Box Score
Photo Gallery (images by Nicol Biesek)

San Francisco, CA – ART U Women's Basketball made yet another late push on Saturday against Humboldt State, but this time the Lumberjacks refused to relinquish their lead and managed an 87-83 victory in the end. Starting off the PacWest/CCAA Challenge with their first home action inside Kezar Pavilion, the Urban Knights closed the gap on their largest deficit of the season (15 points) with an 13-4 run that included highlights of a career-high 22 points from Zoie Sheng, but HSU converted five of its final six free throws to seal it.

"Something that I've felt our team has always prided themselves on is defense and I thought we lacked that today," head coach LaNay Larson said. "We had a bunch of defensive mistakes and Humboldt State being a good team really made us pay for all of those mistakes. They shot extremely well from three-point and were very balanced offensively with six players scoring in double figures. I thought our effort and intensity was there in the last three minutes, but I feel like it's definitely something we can improve on going into tomorrow's game."

In the nightcap of a doubleheader that saw Cal State East Bay pound Dominican 90-51 in the first game, Academy of Art locked in a battle with Humboldt right away. Back-to-back 3-pointers from Regina Camera and Sheng began the contest for ART U and soon things were tied 14-14 midway through. That's when the Jacks made the first of two short opening half runs with this featuring a pair of triples from Danielle Gaumer and Kelly Kime.

That built an eight-point lead, but the Urban Knights fought back initially on Madeline Martin's jumper from the corner and later on back-to-back baskets by Molly O'Brien and Alisa Griggs. A one-point game was then tied three more times before Humboldt closed the period with a 6-2 push on three consecutive layups to gain a 45-41 halftime advantage.

After two layups for CCAA Player of the Week Elle Anderson, the Jacks' lead would grow to 12 points in the early part of the second half, but ART U was not ready to throw in the towel. D'Andree Galipeau had a nice driving layup on Aleigh Krug's feed then Jasmin Guinn's layup was followed up by O'Brien's free throws and the margin was single digits.

However, HSU soon had it back up to 15 points at 73-58 with nine minutes left, forcing Academy of Art to again fight back. This time, a Camera 3-pointer helped the cause, but the Jacks, who were 12-of-24 from long distance, continued to stay hot with Kersey Wilcox contributing to the offense. Yet the Knights were not fazed and delivered their 13-4 rebuttal starting with Sheng free throws and later furthered by triples from Sheng and Camera.

That push by ART U made it a dangerously close 82-78 margin for Humboldt. The teams traded free throws before classic Knights full-court pressure forced a turnover in the backcourt. Academy of Art was not able to convert, however, Wilcox made another pair of free throws to put her squad up six with 27 seconds left.

A huge 3-pointer from Guinn of one of Sheng's eight assists brought ART U as close as they had been since late in the first half. An 86-83 game with 19 seconds on the clock was soon 87-83 after split free throws by Wilcox, but one last long range attempt by Camera did not fall and Humboldt became the first team to defeat the Knights in 2013-14.

"What I took away from this game was to just play hard all the way through," Sheng said. "I think that we had a lot of gaps where our energy dropped and it's really important for our team to stay high energy all the time. Our energy feeds off our defense so all around we have to pick it up."

The game-high of 22 points (11-of-12 FT) went to Sheng along with eight assists, six rebounds, four steals, and no turnovers. Camera added 21 points (4-of-8 3PT) and two steals while Griggs finished with 14 rebounds (nine offensive) to go with eight points. Guinn was the third Urban Knight to score in double figures, totaling 12 points. ART U sits at 2-1 overall this season.

"Offensively, I feel like we took big steps tonight, but it has to be on both sides of the court and it starts at the defensive end," Coach Larson said. "We have to improve. We have to grow up quick; we've got a young team, but we have to make better decisions and be more consistent."

Humboldt State rose to 2-1 led by 21 points (7-of-8 FT) from Wilcox combined with eight assists, but seven turnovers. Anderson added 16 points (7-of-9 FG), six rebounds, and four assists while 13 points came from Megan Shields along with nine rebounds and four blocks. Also scoring in double figures were Jae Shin (12 points, 4-of-8 3PT), Danielle Gaumer (12 points), and Kime (10 points).

The Urban Knights return to Kezar Pavilion on Sunday, Nov. 17 for their second CCAA opponent in as many days with Cal State East Bay up at 3:00 PM. Visit #PacWestvCCAA Tournament Central HERE!

"East Bay is like Humboldt in that they are both greatly improved teams so, after a chance to see them play today, they've got a good inside-out game, some guards who can get to the basket, and a great post player inside," Coach Larson said. "So we're definitely going to have our hands full. We have to play a lot more disciplined defensively and we have to execute the gameplan."