper by senior guard Lorraine Etchell off a Griggs feed. ART U held that lead for about two and a half minutes until a 10-0 CSULA run pushed the Eagles ahead 20-14 at the 10:08 mark.

Cal State LA built their lead to nine points with just less than seven minutes left in the opening period, but the Urban Knights stormed back. Junior guard Jordan Rogers, who was playing in her first game of the season, made a free throw and 3-pointer which would work to spark a 20-9 burst by Academy of Art to close out the half. ART U heated up from beyond the arc via a trey by London, one from Etchell, and later another from Rogers' hand. The Knights scored the final nine points of the half unanswered, capped off by a jumper from junior forward Ariel Dale.

“We talked about basketball being a game of runs,” Coach Larson said. “Teams will go on runs and in the past couple of games, we've given up runs of 20 plus points. This time, we were able to limited them and then go on runs of our own. Instead of losing our confidence, we did a good job of coming back. I think we really grew up as a basketball team and that we looked more mature. Our schedule has just one non-conference home game so it's really making the team more mentally tough on the road. There's not a lot of support in these environments so you have to mature as a team and come together.”

Led by 14 first half points from London on 5-for-7 shooting from the floor, Academy of Art would use the run to lead the Eagles 39-36 at halftime. A second 10-0 run by Cal State LA opened the second period, however, and it was not until freshman center Alexandria Coleman converted a layup that ART U would stop the run.

CSULA scratched the surface of a double-digit lead with 53-43 and 55-45 scores, but the Knights would not give up. All three senior captains then buried consecutive jumpers to bring ART U within five, 57-52. A big 3-pointer by junior forward Nicol Biesek helped keep the Eagles' advantage from returning to double-digits with 7:24 to go.

Though Cal State LA pushed it back to nine, a 12-3 Academy of Art surge followed which included nine straight to end regulation. London sparked the late comeback with a triple off a pass from freshman guard Vianai Austin, and then junior center Juliua Fraser found Griggs for a jumper. Biesek would proceed to nail another trey after Etchell set her up and London knocked down a shot all before Biesek hit Griggs for the game-tying basket with 21 seconds left.

“I thought we looked pretty fresh and the intensity was there,” Coach Larson said. “I didn't call too many timeouts because I didn't want to stop our momentum and didn't want to give [Cal State LA] a breather either. Our team did a good job of pushing the ball in transition and getting some good high percentage shots late in the game.”

Locked at 69-69 in overtime, a familiar place for two teams who also needed extra time to settle their contest last season, neither team would make a shot for nearly a minute and a half. Etchell broke the scoreless streak with a jumper to put ART U in front and there they would stay for the remainder of the game. London, who was already building upon her new career-high in scoring early in the second half, knocked down a key jumper and Etchell bombed another from distance with 48 seconds left to vault the Urban Knights further ahead. Late fouling efforts by the Eagles were unsuccessful as London made her free throws and Academy of Art would win the thriller 81-73 in overtime.

Though it was a complete team effort, the ART U captains led the way again. London posted 29 points and nine rebounds (both career-highs) with an impressive 10-for-16 effort shooting from the floor (2-of-2 from long range). The 29 points tied the program scoring record set by Nicole DeRosier last year against BYU-Hawaii on Feb. 19, 2011.

“Devin had an incredible game,” Coach Larson said. “She made great decisions, took great shots, and we're always happy when she has more assists than turnovers. It was an all-around great game for her and by far the best game I've ever seen her play. We're really proud of her.”

Griggs contributed an admirable all-around game with 12 points, seven rebounds, and five assists while Etchell also added 12 points and five rebounds. Biesek was the fourth Urban Knight to score in double figures with 11 points as well as five rebounds and three assists. In her first game of the year, Rogers provided nine points, six rebounds, two steals, and two blocked shots. It was the seventh occasion in program history that Academy of Art had scored over 80 points as a team. ART U improves to 2-2 overall this season.

“I thought Alisa, Nicol, and Lorriane all really stepped up and played with confidence,” Coach Larson said. “Alisa always plays hard; that kid never has a bad game. Then Lorriane and Nicol both hit huge clutch shots for us down the stretch. Jordan also came off the bench and played great minutes. She'll need some time to get her timing back, but she definitely helped coming off the bench.”

CSULA, now 1-2 on the year, had a top performance by Lacy Ramon who went for 20 points and 14 rebounds. She also had four blocks and two steals with seven made free throws in seven attempts. Tessondra Williams and Jazzi Johnson each added 11 points apiece, but a .319 team shooting percentage was the Eagles' undoing, particularly going 2-for-7 with five turnovers in the overtime period.

Academy of Art plays its second and final game of the Dixie State Thanksgiving Classic tomorrow. The Knights are set to face Western Oregon with a 12:00 PM MST (11:00 AM PST) start time.

“I gave them a couple minutes to get excited after the win, but at the same time, my expectation hasn't changed,” Coach Larson said. “We're more than capable of getting two wins in this tournament and we won't be satisfied with just a split. Western Oregon is a good team and their record is not indication of what they can do. They've been in all their games and we saw them play Dixie State very well in this tournament. They're a scary team to play because they're hungry for that win and they're going to be relentless.”